Those who stood out (1): Fred Smith

The entrepreneur

Fred Smith was born in 1944, in Marks, Mississipi. He attended high school at Memphis University School and in 1962 entered Yale University. He started showing signs of entrepreneurship at a very young age. As a teenager he was able to become an amateur pilot as a result of his great interest in flying. While attending Yale he presented a paper for an economic class outlining the basic ideas for an overnight delivery service. At that time the idea was considered as unfeasible. Yet it was his first vision of the business model that would completely transform the express delivery services worldwide. It was the seed for his company.

After College, he served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War: First as a rifle platoon leader in the U.S. Marines and secondly as an air controller. This experience would greatly influence his career. He got the opportunity to see the complex logistic organization in the military. During this time he developed the leadership and discipline skills required for a Marine captain. Skills that he would use afterwards to lead his venture.

Excellent visionary and hard worker, Fred Smith is one of the most recognized entrepreneurs of our time. Among many awards, we can remark: "CEO of the Year 2004" by Chief Executive Magazine and the 2008 Kellogg Award for Distinguished Leadership, presented by the Kellogg School of Management.

The Company: FedEx Express

In June 1971, Fred Smith founded Federal Express (commonly known as FedEx). Based in Memphis, Tennessee, the Company was able to start offering express delivery services to 25 main cities within the US with a fleet of 14 Falcon jets (DA-20) two years after of starting up. Despite severe difficulties in its first years the Company was able to expand the business and become the leader in its field and a reference in the industry.

Today the FedEx is delivering packages and freight to more than 375 destinations in nearly every country of the world. FedEx is the world's largest express transportation Company.

With $39.3 billion USD in revenues, a market value of $30 billion USD and over 255,000 employees across the world. FedEx is one of the greatest examples of success in the entrepreneurial world.

Key takeaways

First of all F. Smith was able to create a vision as to what the future of express delivery services should be. Fast, efficient, accurate, 24h door to door services. That was amazingly innovative at that time.

Secondly it is remarkable how he was able to overcome all the difficulties that he encountered during the first years of operation. Just in the first two years the company lost nearly $29M USD. He was convinced that the company would become profitable and he continued pursuing his dream without any qualms. Ultimately FedEx become one of the most profitable companies in US history.

Finally I want to point out the company culture that F. Smith was able to generate as a critical factor to its success. This culture inspired a profound loyalty to the company and its founder. Smith operated his company using a basic concept that he called P-S-P: people, service, profit. The three elements work together in a circle, each one supported by the others.