Frederick W. Smith Quotes

The Marines gave me a really strong sense of discipline and a work ethic that kicks in at my job.

I went to a military school between the ages of six and 12 and later into the air force. You learn discipline and strength of character.

Success in management and success in sport are derived from the same basic principles.

If you ask me why I've succeeded, it's because I was in the Royal Marines. You have this unbelievable sense of achievement and of overcoming adversity. That's the confidence it breeds.

I built my company a lot while playing for the Patriots.

One of the biggest reasons entrepreneurs don't succeed is because they have too many chiefs. You've got to bring in the right people to make the right decisions.

I'm really not a great businessperson. I understand business, and I understand numbers, but I think what I understand more than that is people... Ultimately, I think businesses fail and people fail because they don't have their act together.

Tim Lewis is great, he's a great coordinator.

A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.

I have a great team who has helped me build Biocon, I was very fortunate to be able to share my vision with a group of people who really were as excited about challenges as I was.

Something I learned in the Marine Corps that I've applied to acting is, one, taking direction, and then working with a group of people to accomplish a mission and knowing your role within that team.

You can have the best people in the business, but if they're not collaborating - and they're butting heads - then it's all going to go south.

I need to build my team around my weaknesses.

A key to achieving success is to assemble a strong and stable management team.

Without discipline, there is no Marine Corps.

Building a company isn't that different from climbing a big mountain. You need people helping you traverse treacherous paths and to lift you up when you fall.

The best entrepreneurs I've ever met are all good communicators. It's perhaps one of the very few unifying factors.

My four years in the Marine Corps left me with an indelible understanding of the value of leadership skills.

No business can succeed in any great degree without being properly organized.

I think some of my best theatre training has been in the Marine Corps. Not only meeting a bunch of characters, but growing up. You're in really adult situations at a young age, as far as being in charge of people.

You learn by playing a great team, and I'm talking about character things, not hockey technique.

One of the things I learned at the Naval Academy and the Marine Corps is we have to make tough decisions.

Our managers need to have a strong integration of managerial skills and technical understanding. One cannot substitute for the other.

Like most entrepreneurs, getting motivated to work has never been a problem for me; focus comes through delegating tasks to the best people you can find.

Dad was an outstanding leader. He'd bring in top thinkers from a wide array of fields - how to fix the Detroit schools, for example. I watched him in these meetings. He listened and probed.