October 13, 2005
FedEx Kinko's CEO Committed to Outworking the Competition
by Sandie Taylor

As Gary Kusin, CEO of FedEx Kinko’s Office and Print Services, puts it, there are a number of paths to the podium. His was serendipity.

“I’m the Forest Gump of the business world,” Kusin told McCombs School students at the VIP Distinguished Speaker Series Oct. 11. “I got lucky with everything I did.”

While some people are smooth talkers and others geniuses, Kusin said he is neither. However, he learned at a very early age what would make him a success.

In the 8th grade, Kusin was set to win the student council president election. His competitor didn’t have a chance, or so he thought. But the night before the election, the other guy called every student in the school and won over enough votes to take the presidency. “I thought, ‘Holy Moly! That guy flat out outworked me. I’ll never let that happen again.’” From that day forward, Kusin knew he simply had to work harder than the next person to get what he wanted.

After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in government at The University of Texas at Austin in 1972, he returned to his hometown of Texarkana to work in the family businesses: a furniture store and bowling alley. His “get-rich” attitude kept this from becoming his permanent career.

At a wedding, he overheard the crowd fawning over a man who got his MBA at Harvard Business School. “They said he was rich,” Kusin explained. “So, I decided if that’s how you got rich, I’d go to Harvard too. But I was clueless when I left UT, and I was clueless when I left Harvard Business School.”

Luckily for him “serendipity” took over and he eventually started two companies—Babbage’s Inc., the leading consumer software specialty store chain in the United States (now called Game Stop), and Laura Mercier Cosmetics, a makeup line sold through leading specialty and department stores worldwide. Kusin eventually left the companies he founded to become CEO of HQ Global Workplaces. And in 2001, he became CEO of Kinko’s, which he led from an $11 million loss to a $250 million profit in two years.

In February 2004, FedEx bought Kinko’s and Kusin became CEO of the $30 billion company FedEx Kinko’s. “We used to be your corner copy shop, but not anymore,” he reported. “Now we’re a digitally connected, global network.” Today, a customer can send files from her personal computer to Kinko’s FedEx and have the documents printed and shipped to Shanghai the next day.

The company is also entering the office supplies market. Eight FedEx Kinko’s with this added section opened in Orlando this fall. “We are literally changing the game,” Kusin remarked. “We’ll compete with Staples and Office Max, and beat them.”

In parting, he told the students to consider three questions. What will make you jump out of bed in the morning? What do you see each day when you look in the mirror? Why is creating balance in your life so important?

“No one dies saying they wish they had spent more time in the office,” he reminded the audience. “When you start your career you can put it first, but if you keep doing that, you won’t have anything else.”

Kusin, a self-proclaimed man of luck, outworked the competition and rose to the top of one of the most powerful corporations in the world. Still, today, his wife and grown children are his greatest passion.

Notable Soundbites

On sustainability at Kinko’s
“Kinko’s was founded the same day Earth Day was founded. FedEx Kinko’s is the 9th largest user of wind power. It’s easier for a global company like Fed Ex to have an impact on the environment than it is for the government. It’s imperative that global businesses get involved.”

On his biggest mistakes:
“They’ve always been people failures. Either I wasn’t hiring the right people or I wasn’t training them properly.”

On his favorite employees:
“I like people who are pretty intense. If you’re going to be successful you’re going to be high energy and on your toes at all times.”

On using his government degree:
“I’ve thought long and hard about it, but I don’t feel I’m cut out for politics. There’s not enough accountability. I need authority to identify the problems and to be able to fix them too.”

On his one UT Austin business course:
“I took one accounting class pass/fail my last semester at UT, and I failed it. My professor said, ‘If you promise me you won’t go into business, I’ll let you pass.’ I said, ‘I promise,’ and I graduated.”

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