I apologize for my blogging silence. Nothing this week has seemed remotely appropriate to talk about with New Orleans in the backdrop. I have refrained from blogging about New Orleans because it seemed inappropriate to be theorizing about how many looters can fit on the head of a pin when mothers are sitting outside the Superdome next to dead bodies while their babies cry for food -- in America.
Today, two friends ask important questions. Todd Z. asks Where's Rudy?, and Orin asks Where's George?. These bloggers are pointing to individuals that they believe have both the ability and the responsibility to help. I will add my voice here: Where's Fred Smith?
Mr. Smith, no one seems to be able to figure out the logistics of moving supplies and people quickly, safely, and efficiently. Your company, FedEx, does this every day at lightning speed. You invented the concept of branding, and guarantee you that if CNN showed fleets of FedEx trucks and planes in New Orleans, that your social responsibility efforts would be applauded by shareholders and customers alike. I personally pledge to use FedEx exclusively for the rest of my life if you will get down there and do something.
I don't want to sit here and argue about whether there should be a market response, a conservative response, a humanitarian response, a liberal response, etc. There has to be a response, and someone needs to step up and say, "Here am I. Send me." And I don't mean a helicopter fly-by, either.
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1. Posted by The Mommy Blawger on September 2, 2005 @ 23:12 | Permalink
Here's Fred:
http://www.fedex.com/us/about/responsibility/katrina.html?link=4
http://www.newstream.com/home.aspx?story=30871
2. Posted by Christine on September 3, 2005 @ 7:14 | Permalink
Thanks, Mommy Blogger. FedEx has a history of helping the Red Cross, but I was wondering about a larger-scale effort.
3. Posted by Kate Litvak on September 3, 2005 @ 8:13 | Permalink
It is quite natural for humans to seek a godlike creature who can descend into a disaster zone and fix things. But just as a politician is not likely to succeed in this role, neither is a single savvy businessman. FedEx is doing great not because it’s got a genius CEO, but because it operates in the web of competing businesses, becoming ever more creative and efficient under the brutal force of the market. Take away the market (e.g., by giving FedEx a government-sponsored monopoly), and the great Fred Smith will be managing a private equivalent of the US Postal Service. In short, Fred Smith happened to be the winner of a particular race, but it doesn’t make him the ultimate god of coordination. If the story of FedEx can teach us anything, it’s that there is only one ultimate god of coordination – the market.
So, if we want to replicate the success of FedEx in New Orleans, let’s replicate the entire machine, rather than pulling out a single piece of it. Get rid of price-gouging laws, which create shortages, lines, and panic. Offer above-market payments to anyone who wants to help evacuate, feed, and clothe people. Use government only to manage the traffic. See endless stream of private companies flocking to New Orleans day and night. America has no shortage of buses, planes, and boats. At some level of compensation, every bus in America will be in New Orleans, along with every gas-transporting truck and every last pack of diapers. The compensation money could come in part from people who are now squandering their relief efforts on buying boxes of toothpaste.
So, I’d say our key to relief in New Orleans is decentralization and incentives, not a single godlike man.
P.S. FedEx did *not* invent the concept of branding. Why do you think the Old Masters signed their paintings, Krupp put its stamp on the pipes, and Lady Duff-Gordon ventured from high fashion into theater, ready-to-wear, and designing car interiors? Modern permutations, like glossy brochures and corporate insignia on company trucks, are just pimples on pimples. Branding is as old as the human kind itself.
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