Frederick W. Smith - Academy of Achievement

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Smith - Academy of Achievement</title>  <meta name="description" content=""We'd run out of money, and we didn't have all of the regulatory requirements that we needed. My half-sisters were up in arms because it looked like we were going to lose some money. Everything was going wrong, except the fundamentals of the business were proving every single day that the idea was right." In 1974, it looked as though Fred Smith's dream of a worldwide overnight delivery system was about to go up in flames. His family's capital was spent, the bank loans were due and the demand for a service of this kind was still unproved. But Smith hung on, and subsequent developments in the world economy proved him right. Today, few in the business world could imagine getting along without an overnight delivery system like Federal Express. FedEx drop boxes and FedEx trucks are a familiar part of the American landscape, and FedEx planes circle the globe delivering everything from chocolates to airplane parts. Fred Smith, Chairman and CEO of Federal Express Corporation, is known as the "father of the overnight delivery business," and the Marine Corps veteran who teetered on the verge of bankruptcy is one of American business's greatest success stories."/> <meta name="robots" content="noodp"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frederick-w-smith/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Frederick W. Smith - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">"We'd run out of money, and we didn't have all of the regulatory requirements that we needed. My half-sisters were up in arms because it looked like we were going to lose some money. Everything was going wrong, except the fundamentals of the business were proving every single day that the idea was right."</p> <p class="inputText">In 1974, it looked as though Fred Smith's dream of a worldwide overnight delivery system was about to go up in flames. His family's capital was spent, the bank loans were due and the demand for a service of this kind was still unproved. But Smith hung on, and subsequent developments in the world economy proved him right.</p> <p class="inputText">Today, few in the business world could imagine getting along without an overnight delivery system like Federal Express. FedEx drop boxes and FedEx trucks are a familiar part of the American landscape, and FedEx planes circle the globe delivering everything from chocolates to airplane parts.</p> <p class="inputText">Fred Smith, Chairman and CEO of Federal Express Corporation, is known as the "father of the overnight delivery business," and the Marine Corps veteran who teetered on the verge of bankruptcy is one of American business's greatest success stories.</p>"/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frederick-w-smith/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/SMITH-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="2800"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1120"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">"We'd run out of money, and we didn't have all of the regulatory requirements that we needed. My half-sisters were up in arms because it looked like we were going to lose some money. Everything was going wrong, except the fundamentals of the business were proving every single day that the idea was right."</p> <p class="inputText">In 1974, it looked as though Fred Smith's dream of a worldwide overnight delivery system was about to go up in flames. His family's capital was spent, the bank loans were due and the demand for a service of this kind was still unproved. But Smith hung on, and subsequent developments in the world economy proved him right.</p> <p class="inputText">Today, few in the business world could imagine getting along without an overnight delivery system like Federal Express. FedEx drop boxes and FedEx trucks are a familiar part of the American landscape, and FedEx planes circle the globe delivering everything from chocolates to airplane parts.</p> <p class="inputText">Fred Smith, Chairman and CEO of Federal Express Corporation, is known as the "father of the overnight delivery business," and the Marine Corps veteran who teetered on the verge of bankruptcy is one of American business's greatest success stories.</p>"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Frederick W. Smith - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/SMITH-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/>  <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://s.w.org/"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/web/20170609045300cs_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/dist/styles/main-2a51bc91cb.css"> </head> <body class="achiever-template-default single single-achiever postid-3181 frederick-w-smith sidebar-primary">  <header class="main-header bg-black"> <div class="search-container clearfix"> <div class="container"> <a class="brand" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/"> <img class="logo" src="/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/logo@2x.png" alt="Academy of Achievement"/> </a> <div class="search-form__container"> <form 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data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/SMITH-Feature-Image-2800x1120-380x152.jpg [(max-width:544px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/03/SMITH-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg [(max-width:992px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/03/SMITH-Feature-Image-2800x1120-1400x560.jpg"></div> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <figcaption class="feature-area__text ratio-container__text container"> <div class="feature-area__text-inner text-white"> <h2 class="serif-8 feature-area__text-subhead back"><a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever">All achievers</a></h2> <h1 class="serif-1 entry-title feature-area__text-headline">Frederick W. Smith</h1> <h5 class="sans-6 feature-area__blurb">Founder and Chairman, FedEx Corporation</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#profile" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Profile">Profile</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#interview" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Interview">Interview</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#gallery" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Gallery">Gallery</a> </li> </ul> </nav> <article class="post-3181 achiever type-achiever status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry careers-entrepreneur"> <div class="entry-content container clearfix">  <div class="tab-content"> <div class="tab-pane fade in active" id="biography" role="tabpanel"> <section class="achiever--biography"> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">I was very, very, very sure that what we were doing was extremely important and was destined to be successful. So, that's the definition of an insane person or a zealot. And most entrepreneurs, I think you would find, have that sort of green wire laid in there just a little bit crosswise.</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">Father of the Overnight Delivery Business</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> August 11, 1944 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p class="inputtextfirst">Frederick W. Smith was born in Memphis, Tennessee. 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.</p> <p class="inputtext">While attending Yale University, Fred Smith wrote a paper on the need for reliable overnight delivery in a computerized information age. 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.</p> <p class="inputtext">After graduation, Smith enlisted in the Marine Corps and served two tours of duty in Vietnam. As the Yale-educated son of an affluent family, Lt. 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.”</p> <figure id="attachment_23023" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-23023 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FredSmithFederalExpress-Medium.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-23023 size-full lazyload" alt="Fred Smith, founder and CEO of Federal Express. Smith named the company Federal Express because he believed the patriotic meaning associated with the word “federal” suggested an interest in nationwide economic activity." width="1024" height="768" data-sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" data-srcset="/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FredSmithFederalExpress-Medium.jpg 1024w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FredSmithFederalExpress-Medium-380x285.jpg 380w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FredSmithFederalExpress-Medium-760x570.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FredSmithFederalExpress-Medium.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Fred Smith, founder and CEO of Federal Express. Smith named the company Federal Express because he believed the patriotic meaning associated with the word “federal” suggested an interest in nationwide economic activity.</figcaption></figure><p class="inputtext">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. Smith got his chance when he left the service and started his express transport business in 1971. “I wanted to do something productive after blowing so many things up,” he told an interviewer.</p> <p class="inputtext">The young entrepreneur raised $80 million to launch Federal Express, informally known as FedEx. The delivery service began modestly with small packages and documents. On the first night of operations, a fleet of 14 jets took off with 186 packages. In the first two years, the venture lost $27 million. In a short time, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. It appeared that Smith had lost all of his investors’ money, including the capital of his own brothers and sisters. But Smith succeeded in renegotiating his bank loans and was able to keep the company afloat.</p> <p class="inputtext">Unlike many entrepreneurs, Fred Smith is also a hands-on manager, who directs every facet of corporate strategy. 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.</p> <figure id="attachment_23026" style="width: 1346px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-23026 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-02110603337.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-23026 size-full lazyload" alt="November 6, 2002: FedEx Corporation Chairman, President and CEO Frederick W. Smith talks during Boston College's Chief Executives' Club luncheon in Boston. