Sam walton made in america

Book Summary — Made in America, Sam Walton

My Story — Sam Walton // Walmart

Sam Walton’s story is the true ‘American Dream’. A hard-working individual, who gets along with anyone, thrives in competition and serves his customer. He doesn’t start Walmart until he’s 45 years old and builds it into an empire.

My 1 paragraph summary:

To build a valuable business — never stop learning, experimenting and care about your customer. Motivate, have fun and share your profits with your associates. Walmart is a story of staying true to your principles, in this case: 1. Be the cheapest 2. Satisfaction guaranteed.

The book is a really detailed summary of Sam Walton’s life who founded Walmart. A summary would be too long so I picked out some key bullet points and quotes about Sam’s life and attitudes towards life. The story telling is in 1st person from Sam’s perspective with quotes from family, friends and work associates throughout which provides colour to the story.

Reading about Sam’s life makes you really like him as a character as he lives such an authentic life without pretending to be anyone else. Some of my favourite parts were all the different experiments he kept on trying, buying an airplane to get around the US and scouting shops and his Saturday meetings.

I love the concept of there being a fun meeting in a company, which fulfills the practical need to communicate important issues as well as is fun to attend. Sam was having one every Saturday morning, which someone else lead every time, with cheering, digging into one store in detail, hearing about problems and weaknesses and putting on a bit of a show.

Secrets to Success

I learned from a very early age that it was important for us kids to help provide for the home, to be contributors rather than just takers. In the process, of course, we learned how much hard work ti took to get your hands on a dollar, and that when you did it was worth something. One thing my mother and dad shared completely was their approach to money: they just didn’t spend it.

Obsession to Win

I have always pursued everything I was interested in with a true passion — some would say obsession — to win. I’ve always held the bar pretty high for myself: I’ve set extremely high personal goals.

My whole life I never played a losing football game. […] I think that record had an important effect on me. It taught me to expect to win, to go into tough challenges always planning to come out victorious.

Bias towards Action

They said I saved his life — maybe yes, maybe no. Newspapers tend to exaggerate these things. But at least I got him out of the water. Looking back on such boyhood episodes helps me to realize now that I’ve always had a strong bias toward action — a trait that has been a big part of the Wal-Mart story.

Learn from Everybody

It was a real blessing for me to be so green and ignorant, because it was from that experience that 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.

I was visiting stores all the time, and I still do it today. In fact, we’ve visited them all over the world, and gotten some great ideas that way — as well as a few that didn’t work out so well.

I did something I would do for the rest of my run in the retail business without any shame or embarrassment whatsoever: nose around other people’s stores searching for good talent.

Care about People / Customers

I guess Mr. Walton just had a personality that drew people in. He would yell at you from a block away, you know. He would just yell at everybody he saw, and that’s the reason so many liked him and did business in the store it was like he brought in business by his being so friendly.

Experiment

He is less afraid of being wrong than anyone I’ve ever known. And once he sees he’s wrong, he just shakes it off and heads in another direction.

Hiring

If you take someone who lacks the experience and the 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. And that proved true nine times out of ten. It was one way we were able to grow so fast.

Think Small

Walmart’s Overnight Success

It’s true that I was 45 when we opened our first Wal-Mart in 1962, but the store was totally an outgrowth of everything we’d been doing since Newport — another case of me being unable to leave well enough along, another experiment. And like most other overnight successes, it was about 20 years in the making.

Management Style

Playing on Strengths

In that sense, I think my style as an executive has been pretty much dictated by my talents. I’ve played to my strengths and relied on others to make up for my weaknesses.

Being Organised

But if you asked me am I an organized person, I would have to say flat out no, not at all. Being organized would really slow me down. In fact, it would probably render me helpless. I try to keep track of what I’m supposed to do, and where I’m supposed to be, but it’s true I don’t keep much of a schedule. I think my way of operating has more or less driven Loretta Boss, and later Becky Elliott, my two secretaries, around the bend. My style is pretty haphazard.

Sam’s Rules for Building Business

Sam Walton: Made In America Summary

1-Sentence-Summary: Sam Walton: Made In America shines a light on the man behind the biggest fortune ever amassed in business and explains how he built Walmart into a billion-dollar empire with hard work, incessant learning and an unrivaled resolve to make every single customer as happy as can be.

Read in: 4 minutes

Favorite quote from the author:

Audio Summary

Listen to the audio of this summary with a free reading.fm account*:

You can’t turn a page in Sam Walton: Made In America without a learning something. Seriously. It’s the best auto-biographical book I’ve read so far. Delivering not only a great view of the historic development of retail business throughout the industrial revolution, but also many perspectives on Sam via quotes from his family and employees, it wraps an entire life into one invaluable business education.

Some of the values you can learn from Sam Walton are: frugality, creativity, confidence, a competitive spirit and, most importantly, always putting the customer first.

Nobody knows whether they’re about to embark on what might become a billion-dollar empire, not even Sam did, but either way, learning a few lessons from this man can’t hurt.

Here are 3 which struck me in particular, as I read the recently added summary on Blinkist and recall the book:

Whether you’re up to building a retail store chain, a brick and mortar store, or something else entirely, I hope you’re ready to learn a lesson from a true original – made in America!

Lesson 1: Good artists copy, great artists steal.

Sam was never reluctant to copy a great business strategy. The truth is he was always experimenting, sometimes with his own ideas, sometimes with practices he saw his competitors use successfully.

In fact, he was so obsessed with observing the competition that he once ended up in jail! On a trip to Brazil his hosts suddenly got a call from the police that they’d locked him up. When they got to the station the policemen informed them that they’d found this “old man” crawling around the floors of a retail store with a tape measure.

Sam had been measuring the width of the aisles to determine whether Brazilian retailers knew something he didn’t. That’s how dedicated he was to learning from the competition.

He often took competitor’s strategies and improved them, for example displaying items on wooden shelves was a new practice in many stores. To save money, Sam bought metal ones instead, thus saving enough to reduce prices even further.

The Walmart cheer, two cashiers at the front of the store and the fact that Walmart employees are to this day called “associates” are all strategies Sam learned from his competitors, so take a look around what your competitors are doing!

Lesson 2: Always put the customer first. Always.

Sam really had only one goal for all of his stores: to make each and every single customer as happy as possibly can be.

