DHL: Three Letters That Shrank the World

A company history of DHL written from inside it. Jane Chung was recruited by Larry Hillblom — the H of D-H-L — in 1976 to build the company’s software, and spent the next three decades in regional and global executive roles before retiring in 2009. The book covers how three men couriering shipping documents between San Francisco and Honolulu turned into a network with dedicated operations in nearly two hundred countries, and how it survived the things that should have killed it: chronic cash shortages, national postal monopolies and customs regimes that treated air express as illegal, and better-capitalised competitors with establishment backing.

Why it’s on the list: Bold on @mastersinvest’s 2025 list, meaning the curator rated it very good rather than merely read. DHL appears twice on the list — the other entry is co-founder Po Chung’s own book.

Where I saw it: @mastersinvest’s “2025 Reading … so far” list, August 20, 2025, where it appears in bold. The full 46-title list is transcribed on 2025 Reading So Far… (tweet).

Connections

• 2025 Reading So Far… (tweet) — the list this came from.
• Designed to Win — the other DHL book on the same list, by co-founder Po Chung.