FedEx’s Fred Smith Quotes on Leadership

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  • What follows are Fred Smith, Founder, Chairman of the Board and CEO of FedEx, quotes on leadership.
    1. “Leadership is simply the ability of an individual to coalesce the efforts of other individuals toward achieving common goals. It boils down to looking after your people and ensuring that, from top to bottom, everyone feels part of the team.”
    2. “Leaders get out in front and stay there by raising the standards by which they judge themselves—and by which they are willing to be judged.”
    3. “The greatest leadership principle I learned in the Marine Corps was the necessity to take care of the troops in a high performance based organization.
      The Marine Corps’ strong emphasis on this overriding leadership requirement has been of inestimable importance to me in developing FedEx over the years.  In the main, people want to be commited to an organization and to do a good job.  The principles of leadership taught by the USMC, and based on two centuries of experience, will produce outstanding organizational results in any setting, if those principles are studiously followed. In short, FedEx owes its success to this simple truth.”
    4. “I’m not afraid to take a swing and miss.”
    5. “The riskiest strategy is to try to avoid risk altogether.”
    6. “Fear of failure must never be a reason not to try something.”
    7. “A manager is not a person who can do the work better than his men; he is a person who can get his men to do the work better than he can.”
    8. “My innovation involved taking an idea from the telecommunications and banking industries, and applying that idea to transportation business.”
    9. “You can’t make people do what’s right. You can lead them, and you can empower them to make the right decision, but if you don’t produce a culture that allows them to do that, then all the rest is just bumping your gums as one of my old business partners used to say.”
    10. “If you’re going to run a high service organization, you have to get the commitment of the people working for that organization right at the start. If you don’t, you’ll never be able to deliver at the levels of expectations of the customer.”

    —Fred W. Smith, Chairman, CEO, Entrepreneur and Founder of FedEx

    All About Fats | VAntage Point

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    Fat is one of our macronutrients (along with protein and carbohydrates), and it is an essential part of our intake. It has many functions within the body, including organ protection, providing fuel, coating nerve cells, making up organs (our brains are roughly 60% fat), making up cells (lipid bilayer), nutrient and phytochemical absorption, skin/hair/nail health, and hormone balance.

    As with anything diet related, the first step is to evaluate the source of your food. Are you eating mostly real, whole foods from nature, or processed, refined foods from the grocery store shelf.

    Good sources of fat are going to come from those whole food options.

    Tips

    1. Continue to eat real, whole foods, and follow a system (such as the healthy plate) to guide you to a balanced intake.
    2. Include good fats, such as from olives and olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds, fatty fish, coconut oil, eggs, dairy, minimally processed meat, and even butter (especially if it’s grass fed and organic). Remember that, although we shouldn’t fear fat from animals, we should still get plenty of it from antioxidant-rich plant-based foods. Balance is important.
    3. Avoid the following: fast food, fried foods, heavily processed meats, processed/packaged foods – like TV dinners and box meals – refined sugars and sweets (including sugar from fluids); highly processed vegetables oils, such as soy, corn, safflower, as well as Crisco and other hydrogenated oils.

    The fat sources we choose, as well as the overall quality of our diet and lifestyle, will make a huge difference on whether that fat will be helpful or harmful.

    Eat well!

    Source: Sieger Giroux MS, RD, LDN is a registered dietitian at the Marion VA. In this episode of Fresh Focus, MOVE! Dietitian Sieger Giroux provides insight on saturated and unsaturated fats and how listeners can incorporate those into the healthy plate method.

    References:

    1. https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/77632/fresh-focus-4-healthy-plate-method-about-fats/

    Recommendation to wear eye protection against coronavirus

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    “If you have goggles or an eye shield, you should use it. It’s not universally recommended, but if you really want to be complete, you should probably use it if you can.”  Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

    Updated: August 13, 2020 at 4:59 p.m. ET.

    Based on what doctors know about how Covid-19 spreads, it’s possible to get infected through your eyes, but not common.  However, it makes sense to use eye protection and a mask anywhere you can’t effectively maintain social distance from others for an extended period such as on board a plane or in a classroom.