Sam’s had to take his fair share of criticism over the years, being accused of driving local stores out of business hundreds of times. But Sam thought that that’s just the nature of the business. After all, the market decides what’s good, and if people shopped rather at Walmart than at 5 different local stores, then that probably meant Walmart served them better.

This competitive attitude didn’t mean he was desperate to serve everyone though. A paint shop owner once came into Walmart and thanked the store manager, because all employees had recommended his store to anyone who didn’t find what they needed at Walmart.

As James Altucher would say: “Be like Google. Be the source.” Google just recommends things. Even their own competitors, if that’s what they think you’re really looking for. Don’t be afraid to send people another way, as long as you believe it’s what’s best for the customer.

Lesson 3: Share your success with your employees, not just psychologically, but also financially.

Sam was an incredibly frugal guy. Yes, he did take out a loan to start his first store, but whenever he could afford to pay for things out of his own pocket, he did.

The famous Walmart profit-sharing plan was only put in place in 1971, after Sam got the “associates” idea on a trip to England. However, Sam thought it was one of the best decisions he ever made.

Since then, every single employee can directly participate in Walmart’s financial success with stock options and cash bonuses – some employees have amassed million dollar fortunes this way, just by keeping their stocks over the time they worked there.

Whatever you do, don’t be afraid to let your employees partake in your business’s financial success – it’s the best incentive you can give them.

Sam Walton: Made In America Review

If you’re more of a skeptic about Sam Walton and his business philosophy, the summary will rather confirm your hunch – I think it’s fairly critic of the man (although not neglecting to highlight his good sides). Sam Walton: Made In America sheds a much more positive light on him.

The summary gives a rough idea of Sam Walton’s business practices, but you can learn so much more from the book. His 10 rules at the very end of the book are worth twice the price of the copy alone. Plus, since it’s an autobiography, it puts all lessons in the context of his own life’s story, which lets you get a lot better grasp on everything.

Blinkist’s summary isn’t bad at all, but I must still urge you to get this book – it’s neither a long nor hard read, but priceless.

Who would I recommend the Sam Walton: Made In America summary to?

The 31 year old brick and mortar store owner, the 61 year old franchise manager, and anyone who loves success stories.

Sam Walton: Made In America – 12 Golden Nuggets In A Book Rarely Read

Do you want to learn the failures, successes, and journey of the founder of Wal-Mart?

Want to know what drove Sam Walton to business greatness?

In this article, you’ll discover the 12 lessons that I’ve learned after reading Sam Walton: Made In America and how you also can learn from Sam’s failures, successes, and journey to wealth.

Sam Walton: The Person

Sam Walton single-handedly built Wal-Mart into the largest retailer company in the world transforming the way America shopped for goods all the while making himself one of the wealthiest men in America.

Sam Walton was born in Oklahoma in 1918 and his family moved to Missouri at the age of five. He grew up during the age of the Great Depression and learned the value of a dollar at a very young age from the hardships of that era.

Sam Walton: Made In America, is an autobiography about the successes, failures, and journey of the Wal-Mart story in its earliest developments. Mr. Walton goes into detail on personal occasions, family responsibilities, and commitment to his associates, customers, and investors as the Wal-Mart company and brand grew.

After reading this book, you will not go into a Wal-Mart store without having a sense of pride, accomplishment, and motivation knowing the ups and downs of the Sam Walton journey.

Sam Walton: Made In America

Sam Walton: Made In America, is a book that Sam wrote on his deathbed. He wanted to leave his legacy. Understanding the pressure and commitment in writing this book makes you realize the immense value that was put into this book.

Perhaps one the most successful businessman in the world during his time. Whether you like Walmart or not. The story of Sam Walton is a true and genuine rags to riches story. Who far extended many of the top wealthiest people in the world at that time (1982).

During Sam’s business endeavors, he fundamentally changed and innovated in how retail stores operated constantly challenging the retail industry for many decades, e.g. implementing discount stores, establishing Supercenters with groceries, and even producing wholesale outlets like Sam’s Club.

Sam Walton: Made In America, is a book that is rarely read. Possibly due to the bad marketing or even the title, which probably alienates half the world that doesn’t like America. Nevertheless, this is a book that is a true gem within the business arena and needs not to be overlooked. In fact, it needs to be studied.

To consider the value of this book. It’s even been said of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, who walked around with this book, he studied it and read it hundreds of times before implementing Sam Walton’s principles into his own business. He used it as his guideline to build Amazon. And the truth is, if it is good enough for Jeff Bezos, it must be good enough for anyone who really is serious about business success.

12 Gold Nuggets To Learn From Sam Walton: Made In America

I personally find biographies or autobiographies in of itself to be interesting and I enjoy reading them. But when you have an autobiography, about not only possibly the wealthiest man in modern history, but a true man of strong character and one that can actually impact and change the way you look at business and life. It makes you stop, and ponder not necessarily because of the history associated with the largest retail chain in the world but because of the immense dedication to work, family, and people.

People are worried about all the wrong things. You and I probably worry about the wrong things. We are reading the wrong things. We are doing the wrong things. And we are constantly pressured to follow everyone else.

What I mean by wrong, not that it is immoral but that it is inefficient. There are so many books, lectures, media, etc. and we can’t possibly read or view them all. But what we can do is not relearn what somebody already learned.

In other words, scientist generally agrees that the earth is round. We don’t need to test, experiment, or go to space to get a visual just to prove to ourselves that the earth is round (I suppose if you truly want to or believe that you have been lied to, then you could, hint flat-earthers). However, we can continue where they left off. We can continue to search the universe and build off of what others have already learned.

Sam Walton spent a lifetime researching, studying, and implementing his successes. We would be wise to build off of his lessons in these golden nuggets.

Gold Nugget 1 – Passionately Commit to Achieve Success

Sam Walton states, “commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else. I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work. I don’t know if you’re born with this kind of passion, or if you can learn it. But I do know you need it. If you love your work, you’ll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you like a fever.”

This lesson may sound too simple. However, the reality is most do not act out this rule. We simply do not commit for the long-term. We give up or skip off to the latest and greatest trend or fad. You must learn to commit! You must learn to passionately stay focused.

Moreover, if you look at others who committed in their life-long work you will see the truth of this principle. Warren Buffett bought his first stock when he was 11 years old and many decades later he became a billionaire at the age of 55. It took Thomas Edison 1,000 unsuccessful attempts before finally succeeding at inventing the lightbulb.