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki)" width="1346" height="2000" data-sizes="(max-width: 1346px) 100vw, 1346px" data-srcset="/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-02110603337.jpg 1346w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-02110603337-256x380.jpg 256w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-02110603337-511x760.jpg 511w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-02110603337.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">November 6, 2002: Frederick W. Smith talks during Boston College’s Chief Executives’ Club luncheon in Boston.</figcaption></figure><p class="inputtext">Another principle Smith applied at FedEx was to make sure every employee felt they could share in the success of the company. FedEx managers are carefully trained to ensure respect for all employees, and their performance is monitored. Managers are evaluated annually by both bosses and workers to ensure good relations between all levels of the company. Smith believes that fair treatment instills company loyalty, and that company loyalty always pays off.</p> <p class="inputtext">Smith’s professor at Yale may not have seen the need for overnight delivery, but today’s business world depends on businesses like FedEx shipping all manner of goods around the globe quickly and reliably. Smith’s fleet of MD11s and A300s circle the globe carrying all manner of goods: Maine lobsters, Japanese cherries, Hawaiian flowers, medicines, heart monitors, contact lenses, surgical scalpels, tennis shoes, circuit boards, fresh blood, tractor parts, auto bumpers, European fragrances, Swiss watch parts. As Smith says: “We are the clipper ships of the computer age.”</p> <p class="inputtext">In 1997, Smith acquired the $2.7 billion Caliber System, whose trucking subsidiary RPS ranked second in ground shipments, exceeded only by UPS, the United Parcel Service. The RPS fleet of 13,500 trucks increased FedEx’s profit margin, because ground fleets are cheaper to operate than airplanes. It also gave FedEx the extra muscle it needed to step into the breach when FedEx competitor UPS was immobilized by a strike later that year.</p> <figure id="attachment_23021" style="width: 2000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-23021 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ddsmith1.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-23021 size-full lazyload" alt="September 2016: Fred Smith, Chairman and CEO of FedEx." width="2000" height="1333" data-sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" data-srcset="/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ddsmith1.jpg 2000w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ddsmith1-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ddsmith1-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ddsmith1.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">September 2016: Fred Smith, Chairman and CEO of FedEx. Fred Smith’s father died when he was only four and the boy was raised by his mother and uncles. Smith was crippled by bone disease as a small boy, but regained his health by age ten, before becoming an excellent football player and learning to fly at age fifteen. He had a great interest in flying and became an amateur pilot as a teenager. In 1962, Fred Smith entered Yale University, and while attending the college, he wrote a paper for an economics class, outlining overnight delivery service in a computer information age. The paper became the idea of FedEx. As a marine in the Vietnam War, Smith had “the opportunity to observe the military’s logistic system first hand. He served two tours of duty in Vietnam, flying with pilots on over 200 combat missions. While in the military, Smith carefully observed the procurement and delivery procedures, fine-tuning his dream for an overnight delivery service.” On June 18, 1971, Fred Smith founded Federal Express with his $4 million inheritance and raised $91 million in venture capital. In 1973, the company began offering service to 25 cities, and it began with small packages and documents, and a fleet of 14 small jets.</figcaption></figure><p class="inputtext">Fred Smith’s effort to instill company loyalty bore fruit. During the UPS strike, when FedEx was swamped with 800,000 extra packages a day, thousands of employees, many of whom had already worked a full day, voluntarily poured into the hubs a little before midnight to sort the mountain of extra packages. Smith publicly thanked them in 11 full-page newspaper ads; he also ordered special bonuses.</p> <p class="inputtext">When the strike was over and the smoke cleared, FedEx had pulled roughly two percentage points of market share away from UPS, increasing its share of the express transportation market to more than 43 percent. The stock market responded to FedEx’s gains. Over the course of the year, the company’s share price rose by nearly 70 percent. While UPS has faced additional labor unrest among its pilots, FedEx pilots are among the best-compensated and most contented in the industry.</p> <figure id="attachment_23197" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-23197 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/First_FedEx_van_Memphis_TN_2013-05-17_002.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-23197 lazyload" alt="First FedEx van on display at the world headquarters complex in Memphis, Tennessee.(Thomas R Machnitzki)" width="1024" height="768" data-sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" data-srcset="/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/First_FedEx_van_Memphis_TN_2013-05-17_002.jpg 1024w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/First_FedEx_van_Memphis_TN_2013-05-17_002-380x285.jpg 380w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/First_FedEx_van_Memphis_TN_2013-05-17_002-760x570.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/First_FedEx_van_Memphis_TN_2013-05-17_002.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">The first FedEx van on display at the world headquarters complex in Memphis, Tennessee. (Thomas R Machnitzki)</figcaption></figure><p class="inputtext">Fred Smith has never allowed FedEx to rest on its laurels. Continuous improvement is one of his fundamental management principles. In the 1990s, the company installed computer terminals in the offices of over 100,000 customers and gave proprietary software to more than half a million more, enabling shippers to label their own packages. Today, most FedEx customers print their own labels directly from the FedEx website. FedEx receives electronic notification to pick up the cargo, then ships and delivers. Competitors in the express delivery business are still rushing to catch up with FedEx’s technological advances.</p> <p class="inputtext">In 2001, FedEx made an unprecedented deal with the United States Post Office, contracting to transport large mail shipments for the Post Office, while installing FedEx drop boxes in U.S. Post Offices. Three years later, FedEx also took on international express shipments for the Post Office. That same year, 2004, FedEx purchased the document services company Kinko’s, eventually renaming the business FedEx Office. At over 1,800 locations across the United States, customers can print, copy and bind their documents and dispatch them for overnight shipping from one convenient location. In April 2015, FedEx acquired their rival firm TNT Express for 4.8 billion as the company expanded their operations throughout Europe.</p> <figure id="attachment_23279" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-23279 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-FEDex_777F_767-300F.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-23279 size-full lazyload" alt="January 2016: FedEx 777-F and 767-F aircraft. FedEx Corporation announced that it has committed to 16 freight version 777 aircraft from Boeing. At list prices, the order has a value of a little above $5 billion. The aircraft has the highest Gross Max Structural Payload—the maximum weight each aircraft can carry—of all of the aircraft on its fleet. According to FedEx’s stat book, the aircraft can carry total cargo of 233,300 pounds. At the end of 2QFY16, FedEx had an operational fleet of 656 aircraft. Of these, 281 are different versions of Boeing’s freight aircraft.With one of the world's largest aircraft fleets, FedEx Express is the largest member of the United States Civil Reserve Air Fleet in terms of aircraft pledged." width="2280" height="1710" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-FEDex_777F_767-300F.jpg 2280w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-FEDex_777F_767-300F-380x285.jpg 380w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-FEDex_777F_767-300F-760x570.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-FEDex_777F_767-300F.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">January 2016: FedEx Corporation announced that it has committed to 16 freight version 777 aircraft from Boeing. At list prices, the order has a value of a little above $5 billion. The aircraft has the highest Gross Max Structural Payload—the maximum weight each aircraft can carry—of all of the aircraft on its fleet. According to FedEx’s stat book, the aircraft can carry total cargo of 233,300 pounds. At the end of 2016, FedEx had an operational fleet of 656 aircraft. Of these, 281 are different versions of Boeing’s freight aircraft. With one of the world’s largest aircraft fleets, FedEx Express is the largest member of the United States Civil Reserve Air Fleet in terms of aircraft pledged.</figcaption></figure><p class="inputtext">Today, FedEx Corporation is the world’s leading express transportation provider. More than 400,000 FedEx team members worldwide field a fleet of 656 aircraft and more than 150,000 other motorized vehicles, delivering over 12 million packages every business day, to more than 220 countries and territories. In 2016, FedEx’s annual revenue exceeded $50 billion.</p> <p class="inputtext">Fred Smith amassed a personal fortune of $4 billion by enabling the world of business to deliver its goods quickly, anywhere in the world. Businesses seeking to reduce the costs of maintaining large inventory are increasingly adopting “just in time” delivery practices, increasing the demand for express services like FedEx. The rise of Internet commerce and the growth of the global economy also contributed to the company’s growth. FedEx capitalized on both of these trends, with proprietary software for Internet catalogue service, and the completion of facilities in the Philippines, Taiwan, France and China. Around the globe, communications and transport continue to develop along the lines Fred Smith predicted in his term paper half a century ago.