Chapter 1: Born Global | 1
The Little Company Which was Seen as Illegal in Every Country | 1
Chapter 2: The 70s | 5
Chapter 3: The Start-up Years | 9
Chapter 4: The Start-up Years: Business Innovation | 13
Door to Door, Desk to Desk | 13
Just Like Taking It There Yourself | 14
Still Expensive, However, for a Start-Up ... | 15
... and Increasingly Complex | 16
So, Try and Keep It Simple | 17
So Simple, Almost Too Good to Be True | 18
Proof was Needed, and So Proof was Provided | 19
With the Airlines as Friends (Albeit Fair-Weather) | 20
Chapter 5: Innovation and Its Broader Impact on Business Dynamics | 23
The Infectious Nature of Speed | 23
Size Doesn't Matter, Content Does | 24
Keeping It Dense | 25
But Keeping It Simple | 25
And Everyone Sells | 25
Service Is Not Servitude | 26
Creating a Time-Based Value Proposition | 27
Challenging Traditional Work Habits | 27
And in the Spirit of Partnership | 28
Chapter 6: Cultural Dynamics: What was Going on Here? | 29
Against All Odds | 29
Ahead of its Time | 29
It was also the People | 29
An Emerging Company Culture | 33
The Nature of the Business Helped | 33
But it Wasn't Just the Business | 34
Chapter 7: Barely Legal-Early Regulatory Battles | 35
First, What Kind Of Business Is This? | 36
Ah, You Mean You Carry Mail? | 37
And What About This "Smuggling" Theory? | 41
Airline Schizophrenia | 43
Okay, Understand The Challenges With Post Offices, Customs And Airlines,
But Surely You Were Doing Everything Else By The Book? | 45
Chapter 8: 1970s Vignettes and Bloopers | 47
Strange Bedfellows | 47
Caught Napping | 47
Plenty of Space, and Not So Much | 48
Strange Passengers | 48
Delivery Heroics | 48
It's Tough Being Ahead of Your Time | 49
Chapter 9: Transition | 53
Taken Off, but Not Yet Landed | 53
A Biological Phenomenon | 54
With Intuitive, Instinctive Leadership | 56
Which Attracted and Inspired | 57
Cowboys with Wing | 58
And an Ounce of Luck | 58
Underpinned by Trust | 59
A Common Language | 59
And the Rule of Common Law | 60
But it was Precarious | 60
Chapter 10: The 80s | 63
Economic and Political Turbulence... | 63
Presaging Fundamental Geopolitical Change | 63
Policed by America | 64
With Asia Awakening | 64
Business Models Must Change | 65
A New Age of Consumerism | 65
And Speed to Market | 66
The End of History? | 67
Perhaps a Hybrid Would be the Answer | 68
Chapter 11: The Walden Years-Structure and process | 69
Nascently Global | 69
But Not Sustainable | 71
Structure to Support a Growth Strategy | 72
With A New Confidence | 73
Coming Out | 74
And Cash is the King | 75
Chapter 12: Business Innovation | 77
Getting it There in No Time at All | 77
Tentative Steps to Expand the Offering | 78
If you can get to the internationally remote places, why not just down
the road? | 80
Europe Overnight | 80
And What About a Second Brand? | 82
Early Computerization | 82
What Aided and Abetted Also Threatened | 83
But Also Provided Opportunity | 84
Building a Brand | 85
Ongoing Geographical Expansion | 86
Less than Door-to-door | 87
Early Steps in Logistics | 88
Answer the Phone, Dammit! | 88
Chapter 13: Business Context-What Was Going on Here? | 91
A New Era of Globalization Begins | 91
What was DHL Carrying? | 93
This was an Outbound Phenomena | 93
The Information Age Beckoned, but Expensively | 95
Airports Grew Up | 95
Strategic Disconnect | 97
Chapter 14: Business Context-Competition Explodes | 99
Competition? (What, Really?) | 99
Finally, Strength Through Numbers | 99
But in Context | 100
Those Pesky Airlines Again | 101
The "Empires" Try to Strike Back | 102
But FedEx Strikes First | 102
And Starts to Force the Pace | 103
The Enemy of My Enemy can be my Friend | 103
Chapter 15: Regulatory Battles | 105
Postal Battles Heat Up | 105
Progress with Customs | 110
Tax, Cashflows and Blocked Funds | 112
The Dutch Sandwich | 113
Chapter 16: Cultural Dynamics | 117
Heroism | 117
It Wasn't Just the Cowboys | 117
Growing Up | 118
Some Contextual Frameworks | 122
And Perhaps a Modern Example of Another, More Natural Law, is in Play
Here | 124
Change Agents | 124
Pirates of the Caribbean (Never Waste a Good Crisis) | 126
Expat Versus Local | 127
Persistence at Heathrow, with Help from the US | 128
Chapter 17: Anecdotes, Accidents, and Altruism | 131
Excellence Discovered | 131
Going the Extra Mile | 131
Going Many Extra Miles | 132
Making Calls was a Shoe-In | 132
The Green Bags must go Through | 132
Shenanigans in Bahrain | 133
The Future Sometimes Takes Longer | 133
DHL Never Sleeps | 133
Never Fear, DHL is Here | 133
Be Bold, Be Fearless, Be an Upstart | 134
The Worm Turns | 135
Unblocking the Funds | 135
Thank Goodness for Unintended Consequences | 136
Unintended Consequences Version Two | 136
Bill Walden's Office | 137
Crazy Texans | 138
Negotiations in China | 138
Pat Lupo's Story: The Most Employee-Motivational Thing We Did | 138
Chapter 18: Adolescence to Adulthood | 141
Mission Almost Accomplished | 141
A New Man in Charge | 141
Bring in the Suits | 143
A Deal Made in Heaven, But | 144
Finally, A Head Office | 145
Organizational Innovation | 146
An Ongoing Emphasis on Data Networks | 146
And a New Sense of Mission | 148
WORLDWIDE MISSION STATEMENT | 149
FedEx Loses a Battle | 150
With the Best Good Will in the World, it Didn't Work Out | 151
The Ultimate Compliment | 151
Chapter 19: Powers | 153
Chapter 20: From Start-up to Upstart to the Most International Company in the
World | 169
Chapter 21: Epilogue: The 2008-16 Reincarnation | 173
Market Growth | 173
A Much and Long Desired Prize Becomes the Bogeyman | 174
Somebody Press the Reset Button, Quickly | 175
Focus, Connect, Grow: Pressing the button | 176
We Have a Strategic Plan: It's Called Doing Things | 178
Ubiquity | 180
Motivated People: The CIS story | 180
Discipline, Process and the Power of Routine | 182
Great Leadership | 184
Ubiquity again | 184
Results are the only True Sign of Excellence | 185
Going Global, Staying the Course: The Powers Revisited | 185
Focus, discipline and routine | 188
Synthesis | 188
Renewal | 189
Index | 191