There is a pattern and the concept is simple. Commitment cannot be overlooked, overstated or undervalued. Commitment is the single most important principle, not just in business but in all aspects of life.

Once you commit you will produce energy, you will become a visionary. You will embrace the outcome before the actual result. As you push your commitment, your passion will increase.

Your passion will produce a natural flowing attitude towards work. This work becomes hard work but doesn’t feel like hard work because the passion becomes the natural energy to produce. To Sam Walton and all the hard work he put in, it didn’t feel like work to him at all. To him, it was his passion that made him lead so others may follow.

Also, passion is an important ingredient of true leadership. Sam Walton developed a mission. To Sam, money was not the issue;

“Here’s the thing: money never has meant that much to me, not even in the sense of keeping score. If we had enough groceries, and a nice place to live, plenty of room to keep and feed my bird dogs, a place to hunt, a place to play tennis, and the means to get the kids good educations — that’s rich. No question about it. And we have it. We’re not crazy. We don’t live like paupers, the way some people depict us. We all love to fly, and we have nice airplanes, but I’ve owned about eighteen airplanes over the years and I never bought one of them new.”

His attitude, passion, and commitment to his mission in business lead many people to help push the growth and scale the business to where it is today, even after his death.

Gold Nugget 2 – Share The Profits And The Success With Those Who Helped You

Sam Walton states, “share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners. In turn, they will treat you as a partner, and together you will all perform beyond your wildest expectations. Remain a corporation and retain control if you like, but behave as a servant leader in a partnership. Encourage your associates to hold a stake in the company. Offer discounted stock, and grant them stock for their retirement. It’s the single best thing we ever did.”

One of the interesting experiments that I’ve heard is when a group of scientist took monkeys to grow and nurture them in a cage. They would, of course, pass food through a small door opening. They would later take the same monkeys and free them in the jungle. Many of the monkeys would not survive even though they were now free and have plenty of food

Whether the experiment is true or not. I believe the concept is real in our understanding of how people’s psychology work. We are a product of habit and complacency. We like the security that our hourly wages or salary provides. We are taught that we must be on an hourly wage. Our parents, grandparents were on an hourly wage. However, we are limited when we become salary minded, that is, like a W-2 employee we get told how much to make, when to take off, how long to take off, when promotions are available, etc. Being limited hinders our minds in innovation, experimenting, and growth.

However, many don’t think about becoming entrepreneurs and those who do think may find it difficult or hard to start. This is because it is not natural to us. We are not taught this in school. When we escape the W-2 mindset we have to learn how to survive, learn the rules, learn how to succeed in the same way those monkeys would need to learn how to survive in the jungle.

Sam developed a system that allowed his managers and associates to share the profits of the company, a.k.a. profit sharing. Profit sharing allows employees to become partners instead of the company looking at their employees as subordinates. Sam Walton made a lot of money but he made a lot of people wealthy through his profit-sharing strategy.

When employees become actual partners they evolve differently, the mindset changes, knowing that they are part of the business and not simply an expendable subordinate.

Sam says, “if you take care of your people, it is our people who will take care of your customers and the business will take care of itself.”

Gold Nugget 3 – Motivation Is The Fuel To Achieve

Sam Walton states, “ motivate your partners. Money and ownership alone aren’t enough. Constantly, day by day, think of new and more interesting ways to motivate and challenge your partners. Set high goals, encourage competition, and then keep score. Make bets with outrageous payoffs. If things get stale, cross-pollinate; have managers switch jobs with one another to stay challenged. Keep everybody guessing as to what your next trick is going to be. Don’t become too predictable.”

Sam Walton believed in people, he believed that teams and partnership wins. No one becomes successful without the help of others. Sam’s motivation and dedication to the retail business fueled everyone that worked for him or around him. Call it an obsession, call it passion, but call it a must to thrive.

“Two things about Sam Walton distinguish him from almost everyone else I know. First, he gets up every day bound and determined to improve something. Second, he is less afraid of being wrong than anyone I’ve ever known. And once he sees he’s wrong, he just shakes it off and heads in another direction,” says David Glass, former CEO of Walmart Stores and current owner and CEO of the Kansas City Royals.

Gold Nugget 4 – Communication

Sam Walton states, “communicate everything you possibly can to your partners. The more they know, the more they’ll understand. The more they understand, the more they’ll care. Once they care, there’s no stopping them. If you don’t trust your associates to know what’s going on, they’ll know you don’t really consider them partners. Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your competitors.”

Sam’s commitment flows from his trust to his partners and associates. This commitment relies on true communication. There can be no true partnership if communication is not there.

On a side note, it is interesting to know that one of the top skills that hiring managers seek out is communication skills. It is one thing to have the know-how but it is entirely different when you don’t know how to communicate the know-how.

Communication skills go along with sales, networking, and building relationships. You will not have any business or any successful business without communication skills.

Sam writes, “you can’t merchandise the world by sitting at your desk. The folks on the front line – the ones who actually talk to customers – are the only ones who really know what’s going on. You’d better find out what they know.”

Gold Nugget 5 – Recognizing and Appreciating People

Sam Walton states, “appreciate everything your associates do for the business. A paycheck and a stock option will buy one kind of loyalty. But all of us like to be told how much somebody appreciates what we do for them. We like to hear it often, and especially when we have done something we’re really proud of. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune.”

It’s been said that the best way to motivate is to compensate. Although there is much truth in that. Appreciating and recognizing people for their work and efforts will go a long way. When an organization recognizes their associates or partners loyalty will follow. And Sam knew this.

Sam says, “treat people the way you would want to be treated. You should set high expectations in everything that you do. It’s your people who make the difference.”

Gold Nugget 6 – Celebrate Accomplishments

Sam Walton states, “celebrate your successes. Find some humor in your failures. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up. Have fun. Show enthusiasm always. When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a silly song. Then make everybody else sing with you. Don’t do the hula on Wall Street. It’s been done. Think up your own stunt. All of this is more important, and more fun, than you think, and it really fools the competition. “Why should we take those cornballs at Walmart seriously?”

One key attribute that Sam Walton had was with his people’s skills. He even admits that he had this special charisma with people. Sam states, “now, I’m a friendly fellow by nature. I always speak to folks in the street and such.”

Sam’s genuine and affectional personality carried over to his celebrations to his team members. He’s been known to go crazy and have his managers go all out when a goal is reached. It’s been said that managers would dress up as clowns and greet customers for a day and even shave their heads. The enthusiasm was alive and well lived at the Wal-Mart Stores.