</p></body></html> <div class="clearfix"> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 1998 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.entrepreneur">Entrepreneur</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> August 11, 1944 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p class="inputTextFirst">“We’d run out of money, and we didn’t have all of the regulatory requirements that we needed. My half-sisters were up in arms because it looked like we were going to lose some money. Everything was going wrong, except the fundamentals of the business were proving every single day that the idea was right.”</p> <p class="inputText">In 1974, it looked as though Fred Smith’s dream of a worldwide overnight delivery system was about to go up in flames. His family’s capital was spent, the bank loans were due and the demand for a service of this kind was still unproved. But Smith hung on, and subsequent developments in the world economy proved him right.</p> <p class="inputText">Today, few in the business world could imagine getting along without an overnight delivery system like Federal Express. FedEx drop boxes and FedEx trucks are a familiar part of the American landscape, and FedEx planes circle the globe delivering everything from chocolates to airplane parts.</p> <p class="inputText">Fred Smith, Chairman and CEO of Federal Express Corporation, is known as the “father of the overnight delivery business,” and the Marine Corps veteran who teetered on the verge of bankruptcy is one of American business’s greatest success stories.</p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/3JD6KFer36Y?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_17_31_12.Still001-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_17_31_12.Still001-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">Father of the Overnight Delivery Business</h2> <div class="sans-2">Jackson Hole, Wyoming</div> <div class="sans-2">May 23, 1998</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>Where and when did you get the idea for Federal Express?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: The original idea came in two parts. The first part was when…</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/HC_96HiUXmo?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_25_17_06.Still002-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_25_17_06.Still002-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">I was a student at Yale and wrote a paper about the computerized society that was on the horizon. It was pretty clear then, with IBM installing the big computers around, that the world was going to change. And the paper was about how this was going to change a lot of things, and in particular it was going to change the way things had to be distributed and moved to support those automated devices. Then I sort of let that lie. I didn’t get a particularly good grade on it, as I recall.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p class="inputtext">I don’t think it was prescient, or brilliant in any respect. When I graduated from Yale in 1966, I went into the service, like a great percentage of my classmates at that time. The Vietnam War had begun in earnest, and I spent four and a half years in the Marine Corps. That’s when I sort of crystallized the idea for FedEx on the supply side, how to solve the problem that had been identified in that paper.</p> <p>In the military there’s a tremendous amount of waste. The supplies were sort of pushed forward, like you push food onto a table. And invariably, all of the supplies were in the wrong place for where they were needed. Observing that and trying to think about ways to have a different type of a distribution system is what crystallized the idea.</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/0WStBlSpIY4?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_28_00_06.Still012-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_28_00_06.Still012-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">The solution was, in my mind, to have an integrated air and ground system, which had never been done. And to operate not on a linear basis, where you try to take things from one point to another, but operate in a systemic manner. Sort of the way a bank clearing house does, you know? They have a bank clearing house in the middle of all the banks and everybody sends someone down there and they swap everything around. Well, that had been done in transportation before: the Indian post office, the French post office. American Airlines had tried a system like that shortly after World War II. But the demand side and supply side had really not met at an appropriate level of maturation.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_23029" style="width: 1965px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-23029 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith_fred__panda_arrival_20030407.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-23029 size-full lazyload" alt="April 7, 2003: FedEx founder Fred Smith at the arrival ceremony for the two giant pandas, Le Le and Ya Ya, at the FedEx air field. The pandas were transported in a specially equipped FedEx airplane and greeted by Chinese and Memphis dignataries and guests. The arrival of the pandas offered both an introduction to Chinese culture and the opportunity for research by Rhodes students with biology professor Dr. Alan Jaslow. (Kevin Barre)" width="1965" height="3000" data-sizes="(max-width: 1965px) 100vw, 1965px" data-srcset="/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith_fred__panda_arrival_20030407.jpg 1965w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith_fred__panda_arrival_20030407-249x380.jpg 249w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith_fred__panda_arrival_20030407-498x760.jpg 498w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith_fred__panda_arrival_20030407.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">April 7, 2003: FedEx founder Fred Smith at the arrival ceremony for the two giant pandas, Le Le and Ya Ya, at the FedEx air field. The pandas were transported in a specially equipped FedEx airplane and greeted by Chinese and Memphis dignitaries and guests. The arrival of the pandas offered both an introduction to Chinese culture and the opportunity for research by Rhodes College students with their biology professor Dr. Alan Jaslow. (Kevin Barre)</figcaption></figure></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/2ArLG-o-Rh0?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_01_44_21.Still003-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_01_44_21.Still003-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/passion/">Passion</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">By the early ’70s, when I’d gotten out of the service, it was very clear that this new society was coming in earnest. And so, at that point I said, “What the hell, let’s try to put it together.” And that’s how FedEx came to be. And then from that point forward, the requirements for this type of system were so profound and so big, really for the next 25 years to this date we’ve simply been running just to keep up with the requirements. And that’s what led to the hundreds of planes and the thousands of trucks. I wish it was something that I could say I was so smart. It was just like Pogo the Possum said, “If you want to be a great leader, find a big parade and run in front of it.” And that’s what we’ve been doing for the last quarter century.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_23028" style="width: 2165px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-23028 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-Corbis-DWF15-942437.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-23028 size-full lazyload" alt="October 2004: Fred Smith in New York. (Corbis)" width="2165" height="3000" data-sizes="(max-width: 2165px) 100vw, 2165px" data-srcset="/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-Corbis-DWF15-942437.jpg 2165w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-Corbis-DWF15-942437-274x380.jpg 274w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-Corbis-DWF15-942437-548x760.jpg 548w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-Corbis-DWF15-942437.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">October 2004: Fred Smith in New York. (Corbis)</figcaption></figure><p class="inputtext"><b>There are a lot of people with ideas, and brains, and potential who don’t achieve whatever goals they might have. How do you account for your success? For your ability to do what you’ve done?</b></p> <p class="inputtext">Frederick Smith: First and foremost, the idea was a profound idea, as has been shown. Today we have 170,000 employees and $16 billion. As I said, the requirement for this type of a system was so great and was increasing at the time. I just had the good luck to have an idea that was on the tide of history.</p> <p class="inputtext">I’m sure many other people who’ve been much more successful would say the same thing. Bill Gates was given the opportunity to make the operating system for IBM and then there was a huge explosion of demand for PCs. I wish it were not the case, but an awful lot of success is being in the right place at the right time. That was a very big part of it.</p> <p>Naïveté was also a big part. I didn’t know that I couldn’t do this.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/KOhubKARgDE?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_02_49_27.Still004-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_02_49_27.Still004-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/courage/">Courage</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">In retrospect it was ridiculous to try to put this system together, which required so much up front money, and required changing a lot of government regulations, but I didn’t know that at the time. And I think probably my experience in the service, where — the currency of exchange in FedEx was just money, it wasn’t people’s arms and legs, or lives. So my perspective on it was perhaps a bit more — I don’t know how you’d say it. I was willing to take a chance, because losing wasn’t the worst thing in the world that could happen to you. I had seen that very clearly. So luck, naïveté, willingness to roll the dice to do something productive, were all individual parts of the puzzle.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_23027" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-23027 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-060815015064.