Fred Smith: The Story of FedEx [Outliers]

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.

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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

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