Gold Nugget 7 – Listen and Learn From Others

Sam Walton states, “listen to everyone in your company. And figure out ways to get them talking. The folks on the front lines the ones who actually talk to the customer are the only ones who really know what’s going on out there. You’d better find out what they know. This really is what total quality is all about. To push responsibility down in your organization, and to force good ideas to bubble up within it, you must listen to what your associates are trying to tell you.”

Author Jim Collins writes about a story about Sam Walton;

“A Brazilian businessman once told me how he’d sent letters to the heads of ten U.S. retailers in the 1980s, asking to visit to see how they ran a retail operation. Most didn’t bother to reply, and those who did send a polite “No, thank you.” All except Sam Walton.

When the Brazilian and his colleagues stepped off the plane in Bentonville, Arkansas, a white-haired man asked if he could help. “We’re looking for Sam Walton,” they said, to which the man replied, “That’s me.” Walton led them to his truck and introduced his dog, Roy. As they rumbled around the front cab of Walton’s pickup, the Brazilian billionaires were pummeled with questions. Eventually, it dawned on them: Walton had invited them to Bentonville so that he could learn about South America. Later Walton visited his friends in Sao Paulo. Late one afternoon there was a phone call from the police. Walton had been crawling around in stores on his hands and knees measuring aisle widths and had been arrested.”

Sam Walton wanted to know what they knew or see if they knew something that he didn’t. Sam humbled himself enough to took time out to listen to others.

It is also interesting that Sam Walton read every single book that he can find on retailing and running a store.

Sam says, “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 (Sam’s competitor) was doing across the street.”

Even after Sam was one of the wealthiest men in America. There is another story that Sam talks about how he got caught walking around his competitor’s store, The Price Club, with a pocket recorder.

Sam writes, “Once I was in the big Price Club on Marino Avenue in San Diego, and I had my little tape recorder with me like I always do, and I was making notes to myself about prices and merchandising ideas.”

A security guard noticed what he was doing and confiscated the pocket recorder. Sam later wrote to his friend who owned The Price Club to get his recorder back and promise not to spy on him again.

Sam was so committed to listen and learn about his competitors that he would go to great lengths. In fact, his own daughter (Alice) states about the many trips they made all over the country so Sam can go look at stores.

Alice says, “He would drop me off, and I would show my horses, while he would go look at stores. The store thing was always a part of it. It wasn’t that he wasn’t supportive or fair. It was just something he had to do, and we understood it.”

Helen, his wife says, “You know, we would go through a good town, and he knew about some store there. I would sit in the car with the kids, who, of course, would say, ‘Oh no, Daddy, not another store…’ We just got used to it. Later on, Sam never went by a Kmart that he didn’t stop and look at it.”

Sam was a devout listener, not what his competitors were doing wrong but what they were doing right.

Gold Nugget 8 – Exceed

Sam Walton states, “exceed your customers’ expectations. If you do, they’ll come back over and over. Give them what they want and a little more. Let them know you appreciate them. Make good on all your mistakes, and don’t make excuses, apologize. Stand behind everything you do. The two most important words I ever wrote were on that first Wal-Mart sign: “Satisfaction Guaranteed.” They’re still up there, and they have made all the difference.”

If you ever go to a Wal-Mart store you will notice that they have greeters and the greeters are genuinely nice people. In all honesty, they kind of lift my spirit a bit. But this all started when Sam created the 10-foot rule, that requires all associates when they come within 10-feet of a customer to look them in the eye and greet them.

Sam says, “there is only one boss. The customer. And he or she can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his or her money somewhere else.” Sam was the inventor of the cliche, “customers are always right.”

Gold Nugget 9 – Leverage and Control Your Expenses and Save

Sam Walton states, “control your expenses better than your competition. This is where you can always find the competitive advantage. For twenty-five years running long before Walmart was known as the nation’s largest retailer, we ranked number one in our industry for the lowest ratio of expenses to sales. You can make a lot of different mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you’re too inefficient.”

Sam Walton was known to drive an old red pick up truck well into his billionaire years.

Bud Walton (Sam ’s brother) writes, “People can’t understand why we’re still so conservative. They make a big deal about Sam being a billionaire and driving an old pickup truck or buying his clothes at Wal-Mart or refusing to fly first class…When a penny is lying out there on the street, how many people would go out there and pick it up? I’ll be I would. And I know Sam would.”

Sam indeed was probably as frugal as they come. But there is a characteristic in the mindset of the wealthy. It is not the luxury cars, huge houses, and fast lifestyles. According to the authors of the Millionaire Next Door, many wealthy people live life in frugality and do not look like anything that Hollywood wants you to believe.

In reality, it is because of this frugality that Sam and many wealthy become wealthy.

Gold Nugget 10 – Swim Upstream

Sam Walton states, “swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore conventional wisdom. If everybody else is doing it one way, there’s a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction. But be prepared for a lot of folks to wave you down and tell you, you’re headed the wrong way. I guess in all my years, what I heard more often than anything was: a town of less than 50,000 population cannot support a discount store for very long.”

Sam lays out his formula in chapter 8. He went against where everyone else was going and he credits this for his success. He wanted extremely discounted items and the wave caught on quickly.

Gold Nugget 11 – Hire Consultants

Sam Walton states, “something else happened in late 1976 which really helped us gear up for competition…Guys like Herb Fisher of Jamesway, and Herb Gillman of Ames, and Dale Worman of Fred Meyer all came down here and went through our stores to give us their opinion of how they thought we were doing. And, man, what they had to say really shocked us”

Any business owner or entrepreneur that doesn’t consider outside advice and expertise from others is greatly hindering their business growth and success. This is because our minds really fall in love with our own ideas and it hinders our thinking. This is the entire reason that the average CEO reads 50 books a year. There is value in constant learning.

I remember a while back that the CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, considers himself a life-long learner. People who become CEOs of mega-corporations don’t just become the CEO because it is their turn. They bring value to the company and prove they deserve it.

Charlie Munger once wrote, “I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that I don’t know the other side’s arguments better than they do.” We also learn from Proverbs 18:17 (ESV), “the one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him.”

The point is clear. Always seek consultants and opinions of others to enhance your growth.

Gold Nugget 12 – Patience

Probably the most beneficial and encouraging of Sam Walton’s journey is his patience to pursue.