    Wearing eye protection in public to fend off COVID-19, according to Dr. Fauci, “…is not universally recommended, but if you really want to be complete, you should probably use it if you can.” But one reason that this hasn’t been pushed for the general public yet, he suggested, is because, “it’s so easy for people to just make a cloth mask.”

    GETTY IMAGES

    Glasses or sunglasses can provide some protection, but due to the openings on the top, bottom and sides,  aerosols could still get in.

    Face shields and protective goggles are advised by medical experts.  Protective eye goggles should “fit snugly around the corners of the eye and across the brow.  Face shields work because they protect the crown and chin from exposure, as well as the eyes.  But, you still must wear a mask when wearing a face shield in order to cover your nose and mouth.

    “If you have goggles or an eye shield, you should use it.” — Dr. Anthony Fauci

    Fauci explained that the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 infects mucosal surfaces — or parts of the body including the eyes, nose and mouth that secrete mucus to stop pathogens and dirt from getting into your body. So “perfect protection” of your mucosal surfaces would include covering every one of them up, he said.

    “Theoretically you should protect all of the mucosal surfaces, so if you have goggles or an eye shield, you should use it,” he said.

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests protective eyewear for health care professionals, noting that “use of eye protection is recommended in areas with moderate to substantial community transmission.” As a result, doctors and nurses do wear goggles or face shields in areas where they are coming into close contact with COVID-19 patients.

    1. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/dr-fauci-recommends-wearing-goggles-to-prevent-catching-the-coronavirus-2020-07-29?mod=nicole-lyn-pesce&link=sfmw_fb
    2. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/31/dr-anthony-fauci-goggles-and-eye-shields-can-prevent-covid-19-spread.html

    Cotton cloth masks are effective preventing spread of virus

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    “Cloth face coverings are one of the most powerful weapons we have to slow and stop the spread of the virus – particularly when used universally within a community setting.”  Robert R. Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

    A group of researchers from Duke University are providing answers to the continuing questions about the efficacy of masks.  The researchers analyzed forteen different facial coverings ranging from hospital-grade N95 respirators to bandanas. Of the 14 masks and other coverings tested, the study found that some easily accessible cotton cloth masks are about as effective as standard surgical masks, while popular alternatives such as neck gaiters made of thin, stretchy material may be worse than not wearing a mask at all.

    A fitted N95 mask proved was the most effective from the tests noting that the mask allowed “no droplets at all” to come out, according to researchers. Meanwhile, a breathable neck gaiter ranked worse than the no-mask control group.

    Neck gaiters are extremely convenient since which they don’t restrict air and droplets which is the reason why they’re not doing much of a job helping people stopping the spread of the virus.

    Several studies find that wearing masks will curb the transmission and reduce the risk of coronavirus infection.  Masks do work and they do cut down transmission of the virus.  And, some masks are better than others.

    References:

    1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/mask-test-duke-covid/2020/08/10/4f2bb888-db18-11ea-b205-ff838e15a9a6_story.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wp_main
    2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/13/spate-new-research-supports-wearing-masks-control-coronavirus-spread/

    Small Businesses Are Dying by the Thousand | Bloomberg

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    “Small Businesses Are Dying by the Thousands — And No One Is Tracking the Carnage”

    By Madeleine Ngo, August 11, 2020, 9:08 AM EDT

    • They simply close down and never show up in bankruptcy tallies
    • More than half of owners are worried their firm won’t survive

    “Big companies are going bankrupt at a record pace, but that’s only part of the carnage. ”

    “By some accounts, small businesses are disappearing by the thousands amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and the drag on the economy from these failures could be huge.”

    “This wave of silent failures goes uncounted in part because real-time data on small business is notoriously scarce, and because owners of small firms often have no debt, and thus no need for bankruptcy court.”

    “Yelp Inc., the online reviewer, has data showing more than 80,000 small businesses permanently shuttered from March 1 to July 25. About 60,000 were local businesses, or firms with fewer than five locations.”

