When a straight flush makes good business sense

FedEx's founder announced he was stepping down as CEO in June 2022. This news resurfaces the infamous story that in FedEx's early days, the company was running out of money and was on the verge of not being able to pay its fuel bill. Fred Smith took an unconventional approach and took the last $5,000 to Las Vegas to play blackjack to turn that $5,000 into the $27,000 he needed. That money paid the fuel bill for the week and was leveraged to convince potential investors to invest more in the company. Obviously the bet paid off, but yeesh.

Bold actions are often the key to advancement, and are typically referred to calculated risks. And although dropping the last $5,000 on a blackjack game is not a calculation that works out in most scenarios, it did for FedEx. Risks are often talked about as things that are not going well or in some cases bad things. When projects have risks, we highlight those as areas of concern. I look at it as we are bringing them up to rally all of us around them to find a path forward. And taking risks are things that can help move us forward at a faster clip when they pay off. And sure, some may not, but if they pay off more often than they don't, we progress.

What is a bold action or calculated risk you're thinking about taking? What's holding you back?


References:

  • https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fedex-ceo-fred-smith-step-down-in-june-raj-subramaniam/

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