Empower Leader: Frederick Smith: The Empowering Leader

1689 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: What is the importance of leadership in a society

The Empowering Leader A leader can be defined as anyone that has at least one person following them, but a great leader has people flock to them. A great leader thinks outside of the box and attempts things that shock the people around them. People follow these leaders because they want to be a part of something amazing and achieve things that most people cannot even dream to be achievable. Frederick Smith had a dream that many thought was impossible, and for many that was probably true. In spite of most peoples’ doubt Frederick Smith turned that impossible dream into multi-billion dollar company. As the leader and founder of FedEx Frederick Smith has been a strong supporter of his employees, knowing that without them his company would not be successful. Smith developed an innovative business model that places the employee first with the understanding that the rest will fall in line through hard work and technical expertise.
Frederick Smith founded Federal Express in 1971 he first entertained the concept of a next day delivery company in a term paper for an economics …show more content…

The award recognizes employees who reach out to others in times of need, exhibiting behavior that goes above and beyond basic community responsibility ("Compensation and Rewards," n.d.). This type of award is supportive in several different ways, not only does it encourage the employee to work hard during business hours it also encourqages them to give back to the community. Several years ago 1500 employees were surveyed to find out what the most powerful workplace motivator was, the response was Recognition, recognition, and more recognition ("FedEx Positive Deviance | analysis of one of the world 's top companies," n.d.). It is important for companies to recognize their employees and praise them for their

Show More
Related

  • New and Improved Rewards at Work

    1579 Words  | 4 Pages

    Employers have been coming up with innovative employee rewards to boost morale and acknowledge employee needs for creativity and personal goal accomplishment. Some of the latest potential employee rewards include using the internet at work for personal reasons such as shopping, communicating with friends, or personal finances; bringing a pet to work; instituting a controlled napping policy, and the sports and office betting pools..

    Read More

  • Positive Effects of Workplace Reward Systems in Carol Patton’s article, Rewarding Best Behavior

    654 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a business or a workplace, it is essential for the organization, which consists of the employers, the managers, and their employees, to work towards reward programs within the human resources in order to create a healthy and cordial work environment and most importantly, to efficiently achieve business’ goals. In Carol Patton’s (2013) article, Rewarding Best Behaviors, she explains the importance of several companies that are beginning to recognize their employees, not just for the end-results, but for reflecting good behaviors towards the business’ values, such as demonstrating creativity on certain projects, problem solving towards certain issues, and also collaborating with fellow co-workers. Patton stresses that these reward programs could help suffice the overall being of a company as long as the rewarded behaviors correlate with the corporate strategy. Patton expresses that some things human resources must comprehend include “how its company creates success, what drives its business strategy and what behaviors are needed from employees to achieve that success” (Patton, 2013 para. 15). Moreover, the employee would be reflected as a role model for others and perhaps influence them to demonstrate comparable behaviors.

    Read More

  • Warren Bennis's On Becoming A Leader

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a whole, Warren Bennis defined the values and achievement plan for becoming the most successful leader one can be. He highlighted the link between self knowledge and business. A leader is not just “doing a job” or “running a company,” but it’s finding one’s personal vision. Bennis tries to do as much as he possibly he can to shatter this myth. Today, more people are starting to learn what leadership exactly means and what is expected of a leader. It might be evident that in the future competition will be harder

    Read More

  • Example Of A Leadership Essay

    1413 Words  | 3 Pages

    Leadership is not a position but an action that is undertaken by an individual. Leadership is not just about giving orders, yet it is the action of serving others. According to Robert Townsend, “A leader is not an administrator who loves to run others, but someone who carries water for his people so that they can get on with their jobs” (2013). A good leader will support his or hers employees because a leader is not judged on their own actions, but they are judge on the success of those that they support. In the modern era, we look at business leaders in the same way that historians view military commanders or kings of the past.

    Read More

  • Leadership

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    What exactly is a leader? Is a leader the line by line definition presented to you in a dictionary? Is it just the person that leads and commands a group or organization? Or is it something more? Something beyond the obvious managing and directing. Personally I believe Ronald Reagan embodies the exact definition of what a leader should be. Reagan once stated “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things, he is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” Being a leader has nothing to do with being the best. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether or not you are the star quarterback or the leading soloist. It doesn’t matter if you are the fastest runner or how high you can throw your the rifle. What I truly think makes a person a leader is having the ability to do something more that far exceeds throwing a football or hitting a perfect tune. What makes a person a leader is having the ability for looking out for your team. It’s about putting the team above yourself. A leader has the ability to look out for each and every team member when they are struggling. They are always on call and ready to help despite the situation at hand. Leadership is just something that can’t be switched on and off. Leadership is something that remains with a person. It consumes the body in which it inhabits presenting it’s owner with the desire to look after the team not only on the field, but off. It allows the holder to truly care about their team because they want the best for it. It gives them the impulse to keep peace in the unity but still push them to amount to their greatest potential. As Ronald Reagan stated, leaders get the people to do the greatest things.

