Frederick W. Smith, founder, President, and CEO of FedEx, was named the 2004 William F. Glaser ’53 Rensselaer Entrepreneur of the Year last week and delivered a presidential lecture on challenges facing businesses in the global economy on November 11. The lecture took place in the auditorium of the new biotechnology building and seating was limited to those holding tickets.
Smith had a lot to say on the challenges in the business world today, explaining that they arise from changes in the economy, which he broke down into four categories: continuing increase in the overall production in goods, increasing integration of the globalization, movement into fast cycle logistics, and the internet spawning an e-commerce revolution. He then expounded upon each of the concepts, drawing examples from his own experiences with FedEx that he described as an “integrated door-to-door express system.” Smith predicted that the movement of goods by air “will be the dominant form of trans-continental trade in the future.”
One of the topics discussed was one that Smith believed was an especially large force driving change over the past decade, especially on the economic front: the Internet. “[The] Internet allows people all over the world to access the goods and services of the world,” he stated. Smith mentioned that he considered the emergence of e-commerce to be a “medium” rather than a “market.” As one of the four interrelated economic trends he spoke about, Smith predicted that e-commerce would grow exponentially stronger within the next few years.
Many students attending Smith’s lecture learned a thing or two they didn’t know about either FedEx or economic trends in general. Grand Marshal Michael Dillon was among the students in the audience, and he said, “I found his [Smith’s] presentation to be helpful and interesting, certainly a worthwhile experience.” Dillon was also able to speak with Smith at the reception immediately following the question and answer period. “I met him afterward and found it refreshing that he was as relaxed, humorous, and personable off-stage as he was on.”
Bob Fishel ’07 said, “I really enjoyed the lecture, although I think the question and answer period was more helpful from a learning perspective. I found Mr. Smith to be both friendly and personable. Mike Goldenberg and I were personally introduced to him and we had a very informative, albeit brief, conversation with him.”
“Even though the lecture was good, I thought the question and answer period was more interesting, hearing about his personal and practical experience,” said Cody Powers ’06. Students were able to learn where Smith believed FedEx was headed. “He really gave the impression that RFID [Radio Frequency ID] is one of FexEx’s top priorities of the next decade or so,” Powers said.
Business-talk aside, Smith had much to say about RPI and its students. “I’m thrilled to learn all of the good things going on at Rensselaer,” he said. “We are just on the cusp of even greater innovation than we’ve seen over the past two-hundred years,” Smith believes. He also pointed out that we must look for the “conceptual leap” because “RPI is at the center of it.” RPI is in good standing, as Smith noted that tremendous job increases over the past fifteen years have been in the technological fields. He said that there is more opportunity and more money spent on information technology. He also believes that lurking “just around the corner at RPI” is a “discovery like penicillin.”
Smith received a degree in economics from Yale University in the 1960s and first formulated the idea for an express-delivery company in 1965. It wasn’t until 1971 when he had accumulated enough funds from his father and venture capitalists that he launched Federal Express Corporation, which would become the biggest operator in express delivery. His recipe for success? When developing FedEx he developed a culture that focused on team-work and innovation, he always looked for new technologies to implement.
