I was at Goodwill one day browsing the books and picked up the autobiography on Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart. I’m always interested to learn from the stories of successful people and he is one of those people.
I won’t go into his story because you can get the book yourself. What I will highlight is a few ideas that jumped out and what the leadership lessons are for us.
“Sharing information and responsibility is a key to any partnership. It makes people feel responsible and involved,”
Leadership expert John Maxwell talks about the “knowledge myth” which some leaders believe. This is the idea that he who has the knowledge has the power. Sam Walton believed in sharing power and one practical way he did that is by sharing information with team members at all levels.
This information sharing created a culture where people were more willing to be engaged and helped improve results. He took this a step further in a partnership with Proctor & Gamble where they mutually shared key information in order to improve efficiency. As leaders if we limit knowledge sharing, we decrease the opportunity to gain new ideas from all areas of the organization.
“If you want the people in the stores to take care of the customers, you have to make sure you’re taking care of the people in the stores.”
During the shutdown of 2020 I saw an organization model this idea of taking care of your people. Before there was a mandate to shutdown, this organization decided to cancel a major event because it was best for the people they served even though it was not good for profitability.
Sam realized that if he took care of his employees which meant improving their pay, involving them in profit sharing, and other employee experiences they would be happier and take care of the customers. Even on a site visit where the store managers knew the store that was newly opened looked terrible he still encouraged them. Why? He knew the time they put in and didn’t want to demoralize all their effort reinforcing what they already knew.
Caring for your people even when it means holding your tongue may be the best way to keep a positive culture. Sometimes we need to be discerning as to when we speak candidly and be certain we understand the entire context.
“What we were obsessed with was keeping our prices below everybody else’s.”
Sam was drowning in debt around the time they took Wal-Mart public. This was a great way for them to clear their debt and be able to run the organization with positive cash flow. As he discusses this time period he refers back to the importance of keeping the main thing the main thing and not bending to the whims of stockholders.
Leaders have an important task to be clear on what the “main thing” is and keep it in focus at all times. This prevents drifting and chasing that which will not serve your organization or team in the long run. Listen to what is going on around you, but be clear on your purpose and values and let them guide your decisions.
“I’ve made it my own personal mission to ensure that constant change is a vital part of the Wal-Mart culture itself.”
Before this statement Walton highlights the idea that people will hold tightly to something when they believe it is the best way. I would call this “the way we’ve always done it” syndrome. When leaders cling to one way and are not flexible thinkers, they miss opportunities and potential growth.
Sam was constantly learning from others in the industry by going into stores and seeing how they did business. This learning fueled change to keep them growing and preventing complacency.
These were only a few ideas that I learned from his leadership. Which of these do you need to grow in? How do you need to evolve as a leader to improve the results of your team? Need help thinking into your leadership? Contact me for a thinking partner session. Lead Well.
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