261 billion.
That is the market cap of Wal-Mart, the company he built from scratch.
2.2 million people. That is the number of people Wal-Mart employs today.
I guess we can agree that this man is worth learning from?
His name was Sam Walton. What made Sam a billionaire and such an effective and successful entrepreneur?
Here are 22 clues in the form of quotes from the book he wrote “Sam Walton: Made in America”:
1. “Stay lean, fight bureaucracy anytime”.
2. “I believe in always having goals, and always setting them high”.
3. “Ignore conventional wisdom”.
4. “Listen to everyone in your company.”
5. “Once I decide I’m wrong, I’m ready to move on to something else”.
6. “The bigger Wal-Mart gets, the more essential it is that we think small”.
7. “You get what you are worth”.
8. “The more you give, the more you get”.
9. “Celebrate your successes. Find humor in your failures.”
10. “We’ve certainly borrowed every good idea we’ve come across”.
11. “…One simple thing that puts it all together: Appreciation”.
12. “Control your expenses better than your competition.”
13. “The secret to successful retailing is to give the customer what they want”.
14. “Everybody likes praise, and we look for every chance we can to heap on somebody”.
15. “Keep everybody guessing as to what your next trick is going to be. Don’t be too predictable.”
16. “You’ve got to give folks responsibility, you’ve got to trust them, and then you’ve got to check on them”.
17. “There is no substitute for being honest with someone and letting them know they didn’t do a good job”.
18. “Sharing information and responsibility is a key to any partnership”.
19. “If you take someone who lacks the experience and know-how but has the real desire and the willingness to work his tail off to get the job done, he’ll make up for what he lacks”.
20. “The history of Wal-Mart has been marked by having the right people in the right job when we needed them most”.
21. “I think one of the greatest strengths of Wal-Mart ingrained culture is its ability to drop everything and turn on a dime”.
22. “For us, thinking small is a way of life, almost an obsession. And I suspect thinking small is an approach that almost any business could profit from”.
Get the book here:
- Sam Walton: Made In America on Amazon, or
- Get it FREE as an audiobook by signing up for Audible through this link: Audible: 2 Free Audiobooks. (You can cancel your subscription anytime, and still keep the free books)
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