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-23027 size-full lazyload" alt="August 15, 2006: FedEx Corporation founder Fred Smith, right, takes part in a discussion with Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Nashville, Tennessee. Smith warned state lawmakers that enacting laws regulating business can drive companies overseas. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)" width="2280" height="1862" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-060815015064.jpg 2280w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-060815015064-380x310.jpg 380w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-060815015064-760x621.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-060815015064.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">August 15, 2006: FedEx Corporation founder Fred Smith, right, takes part in a discussion with Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Nashville, Tennessee. Smith warned state lawmakers that enacting laws regulating business can drive companies overseas.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>You had a certain vision. The post office didn’t come up with this idea.</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/AylthL4DpzM?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_35_38_27.Still008-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_35_38_27.Still008-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/passion/">Passion</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">Frederick Smith: I was very convinced that the idea was the central feature of the new economy. That without a system like this, it simply wasn’t going to be able to work. So I was, in every sense of the word, a zealot. I mean, I felt very strongly that this needed to be done, that it was something that would be extremely useful to people and that it would make the economy and the society and the system work much better than it would work absent that. So many things have evolved out of that system. Dell Computer relies on the types of systems that we pioneered. High-tech and high value-added businesses are by far the preponderance of economic activity in this country and increasingly around the world, and these types of business are facilitated by systems like FedEx, or — I hate to say it — our able competitors.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p><strong>There are always detours. What kind of adversities have you had to overcome?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I’ve had all kinds of adversity, but I think you have to put those things in perspective. I have to go back to my experience in the Marine Corps. My life has been a walk in the park compared to the adversity that a lot of people have seen. I’ve enjoyed every bit of putting the company together. Even the bad parts I learned from. I’ve enjoyed it immensely, and I enjoy what I’m doing today. I enjoy running the company.</p> <figure id="attachment_23033" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-23033 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/AP_455448600304.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-23033 size-full lazyload" alt="July 19, 2007: From left, Jim Whitehurst, COO of Delta Air Lines, talks with Fred Smith, CEO of Federal Express, before the start of the Senate Finance Committee Energy, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Subcommittee hearing on "Aviation Financing: Industry Perspectives." (CQ Roll Call via AP Images)" width="2280" height="1524" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/AP_455448600304.jpg 2280w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/AP_455448600304-380x254.jpg 380w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/AP_455448600304-760x508.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/AP_455448600304.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">2007: Jim Whitehurst of Delta Air Lines, talks with Fred Smith, before the Senate Finance Committee Energy, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Subcommittee hearing on “Aviation Financing: Industry Perspectives.”</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Going to war does give one some perspective.</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: It really does. I can’t emphasize that enough. That puts a different perspective on things forever.</p> <p><strong>From what I’ve read, 24 years ago this month you were at a low point in trying to make Federal Express happen. Can you tell us something about that?</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/gJ5F4v4OuZc?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_28_00_06.Still012-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_28_00_06.Still012-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/perseverance/">Perseverance</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">Frederick Smith: We’d run out of money and we didn’t have all of the regulatory requirements that we needed. My half-sisters were up in arms because it looked like we were going to lose some money. I mean, everything was going wrong, except the fundamentals of the business were proving every single day that the idea was right. I mean, every single day the traffic was going up, and so eventually everything came right and worked out fine.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p>The motivation I had in those days was that I didn’t want to let down the people who had signed on with me. It goes straight back to that Marine Corps experience. I wasn’t afraid to lose my money. I knew I was right, I knew I had put this thing together properly and that it was going to be all right. That was what stood me in good stead.</p> <figure id="attachment_23030" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-23030 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/smith-f-2.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-23030 size-full lazyload" alt="October 16, 2013: Frederick "Fred" Smith, Chairman, President and CEO of FedEx Corporation, speaks at the OPEC Oil Embargo +40 conference hosted by Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE) in Washington, D.C. on October 16, 2013. To mark the 40th anniversary of the OPEC oil embargo, leading CEOs, technology innovators, policymakers, and military leaders participated in a summit to discuss the state of American energy security. (Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg)" width="2280" height="1535" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/smith-f-2.jpg 2280w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/smith-f-2-380x256.jpg 380w, /web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/smith-f-2-760x512.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/smith-f-2.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">October 16, 2013: Frederick “Fred” Smith, Chairman, President and CEO of FedEx Corporation, speaks at the OPEC Oil Embargo +40 conference hosted by Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) in Washington, D.C. on October 16, 2013. To mark the 40th anniversary of the OPEC oil embargo, leading CEOs, technology innovators, policymakers, and military leaders participated in a summit to discuss the state of American energy security.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>You never lost confidence.</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170609045300if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/JIYveGFTx6U?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_09_06_23.Still005-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Smith-Fred-1998-MasterEdit.00_09_06_23.Still005-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/courage/">Courage</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">Frederick Smith: The reason I never lost confidence is because I never believed that the consequences of losing were as bad as some other people might have thought, you know? “Oh my goodness, I’ve lost my money!” or what have you. I mean, I just wasn’t motivated along those lines. And I was very, very, very sure that what we were doing was extremely important and was destined to be successful. So that’s the definition I think of an insane person, or a zealot. And most entrepreneurs, I think you would find, have that sort of green wire laid in there just a little bit cross-wise. And they begin to get focused on something, and they believe in the idea or themselves far beyond what they probably should.</p> </div> </div>     <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night and say, “I want to give it all up?”</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: No, I never felt that way at all. I was very committed to the people that had signed on with me and if we were going to go down, we were going to go down with a fight. It wasn’t going to be because I checked out and didn’t finish it out.</p> <p><strong>How would you describe your childhood?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: My childhood was autonomous, in the main. My father passed away when I was four. I had a lovely mother, but not having a father influence, I learned a lot of things on my own. I think that would be the best characterization of it.</p> <p><strong>How did you learn those things?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: Through a lot of hard knocks. Learning when to stand up, when to sit down, when to shut up and when not to. I had a couple of uncles that were very helpful to me, but I was not around them every day. But in the summers and so forth they were very good to me in terms of teaching me a few things about life. Certainly, my coaches were very important to me. My high school football coach was very important to me, in setting me straight on a few things.</p> <p><strong>What did you learn from your high school football coach?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: He was a little guy who was a great football player at Georgia Tech, and he just was indefatigable. He just would never, ever say die. He absolutely proved to me that persistence was a very big part of making it in life. I never forgot that lesson.</p> <p><strong>Do you have siblings?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I have a half-brother and had another half-brother who passed away. I had an adopted sister and a half-sister, but I never lived with them.</p> <p><strong>How did you get along with your brothers and sisters?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: Well, my middle brother and I used to try to beat the devil out of one another on a regular basis. Just kid stuff. He was about five or six years older than I was. And then of course, like most siblings, we grew up and got to be very close. I thank goodness for my big brother, who always mediated between the two of us.