    “While the businesses are small individually, the collective impact of their failures could be substantial. Firms with fewer than 500 employees account for about 44% of U.S. economic activity, according to a U.S. Small Business Administration report, and they employ almost half of all American workers.”

    “Small business attrition is high even in normal times. Only about half of all establishments survive for at least five years, according to the SBA. But the swiftness of the pandemic and the huge drop in economic activity is hitting hard among typically upbeat entrepreneurs. About 58% of small business owners say they’re worried about permanently closing, according to a July U.S. Chamber of Commerce survey.”

    Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-11/small-firms-die-quietly-leaving-thousands-of-failures-uncounted?utm_campaign=news&utm_medium=bd&utm_source=applenews

    References:

    1. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-11/small-firms-die-quietly-leaving-thousands-of-failures-uncounted?utm_campaign=news&utm_medium=bd&utm_source=applenews

    55% of coronavirus patients still have neurological problems three months later | MarketWatch

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    Published: Aug. 9, 2020 at 9:11 a.m. ET By Nicole Lyn Pesce

    Mounting evidence suggests COVID-19 could cause brain damage in adults and kids

    “While lung scarring, heart and kidney damage may result from COVID-19, doctors and researchers are starting to clock the potential long-term impact of the virus on the brain.”

    “Many COVID-19 patients have continued showing symptoms for months after the initial infection passed, reported neurological problems such as confusion and had difficulty concentrating (or brain fog), as well as headaches, extreme fatigue, mood changes, insomnia and loss of taste and/or smell.”

    “The CDC recently warned that it takes longer to recover from COVID-19 than the 10- to 14-day quarantine window that has been touted throughout the pandemic. In fact, one in five young adults under 34 was not back to their usual health up to three weeks after testing positive. And 35% of surveyed U.S. adults overall had not returned to their normal state of health when interviewed two to three weeks after testing.”

    “Now a study of 60 COVID-19 patients published in Lancet this week finds that 55% of them were still displaying such neurological symptoms during follow-up visits three months later. And when doctors compared brain scans of these 60 COVID patients with those of a control group who had not been infected, they found that the brains of the COVID patients showed structural changes that correlated with memory loss and smell loss.”

    “The most severe illness and complications of COVID-19 appear to stem from the body’s immune response to the viral invader, as opposed to the virus itself causing damage.”

    Read more: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/55-of-coronavirus-patients-still-have-neurological-problems-three-months-later-study-2020-08-07?mod=mw_latestnews&link=sfmw_fb

    Income tax rates have increased relative to estate tax rates

    Aside

    Changes in the federal tax law make it increasingly important to focus on the income tax consequences of estate planning in addition to the estate tax consequences. For estates still subject to federal estate tax, the federal estate tax rate is 40%. These rates must be compared with the top federal income tax rates of 37% on ordinary income and 20% on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends, plus a 3.8% Medicare net investment income tax.

    Furthermore, trust income tax rates must be taken into consideration. Trusts are taxed at the highest federal income tax bracket starting at $12,950 in annual trust income. Therefore, when transferring assets to a trust for estate planning purposes, consideration should be given to the potentially negative consequences of higher income taxes. Outdated estate plans may not provide the flexibility required to shift the income tax burden from the trust to individuals in potentially lower tax brackets.

    Revisit your estate planning documents and gifting strategies with your attorney and tax professional to determine whether they are still appropriate, considering the Medicare net investment income tax, the current federal estate tax rate, and the increased applicable exclusion amount.

    First-Time Investors should Stop Chasing Hot Stocks | TheStreet

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    “Your savings rate is…the biggest determinant of how you do financially over time.” Christine Benz, the director of personal finance for investment research firm Morningstar

    As the stock markets plunged across the globe in March, a wave of Americans saw an opportunity to start investing. But chasing hot stocks like Apple, Tesla or Amazon, according to financial experts, is akin to making the same old ‘tried and true’ investment mistakes as our forefathers and foremothers.

    “Individual stocks are terrible investments for people just starting out,” according to Christine Benz, the director of personal finance for investment research firm Morningstar.

