The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish
Fred Smith founded FedEx on an idea everyone told him would fail and built it into an $88 billion empire that changed how the world moves.
In this episode, we dive into how he built FedEx and the lessons he learned along the way.
This story proves that impossible is just another word for opportunity.
—–
Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(03:36) Part 1: The Boy Who Wouldn’t Stay Down
(15:52) Part 2: The Impossible Company
(29:36) Part 3: The Empire Builder
(38:12) Epilogue: From Crisis to Legacy (1993–2025)
(40:55) Important Things That Didn’t Make It Into the Episode
(43:55) Lessons from Fred Smith
—–
Upgrade: Get a hand edited transcripts and ad free experiences along with my thoughts and reflections at the end of every conversation. Learn more @ fs.blog/membership
——
Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at fs.blog/newsletter
——
Follow Shane Parrish
X @ShaneAParrish
Insta @farnamstreet
LinkedIn Shane Parrish
——
This episode is for informational purposes only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
![Fred Smith: The Story of FedEx [Outliers]](https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/5875c47a-8cce-11f0-9b11-0b9fe8d9facc/image/4db814c2eacf37bad7242f2961dafe3e.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress)
#47 Adam Robinson: Winning at the Great Game (Part 1)
Author, educator, and hedge fund advisor, Adam Robinson shares powerful lessons on winning the game of life. He teaches us how to learn, how to fail, and his three secrets of happiness and success. …
#46 Sophie Grégoire Trudeau: Authenticity, Kindness, and Self Love
Television personality, activist, mother, and wife to Canada’s Prime Minister, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau discusses her battle with eating disorders, why nature and art play such a huge role in her life and what unites us…
#45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right
Dan Kluger, award-winning chef and owner of NYC’s Loring Place joins me on the podcast to reveal what really happens behind the scenes of a bustling restaurant, why every detail of your craft matters, and…
#44 Barbara Coloroso: The Kids Are Worth It
Parenting expert and best selling author Barbara Coloroso shares her three foundational principles of child-rearing, how to get kids to be accountable for their actions, and what we can do as parents to raise confident,…
#43 Jennifer Garvey Berger: The Mental Habits of Effective Leaders
In a world that changes at a dizzying rate, effective leaders need to develop the skills to keep up. Developmental coach and author Jennifer Garvey Berger shares 3 habits to ensure continual growth, accelerated learning…
#42 Atul Gawande: The Path to Perpetual Progress
The world-renowned surgeon, writer, and researcher Atul Gawande shares powerful lessons about creating a culture of safe learning, the critical difference between a coach and a mentor, and how to ensure constant improvement in key…
#41 Tobi Lütke: The Trust Battery
Today, I interview fellow Ottawan and the founder and CEO of Shopify, Tobi Lütke. In case you’re still new to the internet, Shopify is the largest ecommerce platform that allows people to easily set up…
#40 Ben Thompson: Thriving in a Digital World
Today’s guest is Stratechery author and founder Ben Thompson. If you’re an investor in Silicon Valley, work at a tech start-up, or just love to geek out on technology and business analysis, odds are good…
#39 Tyler Cowen: Thinking About Thinking
There are only a handful of websites that I read religiously. One of those is MarginalRevolution.com, started by my next guest, Tyler Cowen. Other than hosting one of the most popular economic blogs in the…
#38 Ali Almossawi: Thinking in Algorithms
My guest for this short episode of The Knowledge Project is a man who wears many hats. Ali Almossawi is a San Francisco-based author of books on critical thinking and computer science education, and the…