Sam found a big success in Newport over the course of five years. But the business turned sour after the landlord refused to renew the lease. Sam learned his lesson and always made sure to understand and read his lease agreements more carefully.

Sam Walton states, “it was the low point of my business life. I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn’t believe it was happening to me. It really was like a nightmare. I had built the best variety store in the whole region and worked hard in the community, done everything right, and now I was being kicked out of town. It didn’t seem fair. I blamed myself forever getting suckered into such an awful lease, and I was furious at the landlord.”

Sam patiently persevered continuing his drive in retail. He started again, almost twenty years later opened his first Wal-Mart. And the rest is history.

Conclusion

Sam Walton became the wealthiest man during his time not because of share luck, but because he bought immense value to the world. Practically everyone benefited from the discounted prices Wal-Mart stores has bought to us over the years with the exception of other merchants or Wal-Mart’s competitors.

Moreover, Sam is a genuine rags to riches story that took practically his entire life to reach the successes he did. Understanding the value and the character of the journey and life of Sam Walton we can bring value to our own businesses and personal lives.

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How do I Become a Successful Business Coach?

ecoming a business coach is a challenging and rewarding career. As a business coach, you help other professionals grow their businesses. It’s a role that requires extensive knowledge of the industry and strong listening skills. Business coaching.

What is an Entrepreneur Coach?

n entrepreneur coach is someone who works specifically with entrepreneurs to help them achieve their business goals. An entrepreneur coach does this by looking at an individual’s strengths and weaknesses and then devising a plan for how the.

What Should I Look for When Hiring a Business Coach?

s a business owner, you likely have many different tasks to juggle on a daily basis. From scheduling meetings with clients to creating long-term marketing strategies, there are many responsibilities that come with owning and operating your own.

Do Companies Hire Coaches?

oaching is a trust-based relationship between two people who want to help each other grow. Coaches offer guidance, accountability, and insight that can be difficult to get from friends, family, or colleagues. But do companies hire coaches? Yes.

What is a Small Business Coach?

s a new CEO, you’re stepping into a role you’ve never played before. You are the leader of an organization with its own culture and set of people who expect you to know everything. But so much of what you know is as a former employee in your.

How Much is a CEO Coach?

s a new CEO, you’re stepping into a role you’ve never played before. You are the leader of an organization with its own culture and set of people who expect you to know everything. But so much of what you know is as a former employee in your.

What are the 3 Types of Coaching Styles?

here are various coaching styles one can adopt as a coach. While each of these has its own merits, and when used at the right time and in the right context, they all have the potential to be effective in different situations. Coaching is not a.

How do Business Coaches Make Money?

usiness coaches are a niche profession that is growing rapidly. Business coaching helps businesses achieve their goals by working one-on-one with company executives to develop solutions tailored to their needs. Coaching sessions focus on strategy.

What Problems do Business Coaches Solve?

ou’ve heard it before… You need a coach to help you see the forest instead of the trees. A coach helps you see where you are stuck, or perhaps they will notice your blind spots. A coach is an objective advisor with no ego, that can make you.

What do the Best Business Coaches Do?

re you ready to take your business to the next level? A business coach can help you do that. A coach is someone who has been in your shoes and understands what it takes to succeed. They are a neutral third party with no other agenda than to help.

Is a Business Coach Worth It?

s a small business owner, you have more responsibilities than just running your company. From hiring the right team to managing finances and marketing, there are a lot of moving parts. To help manage stressors and avoid burning out, many small.

How Much Should a Business Coach Cost?

ecoming a successful business owner is hard work. Even the most driven and determined individuals can find it difficult to keep up with all that needs to get done. This is why many small business owners hire coaches to help them stay on track and.

What does a Business Coach Do?

business coach is someone who helps you succeed by giving you unbiased advice, ongoing accountability, and insight into your personal strengths and weaknesses as an entrepreneur. They’re there to keep you on track and give you a fresh.

What is a Career Development Goal?

hen you’re in a job that doesn’t align with your future career aspirations, it can be hard to figure out what your next steps should be. In fact, many people continue to struggle when it comes to figuring out how to get from point A (their current.

What is Career Development Plan?

areer development is the process by which employees grow and reach their potential over time. It can be challenging to maintain peak performance, especially as an employee navigates different projects and milestones in their career. Career.

What is Career Development Stages?

areer development is the process by which employees grow and reach their potential over time. It can be challenging to maintain peak performance, especially as an employee navigates different projects and milestones in their career. Career.

What are Career Development Skills?

veryone wants to land a job they love and is passionate about. But most people find it challenging to get a job that aligns with their career goals. In fact, the skills gap is one of the biggest issues when it comes to hiring and retaining quality.

What Is Needed for Career Development?

oday’s world of work is about constant personal growth, rapid learning, and the ability to pivot when needed. Individuals who understand how to pivot their careers for the future, learn new skills, and embrace new opportunities are the ones that.

What is Career Development and Why is it Important?

n the fast-paced world of tech, it’s not uncommon for employees to switch roles or even companies. Even if you’re happy in your current role and with your company, it’s still a good idea to keep an eye on your career development. Having a strong.

What are the Types of Career Development?

o you feel like your career has stalled? Do you feel like there are no opportunities for advancement at your current company? Or maybe you’re just not sure what the best way is to develop a meaningful and successful career. Whatever stage of your.

What are the 5 Areas of Career Development?

ou’ve just been promoted or you see an opportunity to grow in your organization. But now what? How do you take your career to the next level? With career development, of course. Career development encompasses a variety of activities that help.

What Job Makes the Most Money With the Least Education?

ven though the job market is challenging, it’s still a great time to be looking for work. You have more options than ever before, and you may be surprised by the number of jobs that can pay a decent wage without requiring a bachelor’s degree. Even.

How Can I Make 6 Figures Without a Degree?

f you’re a high school or college student researching ways to make money without a college degree, you’ve probably heard that «no degree, no job» phrase again and again. While it is true that not having a four-year degree limits your career.

What Jobs Make 80k a Year Without a Degree?

ollege costs are rising and student loan debt has ballooned to over 1.5 trillion dollars. With these mind-boggling stats, it’s no wonder many people are hesitant to take on the expense of a college education. Fortunately, there are plenty of jobs.

What is the Hardest Job on Earth?

verybody has to work at some point in their life. It is fair to say that some jobs are harder than others, but which ones exactly? There are many different fields of work, from healthcare and education to sales and construction. Each job will have.

