Fred Smith: From Marine to CEO of FedEx

By Maggie Wolgamot & Tom Daly of Ridgeback Business Solutions

Fred Smith’s billion dollar idea might not have come to fruition without his military experience.  

The powerhouse shipping company that today is known as FedEx came to mind while he attended Yale University in the 1960s. He held onto his idea of revolutionizing mail delivery methods into an expedited overnight process through college and two tours in Vietnam. He claims that his Marine Corps experience was where he learned the inherent details of a successful officer and company.

“When people ask what principles have guided me since I started the FedEx Corporation 35 years ago,” Smith wrote in a Military.com article for Veterans Day,  “my answer often startles them: It's the leadership tenets that I learned in the U.S. Marine Corps during my service in Vietnam…The basic principles of leading people are the bedrock of the Corps.”

Smith’s time in the military prepared even his management methods for the future company he would create. “If you were to drop in on one of our management training seminars, you'd recognize from your military days what's being taught. We tell our executives that the key to their success is to rely on their first-level managers (FedEx's counterparts of NCOs); to set an example themselves; and to praise in public when someone has done a good job. All these are standard operating procedure in the Marines.”

The saying “Once a Marine, Always a Marine” stands true for all that have served in the Corps, and Fred Smith’s testimony proves it in a tangible way: through the success of his business.

By modeling his management and even apparel precision (he still makes sure that the right-hand edge of his belt buckle lines up with his shirt front and trouser fly-- and that he has shined shoes at all times) off of the regimented protocols of the Marine Corps, Fred demonstrates the inherent nature of excellence found in a respected military officer. Should there be any surprise that the success of one transfers to the other?

Like every refined Marine, Smith had to overcome major obstacles upon opening Federal Express, the original name of FedEx. The cost of planes, pilots, and insurance stood in his way, as did designing a transportation system that could make the international 24 hour courier service feasible. So he advertised, and raised more than $90 million from venture capitalists.

Upon opening, his company didn’t take off like one would assume considering FedEx’s modern day household name. It took a solid five years to overcome financial instability and generate profit. But like all transcendent companies, perseverance isn’t the only reason Smith’s company has proven successful over the last 40 decades.

His ability to maintain relevance and build off the internet boom was paramount.

Imagine this: if Smith hadn’t created multiple internet systems that linked domestic internet purchases to FedEx’s courier service, he would have lost relevance, and you most likely would not see a white FedEx delivery truck driving through your neighborhood today.

Capitalizing on technological advancements propelled his company into an entirely new realm for the internet shopper (i.e, nearly everyone). In one decade, his company went from three hubs in America to an international company shipping more than 2.5 million packages a day.

His company catapulted.

It became a conglomerate that other businesses today truly couldn’t function without.

Bottom line, as both a business owner and military veteran,  using the knowledge of your past to build your future matters.

As does, of course, aligning your business with today’s technological trends.

Carry on & Semper Fi.

Read more about Fred Smith:

https://www.military.com/veterans-day/frederick-smith.html

https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/S-Z/Smith-Fred-1944.html