当代最伟大的12位企业家

3. 弗雷德•史密斯

公司名称：联邦快递

销售额：393亿美元

市值：300亿美元

员工人数：255,573

建议：依赖“第一级”经理

    据称弗雷德•史密斯是在耶鲁大学（Yale University）某堂课的学期论文中首次提出联邦快递（Federal Express）的设想，但最终让史密斯瞥见未来的却是他在越南战争（the Vietnam War）期间的经历。1967年到1969年之间，他两次被派驻海外服役，第一次是美国海军陆战队的步枪排排长，第二次是航空管制官。

    这两段经历对他产生了深远影响。首先，史密斯得以近距离地看到了军队物流的惊人效率，有效运输超过50万人的军队和几百万吨物资。纪律、训练和管理经验在这位海军陆战队排长身上留下了深深的烙印。“人们问我，自多年前我创立联邦快递以来一直是什么原则在指导着我，”他说。“我的回答往往让他们感到吃惊：就是我在越南服役期间从美国海军陆战队学到的管理原则。”

    海军陆战队里的陆地部队和航空部队经常会在一起。“用登陆艇上岸时，不会携带大炮，因此海军陆战队发明了近距离空中支援，将军械大炮等辎重空投到附近地点。我把联邦快递也打造成了一体化的陆空体系。它有自己的地面接送和运输业务，与轴幅式航空业务合为一体。”

    史密斯的管理手册很多都取自其海军陆战队经验。“我们告诉管理人员，成功的关键是依赖第一级经理（相当于军队里的无官衔军官），要求他们以身作则，公开表扬表现出色的人。所有这些都是海军陆战队的标准做法。”

    最终，67岁的史密斯帮助很多小企业实现了过去只有大公司才能达到的客户广度。它不仅是联邦快递的革命性创新，也是宏观层面上企业界的革命性创新。

3. Fred Smith

Company:FedEx

Sales: $39.3 billion

Market Value: $30 billion

Employees: 255,573

Advice: Rely on "first-level" managers.

    Despite the story that Fred Smith came up with the idea for Federal Express in a term paper for a Yale University class, it was this entrepreneur's experience during the Vietnam War that really allowed Smith to glimpse the future. From 1967 through 1969 he served two tours of duty, first as a rifle platoon leader in the U.S. Marines and later as an air controller.

    It was a profoundly formative experience. For one thing, Smith got to see up close the awe-inspiring logistical efforts of the military, effectively mobilizing more than half-a-million troops and millions of tons of supplies. The discipline, training, and leadership experience would stick with the Marine captain. "When people ask me what principles have guided me since I started FedEx Corp. years ago," he says, "my answer often startles them: It's the leadership tenets that I learned in the U.S. Marine Corps during my service in Vietnam."

    In the Marine Corps it was not heretical to have ground and air groups together. "When you come ashore in landing boats, you don't have any artillery, so the Marine Corps is the branch of the service that actually invented close air support, dropping ordnance close to you. So I made Federal Express an integrated air-ground system. It had its own pickup and delivery operations on the ground that were integral to the hub-and-spoke air operation."

    Smith's leadership handbook draws heavily upon his Marines experience. "We tell our executives that the key to their success is to rely on their first-level managers [the company's counterparts to noncommissioned officers], to set an example themselves, and to praise in public when someone has done a good job. All those are standard operating procedure in the Marines."

    Ultimately Smith, 67, gave many small businesses the customer reach that had long been the province of far larger companies. It was a game-changing innovation for FedEx, but also for the broader entrepreneurial economy.