    Active investing strategies, such as buying and selling individual stocks on trading platforms like Robinhood, often underperforms over the long-term versus more passive investment strategies, such as investing in low cost index funds that simply follow a stock market index like the S&P 500.

    While chasing hot stocks may seem thrilling in the short-term while you’re winning, the keys to financial success and security are incredibly mundane. They include:

    • Creating and following a financial plan;
    • Disciplined and deliberate savings;
    • Investing for the long-term;
    • Time in the market beats timing the market;
    • Investing in market index mutual funds and ETFs; and
    • Diversification and asset allocation.

    Read more: https://www.thestreet.com/personal-finance/first-time-investors-stop-chasing-hot-stocks-do-this-instead-nw

    Why would anyone own bonds now? There are at least five reasons | MarketWatch

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    Published on www.MarketWatch.com: Aug. 4, 2020 at 12:52 p.m. ET

    By Ben Carlson

    Bonds play a role in an investment portfolio, even amid historically low interest rates

    What’s the better performer 2020 year to date — the red-hot Nasdaq 100 index of tech behemoths (Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet, etc.) or boring, old long-term bonds?

    The Nasdaq 100 ETF QQQ is up an astonishing 25.5%. But the long-term treasury ETF TLT is up 27.3%. Surprisingly, long-term bonds are outperforming tech stocks.

    Yet, according to Deutsche Bank, we’re now experiencing the lowest government bond yields in well over 200 years:

    Fixed income assets, such as bonds, typically provides regular cash and lower volatility when markets hit turbulence.  And, bond prices often are uncorrelated to equities. Stocks typically do well in periods of economic growth, whereas bonds typically do well in periods of declining economic activity and recessions.  Additionally,  bonds offer downside protection and moderate upside potential as investors tend to seek out the safety of U.S. government and investment-grade corporate bonds amid stock market uncertainty.

    Many investors have been saying for years that bond coupon rates and yields can only go up from here, and yet, they’ve done nothing but fall more. And maybe they’ll fall even further and possibly go negative like in Europe and Japan (something we should not rule out in the U.S. if the pandemic worsens).

    But eventually short-term movements in rates will wash out and the long-term returns will be based more on the current bond yields. When you consider how paltry those yields are, investors in fixed-income are guaranteed to see minuscule returns from here over the long haul.

    So why own bonds at historically low yields? Some reasons:

    1. Bonds hedge stock-market volatility
    2. Bonds can be used to rebalance
    3. Bonds can be used for spending purposes
    4. Bonds protect against deflation
    5. There are other asset class options, but there aren’t many

    Although bonds and bond funds have done extremely well in 2020, the bottom-line regarding bonds and bond funds…you can either earn less income from low yielding bonds to better protect your capital or earn more income from dividend paying stocks to accept more risk in your portfolio.

    Read the entire opinion article at: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-would-anyone-own-bonds-now-there-are-at-least-five-reasons-2020-08-04

    References:

    1. https://www.fidelity.com/insights/investing-ideas/bond-funds-portfolio-protection

    How Vaccines Work, How They’re Developed and What’s the Latest on One for COVID-19

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    By Andrea Klemes, DO, FACE, CMO MDVIP

    Since the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020, we’ve heard a lot about vaccines. There have been promises for quick vaccine development as well as warnings about how long it really takes to develop a safe, effective vaccine.

    You’ve also probably heard that a coronavirus vaccine is necessary for us to return to normal. The good news? Surprising progress has been made in creating vaccines for COVID-19. As of now, there are more than 160 vaccines in various stages of development, and many are already into the human testing phase. While the path to success is still uncertain, never in human history have so many scientists and resources been devoted to a single public health crisis.

    In July, multiple vaccine manufacturers released preliminary data from phase 1 studies that showed new vaccines are well tolerated and created antibodies. This is good news because it shows success in human subjects; in phase 1 trials, small groups of people receive the vaccine. Three vaccines are either currently in a later phase of development, where they are being tested on thousands of people, or about to enter that phase.

    While it’s good news, there’s a long way to go. Here’s a quick primer on how vaccines work, how they’re developed and where we stand developing a vaccine for the current coronavirus outbreak.

