00:00So, you're president and COO, and Fred Smith, the legendary founder, is going to be there forever, people thought.
00:08Did he call you one day and say, guess what, I want you to be my successor?
00:12One day, he calls over and says, I'm going to Los Angeles tomorrow.
00:19I've looked at your calendar, you're doing nothing.
00:24I want you on the plane with me.
00:27And so, it was, I think, the day before Valentine's Day, whatever it was.
00:31So, I'm there, you know, and then he, so he walks into the plane, and even before he sits down,
00:39he turns around and says,
00:40so, would you like to be the president and COO of FedEx?
00:44And I'm looking at him and said, I'll be honored, sir.
00:46And he sat down for the next, because we can't get out anymore, because we've got a four and a
00:49half hour flight.
00:51And he starts downloading a lot of things about, you know, what FedEx and other things on the way over.
00:58So, that's how it started, yeah.
01:00All right, so you became the president and COO.
01:02Yeah.
01:03And then, how many years later, before you became the CEO?
01:06It's three years.
01:07When you become the CEO, you say to Fred, look, it's a nice company you built, but I want to
01:13make some changes, dramatic changes.
01:14Was that hard to do?
01:15Because you made a lot of dramatic changes.
01:17Well, no, Fred was very, very clear about this.
01:19This is the greatest thing about Fred.
01:21I mean, I'm just counting myself one of the very, very fortunate persons on this planet that I have spent
01:27so much time with him.
01:29It was very, very clear that once the mantle shifted over, that, okay, you know, he'll give me all the
01:35input you want, but the decision-making was fine.
01:38That meeting with him lasted about two minutes.
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