.png)
The Doing Business in Bentonville Podcast
To create an ecosystem that connects leaders of all kinds – industry, community, student, educational, civic, investment and entrepreneurial – to help overcome Omnichannel Retail barriers through exclusive, insight-rich content.
The Doing Business in Bentonville Podcast
Ep. 130 - Hire Better, Execute Smarter
Want a talent strategy that actually moves the numbers? We unpack how to connect mission, vision, and core values to daily execution so your team delivers where it counts: with customers. Drawing on decades inside Walmart and insights from Don Soderquist’s The Walmart Way, we get specific about hiring better than yourself, building a bench for the next role, and protecting mavericks who push boundaries and spark breakthroughs.
We walk through the CASH model: customer, associate, shareholder, to reframe strategic choices in the right order. You’ll hear why three sharp priorities beat a bloated to-do list, how to set high expectations without burning people out, and what it takes to share rewards in ways that unlock ownership. From speeding up P&L visibility to simplifying metrics, we show how execution becomes a strategy, not just a phase, and why alignment starts with the leader when teams slip into the fog.
This conversation is rich with frontline stories: management by walking around that turns associate ideas into action, handwritten recognition that fuels discretionary effort, and moments of real care that bond teams beyond KPIs. We also spotlight community service as a competitive advantage: showing up locally builds trust, attracts talent, and reinforces brand promise where it matters most.
If you lead people or want to, this is a blueprint you can use tomorrow: hire for the next job, cross-pollinate to grow faster, communicate everything, and celebrate the wins.
Subscribe, share with a colleague who hires or runs ops, and leave a review with the one practice you’ll implement this week.
Well, hello everyone, and welcome back to doing business in Bentonville. I have my guest returning, Sam Dunn. We just had such a great podcast one, we're going to call it. This is podcast two. We're going to continue and talking about uh our principles around leadership. We're going to go a bit deeper this time and around how you apply these principles into your team. And we're going to get into that. But Sam Dunn, uh again, welcome back.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks, Andy. Good to be back with you again and looking forward to this next round in our podcast.
SPEAKER_00:Good. Okay, if you haven't watched uh podcast one with Sam Dunn, watch that or listen to it because that's the foundation that we have laid today in talking about these real key principles. Uh in fact, what we did, we talked about a great gentleman, Don Sotokwis. He wrote the book, The Walmart Way. We took this book and we talked about the key principles that Don uh wrote about. Many of these key principles we're going to talk about again today, but we're going to talk about application and execution of those principles because that's what's so good. But so, Sam, you did such a wonderful job on our first podcast. I can't thank you enough. And thank you for coming back and doing this. You know, one of the things that uh at Walmart and other great companies, they they have a very successful business strategy. And it's really important to do that. And but this business strategy must remain true to the mission of your organization. And it really doesn't matter how big, uh small your your organization is, you must you need to have a strategy, you need to have a mission. What we're going to really focus on with inside that mission is the vision and core values of this organization. If you want to build a great company, a great organization, you need to have a great strategy, business strategy, you need to have a great vision, but that vision needs to be anchored into the core values and principles. And we're going to talk about that a bit bit in this, but a bit more into our podcast today. But let me sort of give us what I'm going to call set the table. I'm going to set the table for this podcast. So think about it. You know, uh, as you, if you're listening to us going down the road, or if you're you're in your office or someplace, think about this table, and you're going to set this table, and it's going to be, we're going to talk about your future of your business and how to build a stronger organization. But more importantly, how do you integrate the associate talent inside that business and grow that talent? And of course, Sem and I are our careers with Walmart. We both were there almost 30 years, and we did many things in the organization. And you'll hear us talk about some of our experience as we've done that. But think about your company. Your company spends at least a third of their revenue on employee wages and benefits today. Think about that. That's your probably your biggest, one of your biggest expenditures is your employee, um, your employee base. Your company, as you know, you can create a new service or a product, but today it can be easily copied quickly today, especially with AI entering into the space that it has done today. Uh, you can go after a lucrative market, but someone will be there on your heels to uh to take that away from you or to to or to try to integrate their into their business. Organizations know that they must have best talent in order to be to exceed in what I'm calling this hyper competitive environment that we're all living in today, especially with our people. But few, if many, organizations have an adequate supply of talent. We don't have that. So we're gonna talk about how do you how do you build this great talent inside your company that that you want to be there and grow and help you execute your mission, execute your strategy, how do you gonna do that? And that's the things we're gonna do there. So, number one, here's number one there's got there, there is a relationship between better talent and better business performance. There's a relationship there. If you have great people and they're well trained and educated, and and they will help you grow your business. And Walmart, Sam and I got to work with that. And um, and so what we what we're gonna do is talk about how how do you build a great relationship and between better talent and better business performance. And it starts with your mission, starts with your vision, but also what's really core is your business strategy and how do you align your business strategy with excellent talent. So, Sim, I know you we've talked about some of that, and so why don't you share some thoughts on that, and then I'll come back and talk a bit about that.
