FedEx Delivers: How the World's Leading Shipping Company Keeps Innovating and Outperforming the Competition - Hardcover

Birla, Madan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471715794 ISBN 13: 9780471715795

Publisher: Wiley, 2013

Synopsis

An inside look at leadership practices that enabled the world's leading shipping company to outthink and outperform its competition

Using firsthand accounts from top leaders at FedEx, FedEx Delivers explains how the company became an international powerhouse and one of the most trusted global brands by using leadership practices that tapped into the creativity and commitment of its employees.

Both a compelling business story and a prescription for business success, FedEx Delivers presents a model to show how these practices created and sustained an innovation culture. Readers will learn how to apply this model to their organizations for developing a culture of innovation that evolves with the times and offers fresh solutions to new challenges.

Innovative thinking and disciplined execution are what made FedEx a market leader, and they can help any business in any industry do the same. Each chapter covers a different aspect of innovation with real-life stories that highlight its effectiveness, and offers valuable ideas that lead managers through the process of implementing those practices.

By breaking innovation down to its three simplest steps-generation, acceptance, and implementation of ideas-and offering proven leadership practices that really work, FedEx Delivers offers unique insight and invaluable advice on building an organization that can adapt to any challenge and meet any goal in today's highly competitive global economy.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

By now, every business leaders should know that innovation is the key to business success in the twenty-first century. You can't rest on your laurels, and you can't rely on what you did well yesterday to get you through tomorrow. But innovating isn't easy, and building a culture of constant innovation is even harder.

FedEx Delivers reveals the secrets of innovation from one of the world's most dominant, successful, and innovative companies. After spending more than two decades at FedEx-decades at FedEx-decades during which the company vaulted ahead of its competitors at an astounding rate-Madan Birla knows what it takes to innovate. Using his own long experience and first-hand accounts from top leaders at FedEx, Birla explains the leadership practices and support systems that put the company ahead of the pack.

FedEx Delivers not only reveals why constant innovation is essential to success, but also shows every business leader, including you, how to apply FedEx's renowned leadership practices to any organization. At its simplest, innovation depends on quality leadership. Without a leader who understands the importance of constant innovation and adaptation, an organization will lose momentum, and drift along with the status quo. Here, Birla explains the leadership development strategies that FedEx uses to produce the kind of leaders who know how to nurture creativity and find new and better ways to serve customers.

In simple, step-by-step fashion Birla offers an effective blueprint for building and sustaining an innovation culture that actively engages every employee-building creative thinking into the very heart of the business so that innovation becomes standard practice rather than lucky chance. Breaking innovation down to the three vital steps-the generation, acceptance and implementation of new ideas-Birla offers unique insight and invaluable advice on building an organization that can adapt to any challenge and meet any goal.

packed with true stories, real-world examples, cutting-edge practices, and expert advice on implementing new ideas and processes, FedEx Delivers is much more than a simple story of business success. A one-of-a-kind resource for any business leader in any business, FedEx Delivers shares effective, prescriptive practices that can lead any company to the forefront of its industry.

From the Back Cover:

Praise for FedEx DELIVERS

"A great read! FedEx has been at the forefront of innovation for the past quarter century and this book accurately captures the essence of how Fred Smith and the FedEx team made it all happen."
―Ken may, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, FedEx Kinko's

"As Dean at a business school that has made innovation a key element of our culture, it is fascinating to read Madan Birla's account of how FedEx instilled that value for competitive advantage. His insights into the entire journey involved in innovation-and the organizational design it requires-make FedEx Delivers required reading for students and managers alike."
―Dipak Jain, Dean, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

"Part company biography, part autobiography Madan Birla delivers the FedEx story in such a personal way, you feel as if you are there for one of the greatest rides in corporate America."
―David Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer, Leadership Memphis

"FedEx Delivers is a treasure chest of ideas and examples of how the best gets better in planning and execution. This book will become an essential tool for those companies seeking to become leaders in their fields. I recommend this book with great enthusiasm."
―Larry Papasan, former president, Smith & Nephew Orthopaedics

"Birla has taken a difficult but strategically critical subject-building and sustaining a performance and innovation culture-to an eminently practical level that most companies can achieve if they have the will."
―Sarah Meyerrose, Executive Vice President, Corporate and Employee Services, First Horizon National Corporation

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0471715794
• ISBN 13: 9780471715795
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240