This book reaches people from all walks of life. The ideas presented are simple, timeless, and extremely important. The central idea is to tie in great stories from people that bring with them unique perspectives and backgrounds and center them on Christian principles of leadership. The stories enable each reader to bring with them their own perspective and will get different things out of each story. It is not a how-to book on leadership, rather an inspirational and informational book that provides each reader practical, Christian principles that can help any leader develop, motivate, and lead a successful team. When you put Christian values into your decision making process, get ready for real success!

Sweatin' the Small Stuff

By Kirk Jared Freeman

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Kirk & Jared Freeman
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-0938-4

Contents

Foreword...........................................viiDedication.........................................ixAcknowledgments....................................xiSweatin' the Small Stuff...........................xiiiIntroduction.......................................xvThe Rady Bunch.....................................1Patrick and Jonna Rady.............................5My Husband, Mr. Modesty............................8Pat Rady...........................................13Kindness Comes Full Circle.........................15Senior Spotlight...................................17Erin Meadows.......................................21Lessons from Across the World......................25Chennai, India, 2005...............................262004, Swaziland, Africa............................282008, Kenya, Africa................................31DeWayne Norris.....................................36Special Christmas..................................39Jon Stuckey........................................42M & D..............................................44Major General Desjardins...........................48Finnie Flight and Fuels............................51The Medal..........................................54Surprising Birthday................................56Interview Excerpts.................................58Bob Medworth.......................................63Sundae Surprise....................................65Food and Fun.......................................67Marty Constantine..................................70A Bag of Cashews...................................72The Umbrella.......................................74Maggie Shook.......................................78Successfully Simple................................82David Thomas.......................................87Scott Kern.........................................93Green Shoes........................................95Sharon Koehler.....................................100The Conversation...................................102Kennard Sproul.....................................106Touching One Person at a Time......................108Let's Talk about Dad...............................112Even Good People Make Mistakes.....................118Always Enough Time.................................122More like You Every Day............................127A Simple Hello.....................................131

Chapter One

The Rady Bunch

Kirk

One of the coolest opportunities presented to us during the writing of this book came about by getting to work with the Rady family. For most people who live in the Wabash Valley, they know the name. Coach Rady has been coaching high school basketball for many years and has done a lot of great things. I have also met his son, Patrick Rady, while working with his father.

Knowing who Coach Rady was and what I believed he stood for initially motivated me to ask him to contribute to this book. What I didn't necessarily expect from the beginning was the other possibilities that would come from this working relationship, namely that I would be asking both his son and daughter-in-law to contribute to the book.

The more I thought about what Pat Rady stood for and the things he continually talked about, which was the importance he placed on his family, the more I thought, "What better way to showcase that than actually have his own son be a part of this book?" I already knew Patrick and what an outstanding guy I thought he was, so there couldn't have been a better family to showcase.

However, Patrick's humbleness (much like that of David Thomas) led him to a hesitancy to share positive stories centered on his actions, so my son and I had to do some creative thinking in order to share stories with you about him. We thought there would be no better person to do this than his wife, Jonna.

You will find that these stories take on much different shapes. This is intentional and also a product of what we asked each person to contribute. Jonna did exactly what we asked: to tell stories about her husband and why she believed him to be so great. Coach Rady Sr. also did exactly what he was asked: to highlight some stories throughout his coaching career that showcased traditions he had that came full circle in his life. Both are vital contributions to this book because we believe that both behavior patterns are important things that all people should try to emulate in their different roles in life.

Every community seems to have that family next door, the ones you see out in public and think, "Wow, they've got their stuff together." For me, the Radys are one of those families. They have a strong family core that has seemingly banded them together through everything that they have chosen to do in their professional lives that has allowed them to stick close together.

Jared

When I get to come home, one of the things I enjoy being able to do is catch a couple of high school basketball games. Indiana is the place to do that, and it doesn't hurt that my little sister, Sarah, is a senior cheerleader at Clay City High School, which gave me even more reason to go watch a game or two. Fate had it that the game Clay City was playing while I was home was against Cloverdale, where Coach Rady and his son are currently working.

I was excited to see Sarah for sure, but I was also interested to see how Coach Rady and his son interacted with the other coaches, the opponent's coach, their players, and their fans. I had met both Coach Rady and his son when I was quite a bit younger, but as a product of writing this book, I was obviously going to get to see them in a different light. I was pretty excited to see them in action and look for the types of things Dad had talked about that he said made them great.

Something I think I forgot about Coach Rady after reading his stories and hearing Dad talk about him so much in a different light was this ... He is super competitive! Like many other coaches of his time and before, he clutched onto some folded-up papers, presumably the night's program and/or match-ups he had drafted up. I was back in Indiana, watching high school basketball, and loving it.

Cloverdale played very well, relying on their quick guards and unselfish passing to beat Clay City that night. It was definitely a treat to get to watch these two coaches I had heard so much about from my Dad do what they love to do-coach and lead young men on the basketball court. Not that I didn't realize what these two gentlemen were best known for, but while working on these stories, I had lost sight a little bit of how good they are at what they do ... impressive performance, to say the least.

Our intent with this portion of the book is to allow you to look into the lives of a family that has lived a significant portion of it in the local spotlight. This is surely not an easy thing to do, and especially not when the lives you are leading are young men with passionate parents who do not always look at situations through an objective lens. Much like other positions of leadership, a higher set of standards of both conduct and performance are required in this setting, standards that both Coach and Patrick Rady live up to, in my opinion.

We hope you enjoy getting to learn more about how Coach Rady made his players feel loved and respected through his famous end-of-the-year ceremonies. You will also get to hear a wife's account for the...