Fred Smith

Even visionaries sometimes hold their original vision a little too tightly.

Fred Smith died on June 21st, 2025 at the age of 80.

By then, FedEx operated in over 220 countries.

employed half a million people and moved 17 million packages daily.

But Smith's real legacy was psychological.

He changed our relationship with time and distance.

Before FedEx, waiting was inevitable.

And after FedEx, waiting became intolerable.

At his funeral, streets were lined with FedEx trucks and purple-uniformed employees.

Jets flew overhead in formation.

But the most fitting tribute came at midnight.

The Memphis hub operated exactly as it had for 50 years.

Packages arrived, they got sorted, and they departed worldwide.

The machine that Fred Smith built kept running without him, which was the greatest success of all.

Smith transformed from a boy who couldn't walk into a man who changed how the world moves.

He proved that our limitations are usually just starting points.

That impossible is just another word for opportunity, but only if you're willing to pay the price.

Okay, I want to cover a few important things that didn't make it into the episode before we get into the lessons that I took away from reading and researching about Smith.

So the first thing that didn't make it into the episode, we talked about how Federal Express got its name because it was originally for the Federal Reserve System, although that didn't work out, but that was the intent.

So there's the secret arrow that's hiding in plain sight in the FedEx logo.