</p> <p><strong>Did you think being a younger brother affected you in any way?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: Perhaps it did, but the age differences were so great that it wasn’t to the extent that it might be with brothers who are closer in age.</p> <p><strong>Were there any important experiences that influenced you or inspired you as a youngster? </strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I don’t think that there was any one incident that changed my life. It was simply the observation of a lot of people that I admired. I synthesized a lot of things from my coach, my uncles, my teachers in a certain area. I had a marvelous English teacher who opened my eyes to the fact there’d been a lot of people on this planet before my time who might have a thing or two to say that were of use. So, I got a lot of things from a lot of people. I picked and chose.</p> <p><strong>What kind of a student were you?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I was a good student. I liked to read enormously. I loved history. It was not difficult for me to make good grades.</p> <p><strong>Were there any books that were important to you when you were a kid?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I read a lot of history, and still do, as a matter of fact. I remember reading a very famous book called <em>Death Be Not Proud,</em> that affected me a lot. It’s about a young boy who had a brain tumor and how he handled that. I read an awful lot about famous people, the generals and the presidents, and things of that nature.</p> <p><strong>How did you spend your spare time? Obviously, you were an athlete.</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I always loved to play sports and that was the biggest avocation I had as a youngster. I suspect that I was unusual in the amount of reading I did. I loved to read when I was young, I love to read today. I still spend a tremendous amount of time doing that.</p> <p><strong>Are there any other books that come to mind from your childhood?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I remember reading a biography of General Lee, of course, which was obligatory for any kid from the South. Perhaps he was working for not a very good cause, but the way the man conducted his affairs and managed his life were exemplary. I think that had a very big effect on me.</p> <p><strong>How did you get along with your classmates?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I was okay in that regard. I had a lot of buddies, and got in my share of scrapes and jams, the same way everybody does. The occasional schoolyard tussle and pulling a prank every once in a while, nothing really serious.</p> <p><strong>When did you know what you wanted to do with your life?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I didn’t really decide that until I was in the Marine Corps and decided that I wanted to go into business.</p> <p><strong>How were you affected by your Vietnam experience?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: Profoundly, in many ways, some good, some bad. Obviously, the war was a very traumatic thing for all of us who participated in it. Clearly, one of the great historical mistakes of all times. Barbara Tuchman wrote a great book about the great historical mistakes: George III losing the colonies, the Catholic Church losing the monopoly on Christendom, and Johnson’s prosecution of the Vietnam War. For those of us who were in it, it was very traumatic, as anything like that would be, but there were some good things about it, too.</p> <p>I learned an awful lot in the Marine Corps — particularly about, I think, how to treat people, lead people — which has played a big role in FedEx. A big part of the employee relations systems and all that we have at our company came from my experience in the service. The Marine Corps is the best when it comes to teaching people how to lead other folks. And so, it had a profound experience on me, some bad, some good.</p> <p><strong>Can you be more specific about what you learned about interpersonal relations?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: Well, you have to remember, when I was in the Marine Corps as a lieutenant, I had come up from a good background, went to a fine university at Yale. I wasn’t exactly exposed to folks that were in the blue collar professions and occupations. And then here I was in the Marine Corps, and became a platoon leader, and I was surrounded by kids like that. I maybe was three years older than they were. I was 21, they were 18. But these were youngsters from very different backgrounds than I was. You know, blue collar backgrounds, steelworkers, and truck drivers, and gas station folks. And there we were, out in the countryside in Vietnam, living together, eating together and obviously going through all sorts of things.</p> <p>I think I came up with a very, very different perspective than most people that end up in senior management positions about what people who wear blue collars think about things and how they react to things, and what you should do to try to be fair to those folks. So in that regard it was an invaluable experience. And a great deal of what FedEx has been able to accomplish was built on those lessons I learned in the Marine Corps.</p> <p><strong>Was there anyone in particular in the Marines who had a profound impact on you?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: There were several people who profoundly affected me. One was my platoon sergeant, Staff Sergeant Jack Jackson, who was a very wise man, about 10 or 15 years older than I was. I was the officer and he was the senior NCO, and of all of the education I ever got, I think he was the one that gave me the Ph.D., so to speak. I also had a very close friend in our battalion chaplain, Father Vince Capodano, who had a profound effect on me. He ended up receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor, as a matter of fact. I think those two people had a big effect on me.</p> <p><strong>What did you learn from Sergeant Jackson?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: Sergeant Jackson was a man who knew the ways of the world. He knew the way nine-to-five, blue-collar folks look at things. He gave me a real education on that. He was a wonderful man and taught me a lot.</p> <p>When I first met Sergeant Jackson I had grown a mustache and had taken up the affectation of smoking cigars, because I thought this made me look, you know, quite dashing and much older than my 22 years, or what have you. And the first thing that Sergeant Jackson did after I asked him to, in essence, take the insignia off, you know, just tell me straight up what I could do to improve my performance. And he told me, he said, “Well, the first thing, shave off that ridiculous mustache, and quite smoking the cigars — because you look absurd — and be yourself.” And I don’t think I ever forgot that. I don’t think I ever tried an affectation after that point in my life.</p> <p>He told me I looked like a smooth-faced kid trying to be something that I wasn’t. That stuck with me a long time, to this day.</p> <p><strong>Have you had to make sacrifices to succeed in business?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: You have to pay a big personal price in terms of time and other things. You have to have a decision regarding priorities. If you’re not willing to work hard, if you’re not willing to give it your total commitment, you’re probably not going to be successful.</p> <p>That means you’re probably not going to be a very good golfer. You have to do what I do, take up tennis, where you can do it in an hour and a half. You can’t spend five hours on it. You have to prioritize what’s important for you and what’s not.</p> <p><strong>What do you think are the most important principles, or ideals, or policies that have made Federal Express such a success?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: First and foremost is our corporate philosophy, which we call PSP: People, Service, Profit. If you’re going to run a high service organization, you have to get the commitment of the people working for that organization right at the start. If you don’t, you’ll never be able to deliver at the levels of expectations of the customer.</p> <p>You can’t make people do what’s right. You can lead them, and you can empower them to make the right decision, but if you don’t produce a culture that allows them to do that, then all the rest is just bumping your gums as one of my old business partners used to say. That’s Jim Barksdale of Netscape, by the way, who’s been very successful himself.</p> <p>Our “People, Service, Profit” philosophy insists that our people be treated fairly. If we give good service and we come up with a reasonable profit, we make that a good deal for our employees, with profit sharing, promotions, complaint procedures. If you spend any time looking at the culture of FedEx, you’ll find that PSP philosophy is the foundation of everything else. Secondarily, our management system is built on continuous quality improvement.</p> <p>We decided a long time ago that percentages were not acceptable to our customers. In other words, 99 percent sounds great, unless you’re the one percent who we don’t deliver for. So we never talk about percentages. We built a management system which measures problems on an absolute basis. And the secret is, as traffic or volume increases, the number of complaints have to go down on an absolute basis. In other words, we’ve got to get better and better year after year.</p> <p>We spend a huge amount of money, particularly on the technology, to allow us incremental improvements in every part of the operation year after year, month after month. That’s the second thing that was a big part of our success. The third underlying element of the FedEx culture, after the philosophy and the continuous improvement management system, has been the focus on change.</p> <p>As time changed and markets changed and peoples’ expectations changed, we changed with them. For example, when it became obvious that people wanted to interface with FedEx electronically, many years before people were doing this, we built an electronic interface system that allowed them to do business with us. When the Internet came on the horizon, we built versions of that that allowed people to interface with FedEx over the Internet. And now there are millions of people doing business with FedEx every day electronically.