Former Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Fedex
Search every verified Frederick Smith interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Frederick Smith, founder and former CEO of FedEx, has continued to comment on trade, economic policy, and supply chain issues in public appearances. In a January 2023 conversation at MIT, Smith said he was personally disappointed by China's shift toward a "state directed Mercantile path" after he had pushed for its entry into the WTO. He also stated that "work is now optional" in the U.S., attributing inflation and slow growth to a lack of blue-collar labor willing to work. Smith expressed support for a carbon tax and said FedEx does not view Amazon as a direct competitor. In earlier appearances, Smith advocated for infrastructure investment, calling the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill "a step in the right direction." He said the U.S. should not abandon the Trans-Pacific Partnership but improve it, and warned that withdrawal from NAFTA would have "massive repercussions." Smith has repeatedly called for lowering the U.S. corporate tax rate and adopting a territorial tax system, arguing that the current code discourages investment. He also stated that 85% of U.S. job losses over the past 25 years were due to automation, not trade.
“The first is we have the most unique system of higher education of any country in the world and our MITs and UCLAs's and University of Chicago and Yales and Harvard and and uh and Princeton's and Stanfords combined with the entrepreneurs that come out of them and the venture capital business that we have in this countr...”
“When we were raising money for FedEx this has been years and years ago... I walked through your hanger and I could have eaten off the floor. It was so perfectly polished and so completely clean with no oil or rags and the equipment was so perfectly uh laid out. That's the reason that we're going to invest in FedEx. Now...”
“I think the most important thing uh that uh people in leadership positions have to do in in tough times economic or or otherwise is to set the example. And um if if you're going to cut people's pay you better cut yours first and you better cut it the most.”
“When goods cross borders, armies rarely do. So Roosevelt and Hull believe that by expanding trade and the relationship between nations... the peace of the world depended on other countries becoming more prosperous and lastly these more prosperous nations around the world would be better markets for US goods. That was t...”
“You cannot have a trade surplus as long as you have a fiscal deficit to the extent that we do. They are opposite sides of the same coin. So that is why when President Trump put his tariffs in in the first term, our trade deficit went up and our fiscal deficit increased. So you have to reduce a fiscal deficit in order t...”
“Everything I did at FedEx was just borrowed from what I learned in Marine Corp about motivating people and all of the principles of leadership the Marine Corps taught. It's the best leadership school in the world. I think at the end of the day the modern Marine Corps which really came about in World War I... the Marine...”
“The first piece of advice would be to know your business, to take seriously the training, tactical training and the leadership training that the Marine Corps gave to you. Secondarily I would tell them to listen to your NCOs because they've got the experience that you don't have. And the third thing is to take care of y...”
“You're given the most sacred trust in the world by giving to you 40 or 50 young Marines' lives and you better damn well know your stuff and not waste any of them because your job... the whole objective is to go kill the other guy. Nobody wants to go and get killed for his country; the whole objective is to go kill the...”
“I believe all of us understand in retrospect often bitterly the American strategy until mid 1968 was foolish and flawed in that regard I was stunned in 1993 to hear a British Brigadier Peter McDonald quote General West Morland that he had not studied the French Indochina War nor did the US Army teach its history Search...”
“I agree with Lee Quan Yu the great Asian statan and founder of Singapore that against the strong liberal criticism of the American war in Vietnam he and I'm quoting him now took the cont View and explain that America's stand was crucial for a non-communist Asia which I've seen developed with my own eyes.”
“It was the miracle of trade that made America Rich first Japan then the four tigers South Korea Taiwan Hong Kong and Singapore and even mayos China embraced market economics a decade later leading to Asia being the fastest growing area of the world for over 30 years and we at FedEx were proud to play a role in this unp...”
“As America's great World War II Secretary of State Cordell Hull had prophesied when Goods cross borders armies rarely do that's the fundamental difference between today's war in Ukraine and the threats in the Pacific there's a lot to lose in another war in Asia but not so much when all you sell is oil and gas you which...”
“America's opening of our markets after World War II was farsighted and it rebuilt Germany and Japan and set the stage for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions to escape extreme poverty through global trade especially since the Vietnam War ended at the same time Global Commerce vastly enriched our country the...”
“The Vietnam experience was the defining part of my life. Everything I ever accomplished in business is mostly what I learned in the Marine Corps, particularly about leading people.”
“The most important way we reward them is good pay and benefits. So if you work for us, we'll put you through college. But I thought those were part-time workers? Well, they are, but they still get medical benefits and tuition refund.”
NBAA honors the memory of Fred Smith, Chairman, President, and CEO of FedEx Corp., who passed away on June 21, 2025.
In this engaging conversation at the 2010 John Wooden Global Leadership Awards, Federal Express Chairman, CEO and founder Frederick W. Smith shares his insights on leadership, discipline, and the importance of teamwork. Moderated by Deborah Rogers, this conversation delves into the principles that have guided Smith through over 35 years of leading a global company with 300,000 employees at that time. *Key Topics:* The importance of discipline and continuous learning in leadership How Smith's Marine Corps service influenced his management style Wooden’s ethos of teamwork and the collective ef…
Industry titan Frederick W. Smith, Founder and Executive Chairman, FedEx Corporation, and legendary energy historian Daniel ...
@FedEx founder and Executive Chairman Fred Smith and Nova Global CEO Yurii Benevytsk speaks to Capitol Intelligence/CI Ukraine using CI Glass on company's work and future investment in Ukraine in Washington, DC on March 12, 2024 and Nova Global (Nova Post Group) President and CEO speaks to Capitol Intelligence/CI Ukraine using CI Glass on US and China expansion plans in Warsaw, Poland on March 26, 2025
Frederick W. Smith, Founder and Executive Chairman of FedEx Corporation, embodies a legacy steeped in service, leadership, and a commitment to excellence. Born in Mississippi and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Smith entered Yale to pursue a degree in economics in 1962. After graduating from Yale in 1966, he served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, which included two tours of duty in Vietnam. Smith’s valor and dedication shone brightly during this time in the Marine Corps, where he served as a rifle platoon leader, a company commander and forward air controller (FAC) in the OV-10. Honored wi…
When Fred Smith started his next-day delivery company Federal Express in 1973, flying packages to customers, it was not an overnight success. Today FedEx moves 15 million packages a day aboard its fleet of aircraft, through hubs in Memphis and other cities, to more than 200 countries around the world. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin talks with Smith about how the former Marine captain and decorated Vietnam veteran transformed the shipping industry. @FedEx #FredSmith "CBS Sunday Morning" features stories on the arts, music, nature, entertainment, sports, history, science…
Sam Hendel, Co-Founder of Accelerate Yale and Yale Angels, interviewed Frederick W. Smith, founder and Executive Chairman ...
To kick off the 50th anniversary celebration of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, FedEx Founder and Executive Chairman Frederick W. Smith sits down with MIT CTL Director Yossi Sheffi for a "fireside chat"-style conversation. An industry visionary, the concepts of package tracking and even overnight shipping were unheard of in 1973, when FedEx began operations. CTL was founded the same year and has since become one of the world's foremost supply chain and logistics research centers. Smith and Sheffi reflect on the innovations and surprises of the past 50 years, how globalization…
Founder and executive chairman of FedEx Corporation Frederick W. Smith, hosted by UNC Global Affairs, gives a special lecture to the Carolina community in honor of the 15th anniversary of the opening of the FedEx Global Education Center. During this Diplomatic Discussion, Smith made the case that an anti-trade narrative has emerged and issued a call to action to protect national security interests. To read more about the event: https://global.unc.edu/news-story/fed...
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