Changing How the World Does Business: Fedex's Incredible Journey to Success - The Inside Story [Hardcover]

Roger Frock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2006

For a long time, it looked like FedEx would never get off the ground. The company's early years were an unending series of legal, financial, and operational crises that continually threatened its ability to stay in business. Yet FedEx's leaders and employees were incredibly resourceful and resilient. Pilots used personal credit cards to gas up planes, paychecks weren't cashed, and in one of the most famous episodes, founder Fred Smith literally gambled the company's last remaining funds to keep the planes flying. Becuase Roger Frock was with the companies from the start, he is able to chronicle these real-life hardships and hard-fought triumphs as only an insider can. With humor and insight, he describes how FedEx overcame impossible odds to become one of the world's greatest success stories, a revolutionary company that truly changed the way the world does business.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Roger Frock has conducted numerous projects and workshops dealing with the subjects of transportation networks, logistics operating systems, and responsible and ethical management during his years with A.T. Kearney, as a part of the decade with Federal Express. He has been a guest speaker at the National Council of Physical Distribution Management amoung others on a variety of subjects.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 239 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1 edition (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576754138
• ISBN-13: 978-1576754139
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.9 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #408,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Living The Vision March 7, 2007

By J. Wheeler

Format:Hardcover

I joined Federal Express in August 1974 and remained with the company until January 1999. I had the privilege of working for Roger Frock beginning in 1975. He has truly brought to life many of the events, people and tribulations that made FedEx great. The road to success was very uneven, but we never seemed to lose the faith in our leadership. While Roger credits Fred Smith with strong leadership, it was the team of Frock, Fitzgerald, Fagan, Basch, Brandon, Wilmott and many others who could thrive with only one rule; Do What is Right...right for the customer, right for the company and right for the employees. Today FedEx has volumes of rules, but the early days were built aound a vision. Execution took courage, tenacity, ingenuity and loyalty. Fred Smith and the senior mangement team (mentioned above) inculcated all of the attributes in a small and somewhat ragtag group of employees. I only wish Roger had brought out some of the humor of the early days. Pay was low, but we laughed alot and played practical jokes on each other.

Bravo Zulu (Well Done) Roger for a well written book, simple in style, yet so demonstrative of the events and people.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard Work or Lucky Work both take cash. October 27, 2006

By Ronald B. Coffman

Format:Hardcover

This is MUST READ for every member of any organization. Owners, managers, employees, the principles are the same. Roger has given the insider view of FedEx but the reader must decide how much of what kind made it a success. Was it the vision of Fred Smith or the hard work of the dedicated employees? Was it both? What tipped the scales? This will take it's place among the reference manuals of "how to" and "how not to". I challange the HR departments to pay attention and learn. This is employee dedication that doesn't respond to money and can't be bought. The abject loyalty between the executives, managers and employees are the only thing that held this leaky boat afloat. What a delicate balance between vision and dedication. Gutsy in it's most pristine form.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Story that Needed to be Shared November 7, 2006

By L. Frock

Format:Hardcover

Having been a former employee of Federal Express,as early as 1975, I am familiar in a most personal manner with the exciting journey of Federal Express from it's start up to global giant. Roger Frock's book offered me the opportunity to travel back in time and refresh and recall the near unrealistic sojourn of this remarkable entity that has become a dinner table word all over the planet. The book reveals the amazing details here to for untold, mind boggling obstacles and extraordinary creativity and dedication, commitment, humor and insight so dramatically part of those individuals who became the key players in this world changing endeavor. There is no other book written about FedEx by an original senior officer of the company, nor one that reveals the heart and soul of this much admired and successful company as does Changing the Way the World Does Business. It lifts one's spirit and one can feel the magnetic pull to "learn more" as one puruses its pages. Entrepreneurial personalities, clerks, big and small business, beginners, and established executives, the book is a haven of enlightenment for what it takes to become a success. What I found in addition to all of this is the self-evident humility that is evident in the ethical values that were and are so eloquently obvious within the gentleman himself who authored this incredible story of the truth of how FedEx did what it did and has become what it has become while shining a light on those ethical values that were forever at play in the creation itself. A rare thing in this day and age and much needed in my opinion. The book is sheer pleasure and satisfaction. Definitely a five star plus rating.