</p> <p>There are lots of different examples of that. We have a culture that allows us to change without threatening the people that work at the company.</p> <p><strong>What led you to make the guarantee? That’s the simplest, but maybe the scariest part of the whole thing.</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: That was putting our money where our mouth is. The fundamental principle behind fast cycle or express transportation is that you are substituting your services for other processes. If an electronics manufacturer is going to operate without inventory, or field service engineers are not going to have the parts and pieces to fix things rat-holed in the trunk of their car, then when they need the part or piece, or they need the item delivered to the customer, you’ve got to perform. You’ve got to be able to let them know where this item is all the time.</p> <p>It’s not like we’re carrying sand and gravel. You know, we’re carrying chemotherapy drugs, and important manuscripts, and electronic parts, and pieces for airplanes that are grounded. So when we pick it up and say, “We’re going to have it there early the next morning,” I mean we have to deliver. There’s nothing else to it. So putting the guarantee in place was much more important internally than it was externally. Because most of our customers — based on the experience they’ve had with us — they believe we’ll do it. But it’s when we said to all of the employees, “This is guaranteed. If we don’t get it there, we don’t get paid.”</p> <p>That made it very clear to everybody what they need to do every day. We manage the continuous improvement in a mathematical manner every single day. Our service gets better each year. That’s very rare for big service organizations. Most of the time, as they get larger service deteriorates, it doesn’t improve.</p> <p><strong>How do you handle the stress, and the responsibility for all these employees?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I don’t find it that stressful. I find it fun. Business is a game, it’s great fun. I take enormous pride in the fact that we now have 170,000 people employed. That’s what it’s all about, giving people good jobs and we try to have a lot of fun. Our very famous advertising has always been tongue in cheek. The fast-talking man, and 10 or 15 years ago, up to the 1998 Super Bowl, where we ran a test pattern and put a little script down at the bottom that said, “It would have been a great commercial but they didn’t send it FedEx.”</p> <p><strong>How important is a sense of humor?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: It’s everything. I can’t imagine going through life without being able to laugh at things. Even when things get bad, there’s always a humorous side to it. I think it may be the most important attribute somebody can have to get through life, because everybody has tragedy, and everybody has bad things happen. If you don’t have that reservoir good will, or ability to look at yourself with a little bit of humor, I think you’re missing an awful lot of life.</p> <p><strong>No matter what the field, you can’t please all the people all the time. How do you deal with criticism?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: Criticism doesn’t bother me. What we’ve tried to do inside FedEx is to say that criticism is a real opportunity to improve. When we do something wrong for a customer, that’s when we really have a chance to learn how to do things better. We’ve made some mistakes from time to time, we’ve gotten criticized. The mistakes have been relatively small, given the overall success of the company. But I’ve never been bothered too much by criticism. Folks are entitled to do that. It’s a free country, increasingly a free world, so let them take their best shot. If they’re right, they may tell you something you didn’t know before.</p> <p><strong>What do you think your most important traits have been in achieving what you have done?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: Probably conviction. I was convinced that what I was trying to do with my teammates was important and that it would be successful. The opposite side of that coin is persistence. Very rarely have I ever seen any business or major undertaking that goes in a straight line. There’s zigs and zags, victories and defeat, and you have to be propelled by that conviction that what you’re doing is right and what you’re doing is important, and to persevere in it. That’s probably more important than anything else.</p> <p>Secondarily, I’ve been very interested in the people who I work with being successful as well. I don’t think we have many people who’ve worked at FedEx, particularly in the executive ranks, who don’t have good feelings about the company. I hope that’s because they feel they were treated fairly and got their shot at glory and opportunity. I think that’s a big part of it. To make sure that the people you’re working with have a chance to be successful.</p> <p>And then, third, is that element of humor. You’ve got to enjoy what you’re doing, and have some fun, and be able to laugh at yourself a bit.</p> <p><strong>What do you see when you look ahead? What are the challenges for Fred Smith, and what are the challenges for America?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: In certain ways the big challenge for our company parallels the big challenges for the country. Our company has become enormously global in nature. FedEx and our competitors are the primary means of moving the high value-added, high-tech goods around the world. And that’s what’s propelling global growth today. It’s not the growth in mining, and lumbering and agriculture. It’s the growth in electronics, and computers, and new medicines, and equipment and things of that nature. We’re the way those things get to market.</p> <p>We’re the thing that binds everybody else together. And successfully navigating from a mostly national economic structure, to now a global structure with different types of cultures and governments and what have you. I mean, all you have to do is pick up the newspaper and see it every day. And it’s going to be important that the United States and FedEx, every year that goes by, does better in the way we deal with other cultures. And is respectful of other peoples’ points of view and makes a contribution and doesn’t become one of the problems in the world.</p> <p>So I think they’re very parallel in a certain way.</p> <p><strong>Is there anything you haven’t done that you’d like to do?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I would like to sit down some time and put a few thoughts down on paper. I’ve got a few observations that might be useful for someone. It’d be fun for me to do it, and I intend to at some point. Other than that, I enjoy my family, enjoy the business and get to see a lot of the world, so I have no complaints.</p> <p><strong>Looking back, what would you tell a young person asking for advice?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: The most important piece of advice that I could give them is to take advantage of the tremendous reservoir of knowledge that’s out there today. Spend some time learning how the world has evolved. There are a lot of good lessons in history, and other peoples’ experiences in the past, that could be exactly the solution to the problem you’re looking for. Particularly today, with everything available on-line and on the Internet, and with quick delivery of books or whatever you need, to not take advantage of this educational opportunity is a real tragedy.</p> <p><strong>What books have been important to you as an adult?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I have tried to be a student of management. There have been an enormous number of business books: Michael Porter’s books on strategy and Leavitt’s books on marketing, and of course Peter Drucker, the ultimate teacher on management. And a lot of books on the way societies have developed in the past.</p> <p>I just finished reading one by Daniel Yergin which is very popular right now. It’s called <em>The Commanding Heights,</em> which was a statement by Lenin about the necessity of government controlling the commanding heights of the economy, the big companies, the big economic activities. The book is about the way the market economy has overwhelmed governments and national systems everywhere. Some books like that that have really grabbed my attention over the years. Not only Yergin’s current book, but his previous book, <em>The Prize</em> — about the evolution of the oil industry over the years — is probably as good as anything on how the modern world came to exist.</p> <p><strong>What books might you recommend to a young person?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: A book called <em>Modern Times</em> by Paul Johnson, who’s an irascible fellow in England, is a great compilation of all the absurdities of the 20th century. It really gives you a picture of a lot of things that have happened over the entire century that have created opportunities in the world we live in today. David Halberstam has written several good books that I would recommend to people.</p> <p><strong>What do you think are the most important documents of the 20th century?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I think the most important documents probably precede the 20th century. I think they made a good stab at trying to set a stage for human development in the UN Charter. There’s a lot of good things in there. It’s been corrupted a bit by the flow of things, but if you really read it, it takes the importance of the individual — the inherent rights that individuals have — from the thoughts of the American Revolution, and straight back to Magna Carta.</p> <p>That battle is still being fought around the world. I don’t think there are many documents in modern times that are any more important than for all the nations of the world to write that down on a piece of paper and codify it. I think there’s a good chance that people can build a much better world in the 21st century than they’ve done in the 20th on that foundation.</p> <p><strong>What does the American Dream mean to you?</strong></p> <p>Frederick Smith: I think the American Dream is freedom. It’s the ability to do what you want to do. It’s the freedom to succeed, it’s the freedom to fail. And the freedom to live your lifestyle the way you want to live it, within reason, as long as you’re not hurting anybody else. To me that’s the American Dream. Very few people in the history of the world have ever had that enormous opportunity.</p> <p><strong>Thank you for giving us the opportunity to talk with you.</strong></p> <p>You’re very welcome.