Who says FedEx doesn't have passengers?

 

It might sound strange, but one of our favorite blogs is the FedEx Citizenship Blog.

The company describes it this way: The FedEx blog is a place for personal insights into our company, our innovation, and the FedEx culture. This blog allows us to hear from you and build on the community that we’ve nurtured since 1971.  Although package delivery is what we are largely known for, FedEx plays a key role within many areas that shape our lives – as noted within each of the blog’s category sections above.  We now invite you to join our conversation with stories and comments of your own, and we will do our best to make it a valuable experience.

There’s nothing more encouraging to us that learning how individuals are giving back to their communities.  It’s especially encouraging at the way FedEx employees take their innovation to the streets and to their neighborhoods. The FedEx Citizenship bloggers, from Fred Smith to “regular” employees, offer daily examples to inspire others to do the same.

Here, we believe that one person can change the world.  In fact, it’s been done time and time again.

But we have about 40,000 at FedEx who are involved in all kinds of activities in Memphis.  At a time when we often wonder if corporations and companies feel any commitment to the civic good and to community, the FedEx’ers working all over the globe to improve things is a lesson we shouldn’t forget.

FedEx founder and patron saint Fred Smith blogged about the impact that one person made on the history of his company:

“Whether you are coaching sports, leading a work team, or mentoring another employee, you never know how much of a positive difference you could be making in someone’s life.  It reminds me of a story from the early days of FedEx.  We had met with a group of investors to try to get them to invest in our young company, but they decided against giving us the money.  We were very disappointed.  But the next day, one of the investors called me and said the group members had changed their mind and we would indeed be receiving the funds we had requested.  ‘Just out of curiosity,’ I asked the man, ‘what made you change your mind?’ Here’s what he told me:  ‘When we were leaving the hangar, we noticed how clean everything was—you could eat off the floor, you could see your face in the shiny surfaces.  Everything was spic-and-span.  And then we saw the gentleman, a partially disabled janitor, who was responsible for taking care of the place.  We talked it over and decided if this type of excellence is supported at the very front-line level, then FedEx was a company that we were willing to invest in.’  What a difference that FedEx janitor’s excellent work made in the future of our company.  What a difference we can all make in the futures of those around us by doing our best work and influencing others to do theirs.

What we like best about the blog about employees is that unlike many companies, the FedEx corporate responsibility statement is more than window dressing: At FedEx, we recognize that our impact is greater than the services we provide. We are committed to being a great place to work, a thoughtful steward of the environment and a caring citizen in the communities where we live and work. We are passionate about sustainably connecting people and places and improving the quality of life around the world.

While you’re at it, check out FedEx by the numbers, a place with factoids that we always find interesting.

We weren’t intending this to be a paean to FedEx when we started writing it, but while we often write about our concerns about the trajectory of Memphis, it’s impossible to imagine what our city would be without FedEx.  Not to mention the employees working all over the community to make things better.