    How Vaccines Work
    Vaccines work by mimicking a virus or bacteria that enters the immune system to build up antibodies. Ironically, vaccines are one of our oldest modern medical treatments. The first effective vaccination — to smallpox — was developed in the late 18th century. Over the last 220 years, scientists have advanced the process and effectiveness for vaccines.

    Modern vaccines are simple in concept: create a synthetic compound that behaves like a real live pathogen that doesn’t cause illness. The compound will instead provoke the immune system to create antibodies that teach the body to react quickly and forcefully if the real pathogen invades the body.

    Antibodies are an essential part of your immune system. When a pathogen, like bacteria or a virus, invades your body, antibodies bind to the invader and neutralize it, minimizing its damage. Your body came with some antibodies, which were passed from your mother. But most antibodies are developed over time when you’re exposed to pathogens. Vaccines make that natural process happen without infecting you with a real virus or bacteria.

    How Vaccines Are Made
    There are four basic types of vaccines, but regardless of the type, the process to produce safe and effective vaccines is typically long and difficult. When we’re not in crisis mode, vaccine labs can take anywhere from 10 to 15 years to develop a new vaccine. Of course, when we’re in the throes of a pandemic, labs generally move quicker. For example, during the mumps outbreak, a vaccine was generated in four years – the quickest in U.S. history.

    Labs are currently working on an even faster timetable, with hopes that a COVID-19 vaccine might be available by the end of 2020 or by the middle of next year.

    The reason it takes so long it that there are five phases of vaccine development:

    • Exploration: In this stage, drug companies investigate different approaches to the vaccine. Historically, this phase lasts between two and four years; however, evolving technology has help quicken the pace of this phase for some vaccines, including COVID-19. Another factor that has helped speed up the exploratory stage of the COVID-19 vaccine is information sharing among scientists; for example, scientists genetically mapped the virus as early as January — something that would have taken much longer 10 or 20 years ago. Also, since COVID-19 is similar to SARS — another coronavirus that caused a six-month pandemic in 2003 — scientists working on the COVID-19 vaccine were able to learn from those working on the SARS vaccine — a significant head start.
    • Preclinical: Once researchers develop a vaccine candidate, it’s tested in cell cultures and animals to see if it triggers an immune response without damaging cells. This takes about a year. And if the vaccine doesn’t work, researchers circle back to the exploration phase. But if it is successful, it moves on the testing phase.
    • Testing: Vaccines are tested through clinical trials – research studies that evaluate the effectiveness and safety of vaccines, medications, medical devices, surgical procedures or behavioral interventions on a group of people. Most trials start with a small group of people (phase 1), and, if they go well, they are expanded to include a moderate size group of people (phase 2) and then a large group (phase 3). Of course, if issues arise during clinical trials, the vaccine reverts to the preclinical phase.
    • Regulatory review: If clinical trials go well, the drug company submits a Biologics License Application and product label for the vaccine. In the United States, applications and labels are sent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the U.S., this process takes about 10 months, although in a circumstance such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the process will probably be accelerated.
    • Production: Once the drug manufacturers have been given a green light, they can begin producing the vaccine. In the U.S., the FDA continues overseeing the production of the vaccine.


    Where COVID-19 Vaccines Stand
    At the end of July there were 23 vaccines in clinical testing and another 137 in pre-clinical development, according to the World Health Organization.

    Dr. Erica Saphire, an infectious disease authority and professor at La Jolla Institute for Immunology, recently told medical officials that the earliest a vaccine may be available is January 2021, but it’s more likely that a viable vaccine won’t be available until July 2021 or later. Even when one is available, it will take time to get the vaccine manufactured and distributed. Of course, once a vaccine is available, healthcare workers, first responders and those at the highest risk – nursing home patients, for example — will probably be the first to have access to the vaccine.

    Until a vaccine is available, continue to take precautions such as wearing a face mask and social distancing to lower your risk of contracting COVID-19. And continue working closely with your physician to help you control chronic conditions and maintain a strong immune system that can lower your chances of developing serious complications should you catch COVID-19.