Consultant tries to put play in workplace

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Jun 08, 1998

Work should be fun. Work and life should be a celebration. Don't be afraid to fail. Be a lifelong learner.

That advice comes from Fred Kusch, a former educator and human resource professional who is president of JFK Associates, an international consulting firm in La Crosse.

He founded the business in 1980 and has been working at it full-time since last September, when he resigned as director of human resource development at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center.

JFK's co-owner is Fred's wife, Janet, who also is executive director of Options in Reproductive Care, a La Crosse family planning agency.

Fred Kusch provides keynote presentations, workshops, seminars and consulting services, specializing in leadership management development, balancing work and life, effective communications and customer service.

He primarily works in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, but has given presentations in all but a few states. And he has provided services in such distant places as Russia, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic.

In February, Kusch began writing a "Life's Work" column every other month in the Enterprise, a local monthly business publication. The column focuses on leadership and balancing work with life.

Kusch hopes to publish his first book, "The Art of Being Positively Selfish," by late summer. The 250- to 300-page book will focus on belonging, personal power, celebration, freedom, hope and continuous learning.

Kusch, 52, is glad he decided to make his part-time consulting business full time. "I figured it was time to take the last big risk," he said, after spending 25 years in middle and senior management in his 30-year career as a professional.

"I enjoy the opportunity to be creative and develop new programs and new ideas," Kusch said. "I love the people and the diversity of the challenges. And I really like the freedom that I have."

For him, work is fun. As he says it should be.

Work should be a celebration and should provide meaning and purpose, he said. And a good work/life balance will lead to healthier employees, workplaces and bottom lines, he said.

"Does work encourage you?" Kusch asked. "Do the people you work with encourage you to take care of your family, the things you value most in life? Are your relationships enhanced by your work? Does your work give you an opportunity to trumpet your skills and abilities?"

Kusch learned the value of celebrating life after his wife was diagnosed with bone cancer-- it's been in remission for 11 years. "I've learned that life is precious," he said. "People spend a lot of time worrying about the future and miss the moment."

Kusch also talks to business. managers and employees about the need to have freedom to fail. "One of the things I often see with clients who are in a crisis with employees is that people who make mistakes are trying to hide them," he said.

"We're a society that tries to hide failure, push it under the rug, deny it, as opposed to learning things as lessons," he said. "It starts when we're kids in school."

Kusch also believes learning should be a lifelong passion. "We live in a society of benchmarks, rites of passage, like school graduation," he said. "But graduation is just to the next step of learning."