    Read More

  • True North Book About Leadership Review

    1778 Words  | 4 Pages

    Destiny, brought the book True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership into my life and I want to bring it into the lives of others. More specifically those who may believe they weren’t born with the characteristics or traits to become a leader or those who have not found their passion or purpose in life; their “True North.” The book, written by Bill George and co-author Peter Sims, compiles a series of interviews with 125 managers from Howard Schultz of Starbuck’s to Dan Vasella of Novartis. The interviewees guide readers through their journey to become the leaders they are today; discussing their failures, successes, obstacles, personal tragedies and triumphs. The stories of each manager prove the True North’s thesis, which is no one person is born a leader and there isn’t one path to becoming a leader. The book is separated into three sections: 1) Leadership is a Journey 2) Discover Your Authentic Leadership 3) Empowering People to Lead. Before giving overviews of each section, it is important to define an authentic leader.

    Read More

  • Understanding Incentives as Workplace Motivation

    2086 Words  | 5 Pages

    This form of reward is in the form of VIP access, giving the employees power, promotions, or offering trips or getaways. These types of rewards give the employers something to look forward to, it also gives them a new exciting opportunity. Privileges and rewarding events fall into the esteem need of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This form of reward also falls into the Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, relating to motivators. The reward acts as a motivator where it gives people reinforcement for a job well done and interesting work or responsibility.

    Read More

  • Fab Sweets Case Analysis

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    "A simple thing such as giving a employee a little reward for outstanding performance for a month or a year could help motivate other employees to want to do better so that they could have the chance to be recognized for their outstanding work.

    Read More

  • Federal Express Fedex Case

    1958 Words  | 4 Pages

    In August of 1971, Smith started his venture by buying controlling interest in Arkansas Aviation Sales. While operating his new firm, Smith recognized the tremendous difficulty in getting packages delivered within one- to- two days. This dilemma motivated him to do the necessary research for resolving the current inefficient distribution system. Thus, the idea for Federal Express was born: a company that revolutionized global business practices and now defines speed and reliability1.

    Read More

  • Alan Mulally, CEO, Ford Motor Company

    1465 Words  | 3 Pages

    The role of leadership can impact an organization performance in many ways. Excellent leadership can propel a company to the fortune five hundred list. For Example, Harpo Incorporated Oprah Winfrey’s company is a successful business that has made billions of dollars over the years. The business consists of several different entities such as the Oprah Show, Oprah Winfrey Network, and The Dr. Phil Show to name a few. This could not have been accomplished with a weak or uneducated leader. Many years ago I heard her give advice to the Williams Sisters. The a...

    Read More

  • Donald Phillip's Lincoln On Leadership

    780 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author of the book, Lincoln On Leadership by Donald Phillip, try to bring out several leadership styles that Lincoln had to allow us to learn his leadership. Each lessons are according to the major events that he had accomplished. Among all, I chose three outstanding lessons that I was inspired and can use for my future professional development.

    Read More

  • Expectancy Theory

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    315), motivating other is to give recognition and praise can be thought as directly placing a positive reinforcement, that is reinforcing the adequate behavior by giving an award. A strong motivator is recognition because it is a regular human need. DuBrin (2013, p. 316), an outstanding of recognition, which include praise, as a motivator it that it is no cost or low cost yet powerful. Bob Nelson, a reward expert, reminds us that money is important to employees and recognizing others motivates them to elevate his or her performance. It has a huge return on investment in comparison to a cash bonus. DuBrin (2013, p. 318), according to equity theory, employee motivation and satisfaction depend on how properly the employees believe they are treated in comparison to peers. The theory debates that employees have certain beliefs about the outcomes they receive from their jobs, as well as the inputs they invest to obtain these outcomes. This theory has many implications for the leader who attempts to motivate subordinates. No matter how well a program productivity or cost-cutting is, it needs to still provide equitable pay. Also, the leader needs to see that subordinates perceive themselves to receive a fair deal in terms of what they give to and receive from the company. DuBrin (2013, p. 320), effective leaders are good coaches and good coaches are effective

    Read More

  • Leadership In Action

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    He will be there for you when you have problems with your family and spouse, because he wants employees to be focused when they are working and not thinking about family problems.

    Read More

  • Followership

    1761 Words  | 4 Pages

    FedEx CEO Fred Smith has also shown that he is a team player by cutting his own salary by 20% during a cost reduction exercise in 2009. This reinforces his follower’s faith in him, and puts a positive face on the business. Smith’s use of followership development has not gone unnoticed. FedEx has been named one of FORTUNE’s Top 100 Companies to work for 12 out of the last 13 years (Risher).

    Read More

  • Leadership Reflection Paper

    1470 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many people associate leadership with a specific job title or form of power within an organization. However, through personal experience, I have concluded that leadership can come in many forms and position as well as from multiple sources of roles and job titles both with and without power. Based on the definition of leadership, anyone can be considered a leader as long as they have the ability to influence people to achieve a particular result or goal which benefits the organization or group as a whole. Individuals with a secure sense of self and understanding, acceptance of diversity within an organization tend to be the strongest leaders that not only make others want to follow, but they also encourage other leaders to gravitate to their

    Read More

More about Empower Leader: Frederick Smith: The Empowering Leader

Open Document