Fred Smith

Roger Frock, an early executive, confirmed, the Las Vegas thing really happened at the close of Business Friday.

We were out of money.

And Fred brought back the money and we got our fuel.

The $27,000 wasn't really what saved FedEx, though.

But when Smith told investors, they saw something crucial, a leader who would do literally anything to survive.

And within two weeks, he'd raised $11 million more.

The $27,000 wasn't decisive, Smith reflected later, but it was an omen that things would get better.

As Federal Express grew and grew, the Memphis hub became the company's biggest operational headache.

Every night, planes from all over America had to land, unload, get sorted, and reload in just a few hours.

If the sort ran late, even a little late, the entire system failed.

Smith tried everything to speed it up.

Pep talks, bonuses, threats, nothing worked.

The night shift dragged on, the planes left late, and overnight delivery became somewhat of a joke.

And then someone noticed something obvious.

They were paying the night shift by the hour.

Think about that.

The longer the work took, the more money workers made.

They'd accidentally incentivize being slow.

Federal Express changed one thing.

They started paying by the shift, not the hour.