But Tucker knew that the technology landscape was being shaped so rapidly, and was proving to be so expansive, that no one person could follow all the players, all the developments, all the competitive dynamics, and shape strategies fast enough. In 1994, she stumbled on the book "The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World" (Doubleday/Currency, 1991) by futurist Peter Schwartz. The book's guide to thinking about various scenarios for the future was a revelation, and Tucker gave copies to all of her direct reports. Once they'd read it, she organized a weekend meeting at her home. Her intention was to foster free-form thinking about new ways that FedEx might interact digitally with its customers. That first off-site, says Berry, who was in attendance, "was the first time that we challenged ourselves to think strategically -- to think beyond the next 90 days. It really broke through some cobwebs."

One outcome of that first "learning journey," as Tucker refers to it, was that her team decided "that we had to shift to solutions that our customers could run on their own hardware or within their own systems." Tucker saw that as companies worked to make their supply chains more efficient, if FedEx's proprietary shipping and tracking system stood alone, then customers would gravitate toward transportation providers that could be more easily integrated into their supply chains. Tucker and Berry assembled a team of 100 employees to create a new version of the system that would run on any Windows or Macintosh computer. "She headed it, and listened every week," Berry remembers. Eleven months after that first off-site, the company launched FedEx Ship for Windows and Macintosh -- with a splashy Super Bowl ad.

Tucker and her team of vice presidents still hold regular learning journeys, and the practice has begun to spread through the rest of the company. "This company has always listened to the customer," Tucker says. "Now it's about anticipating the customer. There's no time for incremental improvement."

Tucker walks briskly through the halls of the Tech Center. This campus opened in October 1998, and Tucker was instrumental in getting it built. It looks much more Silicon Valley than Tennessee. Break rooms feature cushy chairs, popcorn machines, and Ping-Pong tables. Outdoor sitting areas all have LAN connections, so that employees can work alfresco. Other amenities abound: a jogging trail, a fitness center, a Starbucks, and a Kinko's.

The fact that the Tech Center occupies the newest building in the FedEx empire is the perfect tribute to Tucker's mission to create a "new" FedEx -- to reimagine the company as an e-business enabler, rather than just a collection of planes and trucks that haul packages. "A lot of my peers are operators," Tucker says. "They want the planes to take off on time. The challenge that Fred [Smith] and Dennis [Jones] and I share has been to get people to think in a bigger way. This new world isn't just about keeping the core business strong. We have to find new businesses and be more in tune with the future."

Among those new businesses are a supply chain and a logistics-consulting practice that Tucker is building. "I love to play out future scenarios in my head," Tucker says. "I've actually been accused of reminiscing about the future. People have to tell me, 'Wait, we haven't done that yet.' But I try to get them to understand that these aren't opportunities that can sit on the shelf. Nothing else in our industry is quite as exciting and disruptive as e-business. When people ask, 'What do you do at FedEx?' I say, 'All the fun stuff.' I can't imagine having a more fun job."

Scott Kirsner (kirsner@worldnet.att.net), a Fast Company contributing editor, is based in Boston. Contact Laurie A. Tucker by email (latucker@fedex.com).

Sidebar: What's Fast

Laurie A. Tucker is an impatient change agent inside FedEx -- a company that moves fast for a living. Here's her advice on how big companies can get with the Web.

One is the loneliest number.

The digital world moves too fast for even the biggest companies to do it on their own: "If the word 'threat' comes out of your mouth, the next word ought to be 'alliance.' "

The front line drives the bottom line.

A major factor that contributes to winning on the Web is being able to deliver results on time. That's why, says Tucker, "I'd much rather meet with project managers when I want to get an update on a project than meet with their bosses." Why? Tucker believes that she gets a straighter, more nuanced story when she talks to the people who are actually doing the work.

It's always useful to reuse.

One way to work fast, Tucker argues, is by not repeating good work that you've already done. FedEx's call centers use the same application to locate drop-off locations as the one that customers see on the public Web site; FedEx's service centers will soon use the same credit-card clearing process as the Web site.