What Easy Jobs Make 100K a Year?

ne of the most common questions about jobs that pay well is “How can I get a job like that?” But what you may not realize is that getting a job like that isn’t always as easy as it seems. Becoming an engineer or a surgeon, for example, takes years.

What is a Fun Career?

here are so many career options out there, that it can be hard to know where to start. When looking for a new job, you might find yourself asking things like “What kind of career should I have?” or “What is a fun job?” But what exactly makes a.

What Is The Easiest Well-Paying Job?

here are plenty of jobs that pay well, but many of them require extensive training, education, and experience. Unless you have a group of specialized skills or a lot of time to invest in training, it can be difficult to find a well-paying job.

What are Good Careers to Change?

hile there are people who lead happy and fulfilling lives without ever changing their jobs, there are others who feel an itch that needs to be scratched. They may love the work they do, but they’re not satisfied with where they are in their.

What is the Best Career to Retrain For?

ou’ve passed 35 and decided to re-train. But what do you do next? You’re not fresh out of high school, nor are you able to go back to college again. That leaves you with a limited set of options when it comes to retraining. So, what should you do.

Made in America: Summary & Review

Sam Walton: Made In America is the autobiographical account of the man behind the biggest retail chain ever built. Sam Walton, an ordinary hard-working American, a frugal individual, and a man a simple mission: serving his customers as best as he can.

Bullet Summary

Full Summary

About the Author : Sam Walton was an American businessman and entrepreneur. He is best known for founding the retailers Walmart Wal-Mart grew to be the world’s largest corporation by revenue and the biggest private employer in the world.

The Humble Beginnings

Sam Walton was born in 1918 in a lower-class family. His parents didn’t have much but always took proper care of him.

His father was a hard-working man, but he never managed to start his business because, out of pride, he refused to take out a loan.

Lesson learned: there is noting wrong to take a loan if it helps you move forward towards your goals.

The Hard Work

At a young age, Sam Walton helped his mother in the milk business. He would milk the cow and then go out and sell the bottled milk.
In 7th grade, he took his first official job delivering papers in the neighborhood.

Walton attended college and never stopped working to finance his studies.
Indeed he even managed to expand. His papers delivery business became a small business where he hired new delivery men.

Lessons learned:

Walton’ First Shop

In 1945 Sam Walton opened his first discount shop.
It was doing well, but he was always looking for ways to do better.

And he took ideas from all over the places. Especially from his competitors.

Back then checkouts used to be scattered around the store. But when Sam saw a store who only placed two checkouts at the front, he loved the radical idea.
He immediately did the same and saved money reducing the number of cashiers. And he made it more efficient.

When visiting a supplier Walton noticed the staff huddling together and cheering at the beginning of a workday. He loved the idea and immediately did the same in his new flagship store.
The “Walmart cheer” was born.

1962: The First Walmart

Walton was a very successful man in retail.

But it was relatively late, in 1962 that he introduced Walmart. In one of his usual journeys observing competitors and other retailers, he became convinced that discount stores were the future.

Put Customers First

Walton always wondered what he could do to make the shopping better and easier for the customers.

When he realized that farm families drove into town on Saturday to stock up he analyzed their behavior. They would need to go to different stores that were small and specialized.
They’d need to find parking each time, and all stores would close early.

He answered with bigger, one-stop stores, long opening hours, and free and abundant parking.

Lower prices and better shopping experience was the best way to attract customers in Sam’ mind, and he never stopped looking for ways to improve on both.

Sam Walton’s stores were so successful that every time he would open a new one in a new town, local smaller shops would go out of business.

That drew a lot of criticism on Walmart.
But Walton had a different philosophy: if customers shopped at Walmart it was because Walmart gave people a better experience.

Walton indeed wasn’t afraid of other big retailers: he thought that competition improved their acumen and made Walmart better.

The Big Discounts

It was in trying to lure customers away from a local Kmart that Walmart came up with its first big discount tactic.
The local manager wanted to make a big promotion on laundry detergent but to get the prices down he needed to order 3.500 cases.

At this point, Walton thought that was crazy.
But he finally got around that the idea could have worked and went ahead with it.

And big orders for lower prices has since become Walmart modus operandi.

Lesson Learned: lower your prices to sell more and you still come out with a bigger profit.

Price Wars

In Little Rock, a new Kmart opened and tried to lure customers away from Walmart, again, with low prices.

Walton gave the order that everything in Walmart has to be as cheap or cheaper than the Kmart’s items.
During the ensuing price was toothpaste reached an all-time low of 6 cents when Kmart finally gave up.

Lesson learned: every time a new competitor moved into town Walmart had to push its prices as low as possible.

Employees’ (Mis)Treatment

Walton always put customers first.

But initially, he didn’t put employees first.

However, Walton changed idea after a trip to England in 1971.
There he saw a store that would list its employees as “associates”, and he began thinking that it’d be wonderful if Walmart could consider employees as associates instead of employees to be managed.

He also grasped here a fundamental truth: if he treated his employees well, they’d treat his customers well.

Upon his return to America, he decided then to call his employees associates and he started a cash and stock sharing so that all employees could take part in Walmart’s success.

Invest, Invest, Invest

Walton was making good profits with Walmart, but he didn’t let his money grow.

Or, God forbid, enjoy a lavish lifestyle.

Instead, Walton used the proceed of his stores to open up new stores.

During the first 8 years, Walmart was considered by some a failure because it was financially treading water.
Instead, it was expanding and leveraging its earning power.

Walton’s Mistake: Walmart’s Power Moves

Usually defining moments for companies happen in their early stage.

Instead, it happened much later for Walmart. In 1974 the company was doing so well that Walton decided he could enjoy an early retirement.

He promoted Mayer, one of his two vice president executives to CEO, and stepped aside.
But he soon realized that the company split in two: one favoring Mayer and the other side favoring the other VP.

Two years later the internal faction was becoming so big that Sam met with Mayer to claim his CEO job back.
But Mayer left together with dozens of top-level managers who supported him.

Walmart’s stock prices fell so low that Walton worried whether he’d be able to even salvage the problem.
But he quickly hired new managers and convinced David Glass, an old friend, to replace Mayer.

David Glass turned out to be awesome in the post and a major help in rescuing Walmart and pushing it to even higher heights.
He was indeed later nominated CEO of Walmart.

