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Book Cover
E-book
Author Klink, Angie, 1959-

Title Kirby's way : how Kirby and Caroline Risk built their company on kitchen-table values / by Angie Klink
Published West Lafayette, IN : Purdue University Press, ©2012

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Description 1 online resource (260 pages)
Series Book collections on Project MUSE
Contents Title; Copyright; Contents; Foreword; Preface; From the Banks of the Wabash; Common Denominator; Girl from Oat Fields; Kirby's Charge; World's Fair Wedding; Off to Work They Go; Florida Circus; Surplus Man; When Prefab Was Fab; Camp Kirby; God in Us; Open-Door Policy; Just Desserts; Wedded Bliss; Junior Achievement; Taking Risks; New Directions; Building; Distance Run; Without the Gentleman; Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come
Summary The late J. Kirby Risk II called himself "a small-town businessman from the banks of the Wabash." He was much more. The fastidious, dapper man from Lafayette, Indiana exuded philanthropy and free enterprise. Like a sheepdog, he tended the flock, rounded up strays, darted to key places to close up stragglers, and nudged everyone toward a common goal. Sometimes his stubborn persistence caused clashes. His demanding behavior was for good, no matter what others thought. That was Kirby's way. Kirby's integrity was the basis for his two occupations. His first career was compassion, and his second career was the building of the battery company he cofounded in 1926 with $500 borrowed from his father. Today, Kirby Risk Corporation is a multimillion-dollar electrical products and services industry headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana, and led by Kirby's son, Jim. Kirby's Way captures the essence of this imitable gentleman, who, with his wife of fifty-five years, Caroline, raised four children, gave time, money, and meals to strangers, refugees, Purdue University students, and their beloved community, while building from their kitchen table a successful Midwest corporation. He believed in "sacrificial service." Kirby noticed people. He recognized their importance. In turn, they loved him and wanted to help him. He dwelled on his favorite song, "Mankind Is My Business." Relationships shaped his success. Kirby was quiet about his deeds. He lived the Bible passage, Matthew 6:3--"But when you do a kindness to someone, do it secretly--do not tell your left hand what your right hand is doing." Kirby Risk may not have wanted this book. Yet he would have esteemed it as a parable, a spiritual truth that compels readers to discover certainties for themselves. From heaven, he tends the flock and rounds up strays, so more people might live Kirby's Way
Notes Print version record
Subject Risk, Caroline, 1912-
Risk, Kirby, 1901-1989.
SUBJECT Risk, Caroline, 1912-
Risk, Kirby, 1901-1989
Risk, Caroline, 1912- fast
Risk, Kirby, 1901-1989 fast
Subject Kirby Risk Corporation -- History
SUBJECT Kirby Risk Corporation fast
Subject Businesspeople -- Indiana -- Biography
Electric industries -- Indiana -- History
HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
Businesspeople
Electric industries
Business & Economics.
Industries.
Indiana
Genre/Form Biographies
History
Biographies.
Biographies.
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2012016836
ISBN 9781612492216
1612492215