The man from Memphis
IF THERE IS A GREATER LIVING AND ACTIVE AMERICAN CEO
than Fred Smith, let that person step forward.
The death late last year of Apple Inc. founder and chairman Steve
Jobs, and the near-deification process that ensued, gave us pause to
reflect on the qualities that make up “the immortal CEO.”
Our criteria were pretty straightforward: He or she would have
built a household name company. His or her influence would extend
well beyond a single industry to reach an exalted place in American
business and popular culture. More to the point, the individual would
still be at it, not retired, deceased, or kicked upstairs into a ceremoni-
al role.
We thought we’d have to extend our search outside our industry—after all, one generally doesn’t
look to logistics or supply chain management for
examples of towering executive machinery. But our
ruminations actually led us back to our bailiwick.
And to one man: Fred Smith of FedEx.
Examine the record. Smith founded a company
and built it into a nearly $40 billion global giant. He
re-drew the boundaries of physical distribution,
transformed commerce, and changed forever how
people interact with one another. He fused transportation and information technology in ways no
one had done before. He had a profound impact on
collateral industries like marketing and advertising,
with commercials that would become the stuff of legend.
Here’s the kicker: Smith has been at it, day in and day out, for more
than 40 years.
There is no “emeritus” in his vocabulary. He doesn’t hold the “
president,” “chairman,” and “CEO” titles for show. While he has always
delegated authority, there is no doubt who still runs FedEx. It has
been this way, continuously, since its incorporation as Federal Express
in 1971.
Think about it. Even Steve Jobs walked away from his baby after
being fired by his own board. Hell would have to freeze over before
Fred Smith suffered the same fate. One can only imagine the intensity of discussions over possible succession in the event something happens to Smith, who turns 68 later this year.
So who compares to Smith. Jobs? He’s gone. Ray Kroc, founder of
McDonalds Corp.? Also gone. Bill Gates? Perhaps, had he not stepped
away from day-to-day duties at Microsoft Corp. several years back to
focus on strategic initiatives and his charitable foundation. Larry
Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corp.? He hasn’t
been at the helm nearly as long as Smith.
Google’s Larry Page or Facebook’s Mark
Zuckerberg? While their influence on society may
someday surpass Smith’s, both have miles to go
before they can match Smith’s longevity. We
won’t know the answer to that until 2038 or so.
That’s how remarkable Smith’s record is.
It’s tough to plow through four decades without some breakage, and FedEx and Smith have
not been immune. FedEx’s ballyhooed “ZapMail” high-reso-lution facsimile transmission
and delivery service was
scrapped after the 1986
Challenger disaster because the
satellites to be used for the service were to have been launched
through the space shuttle program. Its ambitious quest to
blanket all of Europe ended in
the early 1990s with the company’s withdrawing from all but
the continent’s major commerce centers due to costs that
spiraled out of control.
Yet those missteps are unlikely to cloud Smith’s
legacy. His place in American business and cultural history is secure. What’s more impressive is
that he is still writing history, rather than just
being a part of it.
There are executives who run bigger companies. Certainly, there are those with more flamboyance. But if you were asked to name the
nation’s—if not the world’s—greatest living and
active CEO, you’d be hard pressed to top the man
from Memphis.