Sam Walton Personality

Real-Life Applications

When Sam promoted one of his VP as CEO a power struggle erupted.
Always watch out when you need to promote one person out of a small pool of candidates as people will naturally be jealous.
Learn power dynamics and office politics.

CONS

As an autobiography, you have to keep in mind that Walton might have a tendency to embellish his own story. Indeed I think he would have come across even better if he had put some more third party criticism.

Honestly, at times all the words of affection and caring for the “associates”, or employees, sound a bit empty marketing speak.
Of course, Sam Walton might have really believed in what he says, but that stands a bit in the way of Walmart being one of the richest corporations and one of the lowest paying employers in America.

PROS

In today’s tech world it would be easy to discount Sam Walton: Made in America as yesterday’s success story.
Instead, it’s jam-packed of mindsets of success. It might be one of the biographies in which I’ve learned the most so far.

Review

Sam Walton: Made in America was such a great read.

It would be easy to discount this book as irrelevant for many for the younger generation, or for many tech entrepreneurs.

After all, what’s got a retailer to teach?

Well, it turns out: a lot.
The mindsets are the same whether you’re in tech, retail, or arts.

And this is probably the biography I have enjoyed and learned the most from so far.

I am starting to see a trend among those who build multi-billion dollar companies.
The trends I’m seeing are:

Great learning stuff.
Even though I’m not a big fan of a life only for work, I learned hugely from this book. I can only recommend Sam Walton: Made in America.

Sam Walton: Made In America Summary: 8 Best Lessons from Sam Walton

What is it About? Quick Summary: Sam Walton: Made in America shows how Walmart grew from one small store into the largest retail business in the world. Sam Walton is often seen as one of the greatest entrepreneurs ever. His journey was filled with risk, obstacles, adversity, failure. but also fun, discovery, passion and persistence.

Similar Books For You

How did Sam Walton go from throwing newspapers as a teenager to being the richest man in the world?

In this book Made in America, Sam Walton shares the story of how he did it. This is the autobiography of the Walmart’s founder. He started with one small store in one small town in the middle of the United States. And he grew that into one of the largest businesses ever—Walmart.

If you’re interested in business and entrepreneurship, then you’re about to discover many helpful lessons to guide your own journey. Sam Walton’s story will be inspirational to anybody who wants to succeed in free enterprise. And to anybody willing to work hard to achieve the American Dream (or the dream in whichever country you’re in).

Who was Sam Walton?

So let’s begin this summary with the first great lesson…

1. The Frugal Billionaire: Spend money very carefully

After Walmart became successful, Sam Walton was named the world’s richest person by Forbes magazine. Reporters came to see him and they were fascinated to discover Sam still lived a basically normal life in his small town.

If you walked by Sam in the street, you probably wouldn’t think he was a millionaire, let alone a billionaire! He bought his clothes at Walmart, cut his hair at the local barbershop like everyone else and he drove around in an old pickup truck.

You see, Sam Walton grew up during the Great Depression and his parents taught him not to spend money foolishly. He didn’t grow up poor, but his parents worked hard at regular jobs. So even as Sam became more successful, he continued to avoid luxury and unnecessary spending.

Later on, frugality became a core value at Walmart and a key part of their success:

Many of their competitors were run by people looking to get rich to have a flashy lifestyle. Those people eventually lost focus and stopped improving their stores. As a result, Walmart beat them all. Sam Walton worked hard to make frugality a shared value at Walmart. If a Walmart executive was flashing their wealth too much, Sam would publicly criticize them. He believed that was a big distraction and they should always be focusing on serving the customer better.

The bestselling business author Simon Sinek says that all extraordinary companies start with a powerful why. A strong mission behind what they do unites their employees in a common direction. Today Walmart says their mission is “saving people money so they can live better.” And the more Walmart can lower their costs, the more they can lower their prices and fulfill this mission.

As a kid, Sam Walton was raised to spend money very carefully. After he became very wealthy, he continued to live a mostly simple life. Later on, keeping expenses low was a key factor in Walmart’s success.

2. Born With Ambition: Work obsessively towards your goals

From a young age, Sam Walton was gifted with an incredible amount of drive and ambition:

Sam Walton graduated college in 1945 and he began working at JC Penney as a management trainee. This experience got him excited about the retail business and he decided to open his own store. But before he could do that, he served in the US army and got married. He was also reading all the books he could find in the libraries about the retail business.

Sam set big goals for himself. He wanted his little store to be the most profitable one in the area. Then he worked 6 or 7 days per week to achieve his goals. He usually came into the office before 5AM. In fact, he continued starting work this early even after Walmart became a big success. (However, he often did take time off to go hunting, play tennis or go on long summer road trips with his family.)

Basically every highly successful entrepreneur says they worked very very hard. This is not a guarantee that you will be successful, rather it’s the bare minimum. For example, Elon Musk often tells young ambitious people to “work twice as hard as others.” Musk often works 80-100 hours every week.

Sam Walton was always driven, ambitious and hard working. He was a leader in school and worked for his own money. After he opened his first store, he worked 6-7 days per week, starting before 5AM.

3. Daily Evolution: Keep trying new experiments

As we said, Sam Walton franchised his first store through a company called Ben Franklin. They provided the store branding, systems and training. Ben Franklin taught Sam the basics of running a retail store, but their rules soon began to feel restrictive.

Sam Walton quickly started to experiment with his own business ideas:

If we fast forward to the future, we see this experimentation continued on a larger scale. Sam’s Club started out as an experiment, it was a membership-based store similar to Costco that had far thinner profit margins than Walmart. It was a big success, so they quickly opened up many more locations of Sam’s Club. On the other hand, some big experiments failed including a chain of discount drug stores and a series of super-large Walmarts called Hypermarts.

Two things about Sam Walton distinguish him from almost everyone else I know. First, he gets up every day bound and determined to improve something. Second, he is less afraid of being wrong than anyone I’ve ever known. And once he sees he’s wrong, he just shakes it off and heads in another direction.

– David Glass, later CEO of Walmart

Today, if you’re an aspiring startup founder, then the book you’ll see recommended most often is The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. That book says the biggest mistake new entrepreneurs make is waiting too long to launch a product. Many people spend years talking about their idea… only to later find out nobody wants it!

Instead, Eric Ries says we must launch a minimum viable product as soon as possible. That’s like the most basic version of your product, software, app or website. Then you will get feedback from your early users in the real world and they will tell you exactly how to improve it to become successful.