</p> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">Frederick W. Smith Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>14 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.64605263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/0417_fedexplanevan_1200.jpg" data-image-caption="FedEx 727 aircraft and van on the ramp." data-image-copyright="727 and Van on the Ramp" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/0417_fedexplanevan_1200-380x245.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/0417_fedexplanevan_1200-760x491.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ddsmith1.jpg" data-image-caption="September 2016: Fred Smith, Chairman and CEO of FedEx." data-image-copyright="September 2016: Fred Smith, Chairman and CEO of FedEx" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ddsmith1-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ddsmith1-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4990138067061" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ddsmith51.jpg" data-image-caption="2016: Frederick W. Smith, founder of Federal Express. (Dave Darnell / The Commercial Appeal)" data-image-copyright="ddsmith51" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ddsmith51-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ddsmith51-507x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FredSmithFederalExpress-Medium.jpg" data-image-caption="Fred Smith, founder and CEO of Federal Express. Smith named the company Federal Express because he believed the patriotic meaning associated with the word “federal” suggested an interest in nationwide economic activity." data-image-copyright="fredsmithfederalexpress-medium" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FredSmithFederalExpress-Medium-380x285.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FredSmithFederalExpress-Medium-760x570.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2398042414356" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/OUT950867.jpg" data-image-caption="January 29, 2002: Fred Smith, founder and CEO of the delivery company Federal Express. (Michele Asselin/Corbis)" data-image-copyright="Federal Express Founder and CEO Fred Smith" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/OUT950867-306x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/OUT950867-613x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4872798434442" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-02110603337.jpg" data-image-caption="November 6, 2002: FedEx Corporation Chairman, President and CEO Frederick W. Smith talks during Boston College's Chief Executives' Club luncheon in Boston. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki)" data-image-copyright="smith-fred-ap-02110603337" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-02110603337-256x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-02110603337-511x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.81710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-060815015064.jpg" data-image-caption="August 15, 2006: FedEx Corporation founder Fred Smith, right, takes part in a discussion with Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Nashville, Tennessee. Smith warned state lawmakers that enacting laws regulating business can drive companies overseas. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)" data-image-copyright="smith-fred-ap-060815015064" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-060815015064-380x310.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-AP-060815015064-760x621.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3868613138686" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-Corbis-DWF15-942437.jpg" data-image-caption="October 2004: Fred Smith in New York. (Corbis)" data-image-copyright="October 2004: Fred Smith in New York. (Corbis)" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-Corbis-DWF15-942437-274x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith-Fred-Corbis-DWF15-942437-548x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5261044176707" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith_fred__panda_arrival_20030407.jpg" data-image-caption="April 7, 2003: FedEx founder Fred Smith at the arrival ceremony for the two giant pandas, Le Le and Ya Ya, at the FedEx air field. The pandas were transported in a specially equipped FedEx airplane and greeted by Chinese and Memphis dignataries and guests. The arrival of the pandas offered both an introduction to Chinese culture and the opportunity for research by Rhodes students with biology professor Dr. Alan Jaslow. (Kevin Barre)" data-image-copyright="smith_fred__panda_arrival_20030407" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith_fred__panda_arrival_20030407-249x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Smith_fred__panda_arrival_20030407-498x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67368421052632" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/smith-f-2.jpg" data-image-caption="October 16, 2013: Frederick "Fred" Smith, Chairman, President and CEO of FedEx Corporation, speaks at the OPEC Oil Embargo +40 conference hosted by Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE) in Washington, D.C. on October 16, 2013. To mark the 40th anniversary of the OPEC oil embargo, leading CEOs, technology innovators, policymakers, and military leaders participated in a summit to discuss the state of American energy security. (Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg)" data-image-copyright="Key Speakers At The Securing America's Future Energy Conference" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/smith-f-2-380x256.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/smith-f-2-760x512.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3333333333333" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/SMITH-FRED.jpg" data-image-caption="Fred Smith, Chairman and CEO of FedEx." data-image-copyright="Fred Smith, Chairman and CEO of FedEx" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/SMITH-FRED-285x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/SMITH-FRED-570x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66842105263158" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/AP_455448600304.jpg" data-image-caption="July 19, 2007: From left, Jim Whitehurst, COO of Delta Air Lines, talks with Fred Smith, CEO of Federal Express, before the start of the Senate Finance Committee Energy, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Subcommittee hearing on "Aviation Financing: Industry Perspectives." (CQ Roll Call via AP Images)" data-image-copyright="Aviation Financing" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/AP_455448600304-380x254.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/AP_455448600304-760x508.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.1573236889693" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/hg1.jpg" data-image-caption="A photo of Fred Smith in Yale Aviation’s brand new Piper Cherokee 140, N6405W. Frederick W. Smith, Class of 1966, was already an accomplished pilot when he arrived at Yale." data-image-copyright="hg1" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/hg1-328x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/hg1.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/First_FedEx_van_Memphis_TN_2013-05-17_002.jpg" data-image-caption="First FedEx van on display at the world headquarters complex in Memphis, Tennessee.(Thomas R Machnitzki)" data-image-copyright="first_fedex_van_memphis_tn_2013-05-17_002" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/First_FedEx_van_Memphis_TN_2013-05-17_002-380x285.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/First_FedEx_van_Memphis_TN_2013-05-17_002-760x570.jpg"></div>  </figure>    </div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <footer class="editorial-article__footer col-md-8 col-md-offset-4"> <div class="editorial-article__next-link sans-3"> <a href="#"><strong>What's next:</strong> <span class="editorial-article__next-link-title">profile</span></a> </div> <ul class="social list-unstyled list-inline ssk-group m-b-0"> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-facebook" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Facebook"><i class="icon-icon_facebook-circle"></i></a></li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-twitter" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Twitter"><i class="icon-icon_twitter-circle"></i></a></li>  <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-email" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever via Email"><i class="icon-icon_email-circle"></i></a></li> </ul> <time class="editorial-article__last-updated sans-6">This page last revised on December 19, 2016</time> <div class="sans-4"><a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/how-to-cite" target="_blank">How to cite this page</a></div> </footer> </div> <div class="container interview-related-achievers"> <hr class="m-t-3 m-b-3"/> <footer class="clearfix small-blocks text-xs-center"> <h3 class="m-b-3 serif-3">If you are inspired by this achiever’s story, you might also enjoy:</h3> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever business build-or-create-things curious resourceful start-a-business " data-year-inducted="2001" data-achiever-name="Bezos"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jeffrey-p-bezos/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/bez0-007a-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/03/bez0-007a-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Jeffrey P. 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Dell</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Founder and Chairman, Dell Inc.