Fred Smith is the founder of Fedex express delivery service, which showed the world that almost any parcel can be delivered to the addressee the day after it was shipped. The story of his life is about achieving a goal and an unwavering faith in success.
Fred Smith and his personality: what helped the businessman create Fedex
Fred Smith inherited his father’s strength of character and desire to realize his own ideas. He owned a chain of restaurants and bus lines, but he died when his son was only 4 years old. Fred had Calve-Perthes disease from birth, which restricted movement of the pelvis and thighs. To relieve his condition, he wore suspenders and used crutches. But the mother’s support, the therapy gave results and the child was doing sports and studying well. From an early age, Smith tried to create something of his own so he wouldn’t waste his father’s capital. At the age of 15, he was already flying a plane, pollinating the fields, at 16 together with friends, organized a recording studio, which still works and generates income.
Fred got his economics degree at Yale and joined the army after graduating. It was there that he came up with the idea of organizing a delivery service that would deliver goods to the recipient as quickly as possible without losing them during transportation.
Coming from the service, Fred Smith spent several years analyzing the market, studying all the nuances and developing a business project. To turn the idea into reality, it was necessary to involve freight and airfreight companies. Despite the huge number of refusals from banks and partners, Smith managed to organize Fedex and bring it to the undisputed leaders in the cargo market.
When the company started its journey and nobody wanted to cooperate with it, Fred went to Las Vegas, where he won 27 thousand dollars. Despite the fact that this amount was not enough to close all the tasks, this situation became a sign that the businessman is on the right track and it is not worth giving up the started business.
Those who know the businessman call charisma and strength of spirit one of the components of his success. He always took responsibility and was not afraid of difficulties, knew the approach to different people and was open to communication.
Colleagues loved Smith, partners listened to his opinion. This is confirmed by the fact that in 20 years of Fedex’s work there has been no case of staff dismissal. For the businessman, people have always come first and appreciated their work and dedication to the common cause.
