Kevin Burkart is a rock star in his family, and to anyone else who hears his tale. Motivated by his father’s courageous battle with Parkinson’s disease, he decided to do something spectacular to raise awareness for the dreadful, disabling disease. So, why not jump out of an airplane 100 times in one day? He labeled this harrowing feat: 100 Perfect Jumps for Parkinson’s.
By day, Kevin Burkart is the founder and President of The Stepstone Group – a strategic communications company headquartered in the Twin Cities. Last week, at the Good Leadership Breakfast, Kevin humbly brushed aside promoting his business. Instead, he shared his heroic skydiving tale with more than 50 community leaders. Kevin showed a video that chronicled his second event: the 200 Perfect Jumps. Honestly, this is one of those “you gotta see it to believe it” kinda of things. A well-orchestrated team of ‘packers’ helped him prepare six parachutes that were used in succession. His pilot flew up, around, down and stopped as many times as Kevin jumped out. This go-around, he skydived from the “legal ceiling” 150 times; that’s once approximately every four minutes…all day long! A couple hundred people stopped by to watch…most left after their necks got sore from peering skyward too much.
Since the first jump, he’s raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in real cash for Parkinson’s disease research. But he’s most proud of the millions upon millions of TV, radio and print ‘air time’ he’s garnered to help raise awareness for the cause. His family, the community, and the recent breakfast-goers are humbled and exceedingly proud that Kevin puts himself out there for the cause.
Oh yeah, and he’s planning for one last hurrah: 300 jumps in 2012. For more information log onto www.perfectjumps.com to learn more and contribute.
Kevin’s parting words for us was a question: What can you do to put yourself out there for something you feel strongly about? Kind of gets you thinking…right?
"We don't believe in the notion of work/life balance. This the first sentence of our signature book: What Really Works: Blending the Seven Fs to Live the Life You Imagine. Co-author Tim Schmidt and I came together around the concept of "blending." Just like this picture, we found the stress of trying to balance our "work" and our "life" was very tricky, and exhausting. Case in point: Which side of the teeter totter do you assume is the "work" and which is the "life." Work is life, life is work. Human beings were meant to work hard, build things, and enjoy serving others. Personally, I love my work, and I'm proud that my children have seen me enjoy working hard.
The evening was a robust celebration of Faith, Family, Finances, Fitness, Friends, Fun and Future. Melinda and I are grateful for the special friendship of Jeanette and Tim Schmidt. Together we started a business for the specific purpose of writing and launching this book. Who really knows what the future of this book holds...but today, we're basking in the glow; generous friends and family who made 
financial commitments to help launch the book. Matt Norman, President of Dale Carnegie Training, thanked our sponsors and welcomed all our guests. KSTP TV personality Joe Schmit was our Master of Ceremonies -- he auctioned off the first book off the press for a generous charitable donation. And Randy Pearce, from Regis Corporation, led a rousing toast to celebrate the Seven Fs.