</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">1998</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever business ambitious analytical curious build-or-create-things start-a-business help-mankind " data-year-inducted="1992" data-achiever-name="Gates"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/gat0-001a-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/gat0-001a-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">William H. Gates III</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Co-founder, Microsoft Corporation</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">1992</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever business resourceful curious start-a-business " data-year-inducted="2000" data-achiever-name="Omidyar"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/omidyar_760_SQUARE-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/03/omidyar_760_SQUARE-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Pierre Omidyar</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Founder of eBay</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">2000</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever public-service experienced-war-firsthand racism-discrimination ambitious join-the-military pursue-public-office spiritual-religious " data-year-inducted="1988" data-achiever-name="Powell"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/powell-032a-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/powell-032a-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">General Colin L. Powell, USA</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Congressional Gold Medal</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">1988</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever business ambitious analytical resourceful extroverted build-or-create-things help-mankind start-a-business pioneer make-films " data-year-inducted="1984" data-achiever-name="Turner"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ted-turner/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/turner-760_ac-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/turner-760_ac-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Robert Edward (Ted) Turner</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Founder, Cable News Network</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">1984</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> </footer> </div> </div> </article> <div class="modal image-modal fade" id="imageModal" tabindex="-1" role="dialog" aria-labelledby="imageModal" aria-hidden="true"> <div class="close-container"> <div class="close icon-icon_x" data-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></div> </div> <div class="modal-dialog" role="document"> <div class="modal-content"> <div class="modal-body"> <figure class="image-modal__container"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <img class="image-modal__image" src="/web/20170609045300im_/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frederick-w-smith" alt=""/>  <figcaption class="p-t-2 container"> <div class="image-modal__caption sans-2 text-white"></div>  </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> </div> </div> <footer class="content-info main-footer bg-black"> <div class="container"> <div class="find-achiever" id="find-achiever-list"> <div class="form-group"> <input id="find-achiever-input" class="search js-focus" placeholder="Search for an achiever"/> <i class="icon-icon_chevron-down"></i> </div> <ul class="find-achiever-list list m-b-0 list-unstyled"> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/hank-aaron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Hank Aaron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/kareem-abdul-jabbar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Kareem Abdul-Jabbar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/edward-albee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward Albee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tenley-albright-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tenley Albright, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/julie-andrews/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Julie Andrews</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-angelou/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Angelou</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-d-ballard-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert D. 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Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Glück</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joyce-carol-oates/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joyce Carol Oates</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pierre Omidyar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Arnold Palmer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rosa Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/linus-pauling/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linus C. Pauling, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/shimon-peres/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shimon Peres</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-david-petraeus/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General David H. Petraeus, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sidney Poitier</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Colin L. Powell, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/harold-prince/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Harold Prince</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lloyd-richards/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lloyd Richards</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sally-ride-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally K. Ride, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sonny-rollins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonny Rollins</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-romero/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony Romero</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-rosenquist/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Rosenquist</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pete-rozelle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pete Rozelle</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/bill-russell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Bill Russell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/albie-sachs/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Albie Sachs</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/oliver-sacks-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Oliver Sacks, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jonas-salk-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jonas Salk, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frederick-sanger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick Sanger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/barry-scheck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Barry Scheck</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/richard-evans-schultes-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard Evans Schultes, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-h-norman-schwarzkopf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-schwarzman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen A. Schwarzman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/glenn-t-seaborg-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/neil-sheehan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Neil Sheehan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-alan-shepard-jr/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ellen-johnson-sirleaf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ellen Johnson Sirleaf</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-slim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Slim Helú</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frederick-w-smith/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick W. Smith</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-sondheim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Sondheim</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sonia-sotomayor/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonia Sotomayor</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wole-soyinka/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wole Soyinka</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/esperanza-spalding/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Esperanza Spalding</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/martha-stewart/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Martha Stewart</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-james-b-stockdale/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral James B. Stockdale, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/hilary-swank/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Hilary Swank</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/amy-tan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Amy Tan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dame-kiri-te-kanawa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Kiri Te Kanawa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/edward-teller-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward Teller, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/twyla-tharp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Twyla Tharp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wayne-thiebaud/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wayne Thiebaud</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lt-michael-e-thornton-usn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Michael E. Thornton, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/charles-h-townes-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Charles H. Townes, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-trimble/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Trimble</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ted-turner/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert Edward (Ted) Turner</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/desmond-tutu/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Archbishop Desmond Tutu</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-updike/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Updike</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/gore-vidal/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gore Vidal</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/antonio-villaraigosa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Antonio Villaraigosa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lech-walesa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lech Walesa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-d-watson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James D. Watson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/andrew-weil-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Andrew Weil, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/elie-wiesel/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Elie Wiesel</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170609045300/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/edward-o-wilson-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward O. 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