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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Giving Back: James Kuehnis says he penned The 5 Gifts of Greatness because he wanted to give something back to the community. A former information technology manager, Kuehnis welcomed the challenge over the past five years of authoring his first book.
Public Citizen
IT manager discovers the seven F's
By Moryt Milo
Campbell resident Jim Kuehnis believes in the five F's--faith, family, friends, fitness and finance. He believes in them so strongly that he copyrighted his concept and added two additional F's--failings and fulfillment--and labeled it "the arch of joy."
He also wrote and published a book, The 5 Gifts of Greatness, adapting the concept into a parable--a story with a religious lesson--about a poor boy from India who wants to rise above his low caste position and become great.
"I learned about the five F's and thought, 'What if a person pursued it in the reverse order of priorities?'" Kuehnis says. "In Silicon Valley pursuing finance is always first, and I think it should be the other way around. People should pursue faith first."
Kuehnis, 45, was part of the high-tech industry for 21 years. He left his last employer, Cisco Systems, two years ago because he was "ready for a change." He then spent the next year working on his book.
"Suddenly I was all alone in my apartment," Kuehnis says. "After years of ongoing fast-paced interaction, just getting an email or having someone call was a big deal."
But Kuehnis wanted to give something back to the community, and he had a story to tell. Since his background was in information technology management and programming, he had no experience as a writer and so he took writing classes through the University of California Extension system. Kuehnis credits his Willow Glen writers' group, which meets regularly at the Willow Glen Book Store, with helping him.
"The group members advised me to make various character and plot changes," he says. "Their input made me see that trying to be tricky and clever with the book wasn't necessarily satisfying to the reader."
His book is set in India. Kuehnis picked this location because he sees India as a "land of spiritual enlightenment, and a country with a cultural caste system that lends itself to natural character conflict."
He researched the country and the people for months and says, "I feel like I have been there virtually."
While writing the 210-page book, Kuehnis says there were hundreds of times that he wanted to quit the project.
"So many times I wanted to do anything but be in my apartment sitting by myself," he says. "But I had faith I could do it, and what kept me going was a vision that I would someday be holding this book in my hand."
The last few weeks have seen that vision come to fruition.
He extends this same encouragement and self-belief into the classroom, as a volunteer in the Santa Clara County Schools role model program at Willow Glen Middle School and Castro Middle School.
"I think it all fits together," he says. "Learning to overcome your fears and believing you can realize your dreams."
For the children he mentors, it's knowing they can go to college, and for himself, it's knowing he can write a story and make a difference in the world.
The book, 5 Gifts of Greatness, is available at www.giftsofgreatness.com or at the Willow Glen Book Store, 1330 Lincoln Ave.
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Campbell, California
