Frederick Smith on leadership philosophy
From Interview with 3/5 Veteran and FedEx founder Fred Smith. · · Dark Horse Historian
“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 Corps principles of leadership are really based on 2000 years of human experience and the difference between the Marine Corps and a lot of other institutions is it puts leadership number one.”
On , Frederick Smith, Former Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at FedEx, spoke about leadership philosophy during Interview with 3/5 Veteran and FedEx founder Fred Smith. on Dark Horse Historian.
About Frederick Smith
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.