I think it is a similar approach to Sam Walton. Sam admits his first stores were not very professional, but it’s clear they gave him a place to experiment and learn how to sell merchandise.

Experimenting and trying new things was always a key part of Sam Walton’s success. In his early days, he tried gimmicks like soft ice cream machines. Later there were much larger experiments like Sam’s Club, a new kind of retail store.

4. Competitive Intelligence: Always be learning from other businesses

A major key to Sam Walton’s success was studying his competition. In Made in America, there are many fascinating quotes from Sam’s family members and work associates. One thing they mention over and over again is how much time Sam spent inside his competitor’s stores. Walton read a lot of books and publications about the retail business, but a large part of his education came from this real world research.

Walton’s first major competitor in that small town was a store owner named John Dunham. Sam was always in Dunham’s store, observing how everything worked. He was trying to find any possible idea that he could borrow for his own business. When Sam and his family went on road trips, Sam would stop to look in almost every store they passed. His family just accepted it was something he had to do for their livelihood.

20 years later, people would still find Walton in his competitor’s stores. He would be seen at Kmart questioning an employee about how they did everything and writing it all down in a little notepad. And he was always telling his managers to do the same thing: check out the competition and find at least one good idea they could try in their own stores.

I have learned to do the same thing in my own business here at Growth.me. I’m always looking carefully at other websites and apps. I study their layouts, their marketing, their sales pages, etc. I’m trying to find a new idea that I can borrow to make my business 1% better. One of the best tips I’ve received for digital marketing is to keep a ‘swipe file’ or a collection of impressive things you see online, especially from your competitors.

Sam Walton spend a lot of time in his competitor’s stores. He was always studying what other businesses were doing, talking to their employees and taking notes. He wanted to find good ideas and borrow them for his own business.

5. Looking Ahead: Forget the past and focus on future goals

Then something really bad happened. After 5 years, Walton was kicked out of his own store building because he hadn’t read the fine print on the lease carefully enough. He tried not to obsess about how unfairly he was being treated. Instead, he focused on his future goals. The only thing he could do was start all over again in a new town. So that’s what he did.

At 32 years old, Sam moved with his family to another town called Bentonville and he opened up a new store. And he grew that store to be very successful too. So over the years he opened up more stores in nearby towns. 15 years later in 1960, Sam Walton had opened 15 little stores. Some of these were called “Walton’s Five and Dime.” Driving to visit all the locations was taking too much time, so he began flying between the towns in his small 2-person plane.

Sam grew his first store into a success, but he was kicked out of the building because of a real estate mistake. He was forced to start all over again and he eventually opened over a dozen variety stores.

6. The Next Thing: Notice and adapt to rising trends

Sam was always looking for what was new in the retail industry. He quickly adapted to multiple trends that were rising in America including:

So in 1962, Sam Walton opened his first discounter store in a town called Rogers Arkansas. That was the birth of Wal-Mart. The first Wal-Mart was a big hit immediately, with almost a million dollars in sales per year. Sam Walton recognized these stores were the future of retail and he wanted to stay ahead of the trend by opening up more and more Wal-Marts. Some of the other big retail companies resisted the discounter trend, probably because they didn’t want to give up the 45% markup they were used to charging customers.

Small towns were a key part of Walmart’s winning strategy. At that time, most of the big retail companies believed a large discount store could only be successful in bigger cities. Sam Walton went against that conventional wisdom and he opened Walmarts in towns as small as 5,000 people. This turned out to be a great idea. People stopped driving to the big city discount stores and visited their local Walmart instead.

Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon.com. He built one of the most valuable companies ever and became the richest man in the world. I see him almost like a modern-day version of Sam Walton. Some people may look at billionaire entrepreneurs like Bezos and Walton and think “they were just in the right place at the right time.”

However, if we look deeper into the story of Bezos, we learn he didn’t stumble across the idea for Amazon.com by accident. As a young man, he was reading many little-known technology newsletters and trying to spot the next big trend. That’s why he understood the internet would be very important before most people had even heard of it. When it comes to business ideas, Bezos has even said, “Never chase the hot thing… you need to position yourself and wait for the wave.”

In 1962, Sam Walton adapted to the rising trend of discounter stores by opening the first Wal-Mart and it was an immediate hit. Discounter stores were bigger than traditional variety stores and they had cheaper prices.

7. Low Prices: Overcome competition with a strong singular focus

The first Walmart store had a sign with with their name and two slogans on either side. The slogans were: “We sell for less” and “Satisfaction guaranteed.” Sam Walton says this strong focus on selling for less has made them so successful. He was always determined to keep Walmart’s prices lower than all their competitors:

Sam wanted people to immediately think of low prices when they thought of Walmart. Everything else was secondary. Sam admits many of their early stores did not look very good, but they always made sure to have the lowest prices. He opened up more and more Walmarts, but he was starting to stress about all the debt he was taking on. So in 1970, they made Walmart a public company by putting it on the stock market. This gave them the capital to unleash Walmart’s incredible growth for the next 20 years.

The marketing experts Jack Ries and Al Trout say the most important thing in business is to own a space in your customer’s mind. In other words, people need to strongly associate your brand with some core benefit, like they associate Walmart with “low prices.” They wrote, “The essence of marketing is narrowing the focus. You become stronger when you reduce the scope of your operations. You can’t stand for something if you chase after everything.”

In this book, Walton says other businesses can still compete with Walmart, but not on price. They must choose a specific niche market and serve it extremely well. So if you want to win in business, decide what your strong primary focus will be.

Walmart outcompeted other retail stores by always having the lowest prices. Everything else was less important than maintaining that strong focus on selling for less.

8. Shared Ownership: Give your people responsibility and recognition

Obviously, Sam Walton could not build Walmart alone. He did it with the cooperation of dozens of important executives, thousands of managers and millions of employees. The question is: How could he encourage them care about Walmart’s success as much as he did? Here are a few ways:

Sam Walton encourages his people to care about Walmart by sharing the success. Early store managers, company executives and even regular employees are rewarded when Walmart does well.

Conclusion

At the end of this book, Sam Walton is very sick with cancer and he’s reflecting on his life. Would he do anything differently? Not really. He believes that he played an important role in the world and provided a valuable service to many people. Those of us who shop at Walmart have collectively saved billions of dollars because of the lower prices.

My favorite part of this biography was to see how much Sam Walton was always learning, experimenting and adapting to competition. I think that lesson is incredibly valuable to any of us who are in business.

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