I’ve always loved business. The ability to create money, opportunity and value for others is what makes a good business model. As a boy I wanted to be a great industrialist. Attending college in the late 80’s the dream was to be a titan of American Capitalism like I learned about from the PBS show, “In Search of Excellence”. The program showcased 8 companies business consultant Tom Peters chose from his book of the same title.
I recall sitting in the den of my mom’s house with my best friend Eric and we would fantasize about the amazing business ideas our teenage brains could create. There were dreams of private jets, fast cars and a world of riches and impact that played out in our imaginations. We watched voraciously and learned lessons that to this day I employ when I have employees.
One of my favorite stories was the FedEx helicopter tale. In the early days of FedEx Fred Smith (when he was betting the entire company’s cash in Vegas to make payroll – maybe a true story!) was building not just the company, but its ethos, its very culture was being pieced together with new adventures and happenings that would become corporate lore. As I recall the story, one of the outlying FedEx posts in Colorado had a load of packages that had to get to the central processing, but a huge snowstorm had come through and dumped too much snow for the trucks to make the drive. The station chief was living by the “absolutely, positively had to be there” credo that was the defining characteristic of the company, and was determined to not let his customers down.
As the day worn on, the roads weren’t opened, but the weather broke enough for a helicopter to take off. So the chief did the only thing he could think of, he rented a helicopter to take the packages to the processing unit, at a cost of $13,000 if I remember rightly. Now any first day business student will tell you that is absolutely the stupidest thing to do. You don’t spend $13,000 to send a few packages a few miles. But the chief was living what founder Fred Smith set out as a guiding principle – “absolutely, positively had to be there.” He got the packages to the processing unit in time and made his clients wishes come true.
More importantly, when the expense report was submitted by the chief, he wasn’t reprimanded, he got an approval. The message sent to the entire organization was that management would back up their people when they made tough calls. Of course he was told to not make a habit of it, but think of the value to the company’s esprit du corps, and the value of that story, that I’m still telling it 30-40 years later. It was well spent money.
Today, as our world pulls itself out of a cataclysmic event, the pandemic and its profound impact on the world of business, I start a new column – Strictly Business. The focus will be on what companies are doing to regroup, reposition and respond to the epic changes in the way that business is conducted, how people interact with companies and what new expectations they have of how to get things done.
I’ll be focusing on both individual companies and on industries, primarily local, smaller organizations that are having a direct impact on our community. Sometimes I’ll be looking at an industry and how it’s being impacted by the pandemic and what changes have been forced upon the players. I’ll be working with entrepreneurs, C-Level Executives and industry professionals to bring you my view of what is happening, how it will help or hurt us, and what I see as the future of business in our world.
If you have good idea for a story, or know of a company that is innovating in some novel way that should be brought to a wider audience, please drop me an email at DAVID@SMDP.COM and let’s see what the future is looking like.
