Overview

From humble beginnings, FedEx has literally revolutionized the way business is conducted. Not too long ago, overnight shipping was barely an option for even the largest companies. Today, thanks to FedEx, it's available to every living room start-up. With annual revenues of $30 billion, more than 250,000 employees, 600 aircraft, and 70,000 surface vehicles, FedEx handles nearly six million shipments a day in two hundred countries. FedEx has become a household name, and has been named one of the top ten of America's Most Admired Companies by Fortune magazine. But it wasn't always easy. From his inside vantage point as the company's first general manager and chief operating officer, Roger Frock reveals the remarkable details of how Fred Smith and his team endured their tumultuous early years-fraught with a seemingly unending series of legal, financial, and operational crises that continually threatened the company's ability to stay in business-and, in the end, created an entirely new industry. Frock chronicles the dramatic last-minute saves and turnarounds the company engineered from its inception to the present. He entertains with stories of the trials and tribulations of the company's early struggles and victories-from Pilots using personal credit cards to fuel planes, to the courier who hocked his watch to put gas in his delivery van, and, one of the most memorable episodes, the time that founder Fred Smith literally gambled the company's last remaining funds to keep the planes flying. Frock's story introduces all the players-FedEx's resourceful and resilient leaders and employees-and shows how these remarkable individuals gave Fred Smith's original concept wings and, through flexibility, creativity, and commitment, made a fledgling startup into one of the great success stories in modern business. Changing the Way the World Does Business is an inspirational tale for leaders and entrepreneurs everywhere.

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9781576754139

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This book is the manual for entrepreneurs with big dreams. Frock has documented, through personal experience and painstaking research, one of America's most successful start-ups. He provides the critical ingredients for bringing a major dream to life-no matter what the business or endeavor. - Michael Basch, CEO, Nature's Lighting, author of Customer Culture: How FedEx and Other Great Companies Keep the Customer First Every Day Early on, Frock recognized the value of international service and calculated that the global market would eventually need and support the FedEx business model. We worked closely with him to establish their first cross border network between the US and Canada. His vision helped us to become the most successful player in the Canadian market. - Simon Caviezel, President and CEO, Cansica, Inc., Federal Express Canadian Licensee [This book] explains the vital importance that enthusiasm and passion play in people who tackle seemingly overwhelming obstacles and find a way to make it work. In many ways, the Porsche turnaround that I [led] in the 1980s was an application of the management concepts detailed in Changing the Way the World Does Business. Properly applied, these concepts can people to rise to a performance level that achieves business miracles in an increasingly competitive world. - Peter W. Schutz, former head of Porsche The success-laden secrets of a corporate giant's heart and soul are revealed as Frock shares his personal experiences and entrepreneurial views with a keenness that is at once exciting and enlightening... Changing How the World Does Business reflects [Frock's] ethical nature from which success of gigantic proportions was realized as the global giant known to us all as FedEx. - Linda G. Sapia, former Manager, FedEx Tomorrow's leaders will be encouraged by this exciting succession of experiences that 'Changed the Way the World Does Business.' -The Honorable Roger W. Kallock, former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, Logistics and Material Readiness, and Chairman, Chagrin Consulting Associates

This book is the manual for entrepreneurs with big dreams. Frock has documented, through personal experience and painstaking research, one of America's most successful start-ups. He provides the critical ingredients for bringing a major dream to life--no matter what the business or endeavor. -- Michael Basch, CEO, Nature's Lighting, author of Customer Culture: How FedEx and Other Great Companies Keep the Customer First Every Day Early on, Frock recognized the value of international service and calculated that the global market would eventually need and support the FedEx business model. We worked closely with him to establish their first cross border network between the US and Canada. His vision helped us to become the most successful player in the Canadian market. -- Simon Caviezel, President and CEO, Cansica, Inc., Federal Express Canadian Licensee [This book] explains the vital importance that enthusiasm and passion play in people who tackle seemingly overwhelming obstacles and find a way to make it work. In many ways, the Porsche turnaround that I [led] in the 1980s was an application of the management concepts detailed in Changing the Way the World Does Business. Properly applied, these concepts can people to rise to a performance level that achieves business miracles in an increasingly competitive world. -- Peter W. Schutz, former head of Porsche The success-laden secrets of a corporate giant's heart and soul are revealed as Frock shares his personal experiences and entrepreneurial views with a keenness that is at once exciting and enlightening... Changing How the World Does Business reflects [Frock's] ethical nature from which success of gigantic proportions was realized as the global giant known to us all as FedEx. -- Linda G. Sapia, former Manager, FedEx Tomorrow's leaders will be encouraged by this exciting succession of experiences that 'Changed the Way the World Does Business.' --The Honorable Roger W. Kallock, former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, Logistics and Material Readiness, and Chairman, Chagrin Consulting Associates

Author Information

Roger Frock is president of Quest Management, Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in supply chain management. He has been a guest speaker at the National Council of Physical Distribution Management (now the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals), the American Management Association, and the American Trucking Association, and has made frequent presentations to other industry associations and private business groups on a variety of subjects.

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