rift-甾醇
Fred Smith
and
FedEx
: The vision that
changed the world
1 Every
night several hundred planes bearing a purple,
white, and orange
design
touch
down
at
Memphis
Airport,
in
Tennessee
.
What
precedes
this
landing are package
pick-ups from locations all over the United States
earlier
in the day. Crews unload the
planes' cargo of more than half a million parcels
and
letters.
The
rectangular
packages
and
envelopes
are
rapidly
reshuffled
and
sorted according to address, then loaded onto
other aircraft, and flown to
their
destinations to be
dispersed
by hand
–
many within 24
hours of leaving
their senders. This is
the culmination of a dream of Frederick W. Smith,
the
founder,
president,
chief
executive
officer,
and
chairman
of the board
of
the
FedEx
Corp.
–
known
originally
as
Federal
Express
–
the
largest
and
most
successful overnight
delivery service in the world. Conceived when he
was in
college and now in its 28th year
of operation, Smith's
exquisite
brainchild has
become the standard for door-to-door
package delivery.
1
每天夜晚，在田纳西州的孟菲斯机场，都有几百架带着白、紫、桔色图案
的飞机
降落。
而在每天此前的早些时候，
这些飞机都在美国各地收集包
裹。
工作
人员从飞机上卸下的包裹及信件数量超过五十万之巨。
长方形的包裹和信封又在
这里依据收件地址被迅速整理分拣，然
后装载上其他飞机，飞往各自的目的地，
在那儿再由人工投递
—
—
到这时很多邮件离开寄件人之手还不到
24
< br>小时。这是
弗雷德里克
?
W.
史密斯的终极梦想，他就是联邦快递集团（最初为联邦快递）
这
一全球最大、
最成功的隔夜送达服务企业的创始人、
总裁、
首席执行官及董事
会主席。如今，史密斯这一源于大学时代的妙想已
在现实中经营到了第
28
个年
头，并已
成为包裹快递入户行业的标杆。
2
Recognized
as
an
outstanding
entrepreneur
with
an
agreeable
and
winning personality,
Smith is held in high regard by his competitors as
well as
his
employees
and
stockholders
.
Fred
Smith
was
just
27
when
he
founded
FedEx.
Now,
so
many
years
later,
he's
still
the
of
the
ship
He
attributes
the
success
of
the
company
simply
to
leadership,
something
he
deduced
from
his years in the military, and from his family.
2
史密斯被公认为是一位和蔼可亲
、
性格迷人的杰出企业家。
无论是他的竞
争者、员工，还是他公司股票的持有人，都对他十分敬重。弗雷德
?
< br>史密斯创建
“
联邦快递
”
时只有
27
岁。现在多年过去了，他仍然坐在
“
掌门人
”
的
位置上。他将
公司的成功简单地归因于领导力，
而这一推论则来
自于他的军旅生涯及其家庭的
影响。
3 Frederick Wallace Smith was born into
a wealthy family
clan
on
August
11, 1944 in
Mississippi
. His father died
when he was just four years old. As a
juvenile
, Smith was an
invalid
, suffering from a
disease that left him unable to
walk
normally. He was picked on by bullies, and he
learned to defend himself
by swinging
at them with his
alloy
walking stick. Cured of the disease by the
age of 10, he became a star athlete in
high school, playing football, basketball,
and baseball.
3
弗雷德里克
?
华莱士
< br>?
史密斯
1944
年
8
月
11
日出生于密西西
比州一个
富裕的家族。
他四岁时父亲就离世了。
史密斯年少时被视为病残者，
因为他得了
一种病，
使他无法正常行走。
为此他常遭受坏孩子的侮辱捉弄，
他学会了挥舞合
金拐杖来保护自己。
十岁时他的病治
好了，
到了高中他则成了学校里的体育明星，
足球、篮球、棒球
样样能行。
4 Smith's passion was
flying. At 15, he was operating a crop-duster over
the
skyline
of
the Mississippi Delta
, a
terrain
so flat that there
was little need for
radar
navigation
.
As
a
student
at
Yale
University
,
he
helped
revive
the
Yale
flying
club;
its
alumni
had
populated
naval
aviation
history,
including
the
famous
Millionaires'
Unit
in
World
War
I.
Smith
administrated
the
club's
business end and ran
a small
charter
operation in
New Haven
.
4
史密斯对飞行充满了激情。
15<
/p>
岁时，他就曾驾驶一架作物喷粉飞机在密
西西比三角洲的天际翱翔
，
三角洲的地形平坦开阔，
甚至都不需要雷达导航。
在
耶鲁大学上学时，
他参与重建了耶鲁飞行俱乐部
，
在美国海军航空史的每个时期
都有这一俱乐部出来的校友的身
影，包括一战时期著名的
“
百万富翁飞行队
”
。史
密斯负责管理俱乐部的事务，同时还在纽黑文经营一
项小规模的租赁业务。
5
With
his
study
time
disrupted
by
flying,
his
academic
performance
suffered, but Smith never stopped
looking for his own
had found it when
he wrote a term paper for an economics class. He
drafted
a
prototype
for
a
transportation
company
that
would
guarantee
overnight
delivery of small,
time-sensitive goods, such as replacement parts
and medical
supplies, to major US
regions
. The professor
wasn't impressed and told Smith
he
couldn't
quantify
the idea
and clearly it wasn't feasible.
5
由于飞行打乱了学习时间，
他的学
业受到了影响，
但史密斯从未停止寻找
自己的
< br>“
伟大想法
”
。在撰写一门经济
学课程的学期论文时，他认为自己已经找到
了它。
他设计了一份
运输企业的经营草案，
该运输企业可以确保连夜递送小型或
时间
紧迫的货品到达美国的主要地区
,
如替换零件、医药用品等等。教授对这
篇论文未予重视，
他告诉
史密斯说，
他无法量化他的想法，
并说这一想法明显不
切合实际。
6
However,
Smith
was
certain
he
was
onto
something,
even
though
several
more
years
elapsed
before
he
could
turn
his
idea
into
reality.
In
the
interim
, he graduated from
Yale in 1966, just as America's involvement in
the
Vietnam War
was deepening. Since he was a
patriot
and had attended
officers'
training classes, he joined
the Marines
.