![]() Fred Smith, founder and CEO of Federal Express. ![]() Smith believes that fair treatment instills company loyalty, and that company loyalty always pays off. Managers are evaluated annually by both bosses and workers to ensure good relations between all levels of the company. FedEx managers are carefully trained to ensure respect for all employees, and their performance is monitored. He determined at the outset that FedEx was in the information business - that knowledge about origin, present whereabouts, destination, estimated time of arrival, price and shipment cost of his cargo was as important as its prompt delivery.Īnother principle Smith applied at FedEx was to make sure every employee felt they could share in the success of the company. ![]() Unlike many entrepreneurs, Fred Smith is also a hands-on manager, who directs every facet of corporate strategy. (Photo Credit: Jim Reid, Mephis Press-Scimitar, The CA Files) The plane is now in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Smith flew the plane from Memphis to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. August 1983: Fred Smith waves to onlookers as he boards Federal Express Corp.’s first Falcon fanjet. But Smith succeeded in renegotiating his bank loans and was able to keep the company afloat. It appeared that Smith had lost all of his investors’ money, including the capital of his own brothers and sisters. In a short time, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. In the first two years, the venture lost $27 million. On the first night of operations, a fleet of 14 jets took off with 186 packages. The delivery service began modestly with small packages and documents. The young entrepreneur raised $80 million to launch Federal Express, informally known as FedEx. “I wanted to do something productive after blowing so many things up,” he told an interviewer. Smith got his chance when he left the service and started his express transport business in 1971. While in the military, the young lieutenant observed military procurement and delivery procedures carefully, with an eye toward someday realizing his dream of a vast network dedicated to overnight commercial delivery. After four years of service in the Marines, he launched the original air-ground Federal Express network, which began operations in 1973 to serve the rapidly growing high-tech, high-value-added sectors of the economy Smith had predicted. ![]() Smith, president of Federal Express, in a photo from September 25, 1976. ![]() Smith had some adjustments to make to the realities of war, but he cherished the advice given him by a veteran Marine sergeant: “There’s only three things you gotta remember: shoot, move and communicate.” Frederick W. As the Yale-educated son of an affluent family, Lt. After graduation, Smith enlisted in the Marine Corps and served two tours of duty in Vietnam. His professor found the premise improbable, and to the best of Smith’s recollection, he only received a grade of C for this effort, but the idea remained with him. While attending Yale University, Fred Smith wrote a paper on the need for reliable overnight delivery in a computerized information age. The Smiths were a well-to-do family, but Frederick’s father died when he was only four, and the growing boy had to rely on his mother and uncles for guidance. AugAfter his graduation in 1966, Fred Smith commissioned in the Marine Corps and served two tours in Vietnam, one as an infantry officer and one as a forward air controller.įrederick W. ![]()
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