Changing How the World Does Business

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28 Mach 1 to Idle

Federal Express was maturing, transforming from an entrepreneurial, fast-paced, decentralized decision-making entity to a more tightly controlled and highly structured corporation. The company was beginning to lose some of its flexibility, to downplay the interchanging roles of the senior management group, and moving toward compartmentalization. Inevitably, territorial silos were rising, to the detriment of the some of the cooperation that characterized earlier years.

Fred, freed from most of his financial concerns and personal problems, was changing from primarily a charismatic leader to a tougher, no-nonsense corporate executive. He was beginning to have second thoughts about the decentralized division structure and was ...