Hearing our long-term associates share stories about Sam Walton is one of my favorite things about working at Walmart.
Almost
every week for more than 30 years, he’d put on his trucker cap, grab his yellow
notepad and hit the road, stopping at stores, clubs and distribution centers
all over the country to recognize the great work our associates were doing and
ask them for feedback on how to better serve our customers.
Sam understood the importance of appreciating and listening
to our associates, and his yellow notepad became a symbol central to Walmart’s
culture. Our CEO Doug McMillon saw it firsthand when he started his career at
Walmart, unloading trucks at a warehouse in 1984. He wanted to keep the spirit
of these practices alive 30 years later, when he stepped into Sam’s old office
to lead this great company.
Like most of us, Doug takes his smartphone wherever he goes.
And he has often remarked to me how blown away he is by how technology is
enabling people to connect and share ideas like never before, across
generations and continents and language barriers.
Sam would have loved it. It’s one of the big reasons Doug joined Instagram last
year.
Since then, Doug has traveled all over the world, visiting
stores and meeting associates who are growing their careers with Walmart and
doing great things for our customers in the process. And he’s shared many of
their stories on Instagram.
Doug met Jeff
at Store #564 in Oklahoma City, a true merchant who anticipated the spring
seasonal needs of our customers. He met Tori at our Neighborhood
Market in Bedford, Texas, who had recently been promoted to assistant manager
and was doing a fantastic job. He spent time with the team in
our Network Operations Center in Sunnyvale, California, who help make sure our
website and apps deliver a great shopping experience for our customers around
the globe. He got to share the stage with Purple Heart recipient Staff Sgt. Patrick Shannon
from our Fishers, Indiana, store, who has since been promoted to lead a team of
more than 1,000 people. He highlights those and many other stories in a new ad.
This May, Doug
joined Facebook, too. It’s been awesome to see him connect with our
associates and customers there, to get their feedback on what we’re doing right
and what we could be doing better.
There’s more than one way to describe Walmart. We're a retailer and we’re a logistics company. We’re buyers and merchants. We’re a people business and a technology firm. Everything is connected, but our associates and customers are at the heart of it all. That’s why I’m excited to see Doug using Instagram and Facebook to share the great work we’re doing and to hear the ideas and feedback of associates and customers alike. We should all embrace innovation. Just like Sam did.
Our notepad may look different today, but what it represents
will never change.