Key Lessons from Sam Walton's Made in America (Part 1)

Build on Your Strengths

Sam Walton had strengths, which he developed tirelessly. He was a great leader and team builder. He set extremely high personal goals, which he accomplished with his team through his competitive spirit and intense drive. His entire life, much of that drive was focused on learning.

Learn by Doing

He learned a lot about hard work and sales from doing it in his early years. At ages 7 or 8 he sold magazine subscriptions. Later, he raised and sold rabbits and pigeons. From seventh grade through high school, he ran paper routes. In college, he added more routes and hired helpers, making some serious money. He needed it, since he was paying his own way. He did whatever it took to make ends meet, waiting tables in exchange for meals and life guarding on the side.

Besides learning hard work, he learned people skills. In college, he aspired to become the student body president. Here’s a trick he learned that he’d use the rest of his life:

I learned early on that one of the secrets to campus leadership was the simplest thing of all: speak to people coming down the sidewalk before they speak to you. I did that in college. I did it when I carried my papers. I would always look ahead and speak to the person coming toward me. If I knew them, I would call them by name, but even if I didn’t I would still speak to them. Before long, I probably knew more students than anybody in the university, and they recognized me and considered me their friend." 

Get Formal Education

In his formal education, he majored in business at the University of Missouri.Later in life he’d take formal classes as needed. But the most striking thing to me about Sam was that he never stopped learning. In fact, he became a learning machine. Way before personal computers came along, he felt that Wal-Mart needed to move toward computerization.

"…I was curious. I made up my mind I was going to learn something about IBM computers. So I enrolled in an IBM school for retailers in Poughkeepsie, New York." 

Learn From Mentors

Just out of college, he went to work for J.C. Penney, finding a mentor in Duncan Majors, his very successful store manager. He’d learn from Duncan at the store six days a week, then go to Duncan’s house on Sundays with his associates to play ping-pong, cards, and talk about retailing.

Learn From Books and Publications

During a stint in the army, he was posted in Salt Lake City. He checked out every book on retailing in their library, and studied a nearby department store. He would read every retail publication he could find, and would later refer to himself as an "avid student of management theory." 

Learn from Company Training Classes

After the army, he bought a Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas. The company put him through a two week training class, which taught him the basics of running a store. He would use their accounting system well into his Wal-mart years. 

Learn from Your Competition

Once he started working at his first store, his unique spin on education came into play. He soon discovered that the store he’d just bought was "a real dog." His competition across the street had an excellent manager and was doing twice the business in sales. According to Walton,

"…I learned a lesson which has stuck with me all through the years: you can learn from everybody. I didn’t just learn from reading every retail publication I could get my hands on, I probably learned the most from studying what John Dunham was doing across the street."

So Walton became a student of his competitor, always hanging out across the street, checking out Dunham’s prices, how he displayed his merchandise, learning everything about why he was successful. According to associate Charlie Cate: "I remember him saying over and over again: go in and check our competition. Check everyone who is our competition. And don’t look for the bad. Look for the good. …everyone is doing something right."

He especially checked out Kmarts, which were far ahead of them in those early years. He was even so bold as to visit the headquarters of other retailers. He could get away with it, since they were small at the time and they didn’t consider him to be serious competition. "I probably visited more headquarters offices of more discounters than anybody else – ever." 

Sam Walton is the greatest retailer of all time. These simple lessons made what Wa-Mart is today - the world's largest retailer. I will do a follow up post (part 2) next week.  

Happy reading!!!!