Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Synovus Financial Corporation: “Just take care of your people”
- 2 FedEx Freight – Putting people first
- 3 The role of values in high-risk organizations
- 4 Spirituality and leadership in the Marine Corps
- 5 HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation: quest to become America's most admired company
- 6 Leadership lessons from Sarah: values-based leadership as everyday practice
- 7 Leadership values that enable extraordinary success
- 8 Principled leadership: a framework for action
- 9 Forgiveness as an attribute of leadership
- 10 Values and leadership in organizational crisis
- 11 Making more Mike Stranks – teaching values in the United States Marine Corps
- Index
2 - FedEx Freight – Putting people first
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Synovus Financial Corporation: “Just take care of your people”
- 2 FedEx Freight – Putting people first
- 3 The role of values in high-risk organizations
- 4 Spirituality and leadership in the Marine Corps
- 5 HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation: quest to become America's most admired company
- 6 Leadership lessons from Sarah: values-based leadership as everyday practice
- 7 Leadership values that enable extraordinary success
- 8 Principled leadership: a framework for action
- 9 Forgiveness as an attribute of leadership
- 10 Values and leadership in organizational crisis
- 11 Making more Mike Stranks – teaching values in the United States Marine Corps
- Index
Summary
As the Senior Vice President of Operations and Transportation for FedEx Freight, Gary W. Bouch faced a life changing vision of leadership, and unlike many executives, did something. The result would be a leadership environment called “People First,” the design of an experiential learning model that can be measured, engaged the workforce, and did prove positive results. The FedEx Freight story is a good example of how even a very successful company has the potential to lose their values because of success, and a merger, unless a senior leader takes ownership of consistently and repetitively championing the values. It is a story of personal courage, meaning, corporate political risk, how values are operationalized and measured, and a story of how powerful values can be resonating deeply inside of people. It is also a reminder that leadership is hard work, that leadership and putting people first is an everyday job, and that success can bring complacency unless it is countered by leadership.
History
October 25, 1982, was the birth of what would become the nation's leader in less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation. Sheridan Garrison started the operations of Arkansas Freightways by opening twenty centers with next-day transit times in mind. The industry laughed at Sheridan (he preferred first names), saying, “He must be crazy.” After a very short time of operations, the competition's tone changed from laughter to pensive concern. “How is he doing this?” At the time, Sheridan would answer that in some very concise statements: “If you are going to be successful in this business, it is all about people.”
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- Information
- Leading with ValuesPositivity, Virtue and High Performance, pp. 29 - 54Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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