SPEAKER_01:Andy, yeah, let me address the the talent equation maybe in three ways. Uh, first, of course, is the hiring process, attracting talent. Uh, not easy to do uh in the world that we live in today, finding the best talent. Uh worked for a leader uh you know well, Lee Scott, and he had a saying, he said, always hire people better than yourself. Hire people better than yourself. Well, for me, that wasn't hard to do. But for a lot of people, uh, they're a little reticent to hire people who are high performers because they're afraid maybe that subordinate is going to make them as a leader look bad, or maybe, you know, uh at some point displace them. But that is truly the key to building a talent pipeline. You've got to look for people who are even better than yourself. And um, I think Walmart over the years has really tried to do that. They've they've focused on trying to find people who have the potential to lead at a higher level. And when I'm uh hiring somebody at Walmart, I'm asking myself three questions. First, can they do the job? You know, do they have the basic skills necessary to succeed in the job which I'm trying to fill? The second one I'm asking is do they want the job? Is this where they want to be? Uh or are they just taking this job because they couldn't find another? Or because uh they want this Walmart on their resume? Do they want to be here? The third one, though, the third question I'm asking is can they do the next job? So when I'm hiring somebody, I'm not necessarily hiring them for the opening that I have. I'm hiring them because I think they have the potential to lead a team and do more. And I think that's a such a key in terms of hiring talent. Once you get the talent in the door, if I could mention a second concept, uh, we just talked about Don Soderquist, and he talks about this concept in his book. It's called cross-pollination. Cross-pollination means you're willing to move people around, uh, maybe take them out of their comfort level and put them in roles that they wouldn't normally expect to be in. But as they take on those roles, they learn uh more about the company and they learn more about themselves, that they may be capable of doing more than they thought they could do. And that cross-pollination, and we saw it at Walmart all the time. Uh, you and I both, I think, experienced some of that in our own careers, Andy, where we were taken out of a role that we traditionally were suited for into one that we were maybe less well suited for. And in the process, we really grew. And so that's a great way to keep your people active, engaged, and learning and contributing. And the more they're cross-pollinated, the more they can contribute to the company. And then one last concept. You've heard the term mavericks. Um, we had several of those running around the halls at Walmart. Uh, some of the more notable ones, Ed Nagy, Rob Voss. These were guys that were, frankly, a little thorny. They were sometimes hard to get along with, they pushed back on everything. They were always kind of bending the rules and trying stuff. And Don Sirquist talked about the importance of don't kill the mavericks. You know, when you find a talent who is really out there riding that bucking bronco and willing to try some things that you would never try on your own, you may find that those things lead to some breakthroughs for your company. So I'll just uh frame it that way, and hopefully there's some lessons in there for our viewers that would be helpful to that.
SPEAKER_00:You know, Sam, I think that's those you I think you brought those up really well. And and then, you know, once you once you talk about the talent and you I love what you said, I think, you know, how people are better than you. We were all told that, we are all instructed in that, and and and you should you should do that because you should be looking forward. But the deal the really critical thing here is that that once you bring those people on your or in inside your organization, then you've got to get to know them. They've got they've got to get to know you. And again, we talked about Sam Walton uh and Don Sokis earlier in our podcast one, but one of Sam's principles that that he shared with us, Sam had 10 principles, they're in his book, uh, and uh they're air public. You can you can you can Google those. But Sam said you, you know, you commit to your business. You have to believe it in it more than anyone else. Then what you do, you begin to push that belief down to your people, and you get them to believe it more than anyone else. You get them on board, and you and you do that by communicating with that. You do that by Sam's second principle is you share your profits and success with with with you with your team. This makes everyone be uh want to um to work and perform above expectations. They want that because they know now it's their company. You're sharing the profits with them and they're engaged. So part of creating this talent workforce is to is to hire better, hire great people better than you, as Sam talked about, commit to your business as a leader, get your people to commit to your business, and then share the profits, and you will you will absolutely uh be blown away of the engagement of your people because they're now thinking like you think. And uh, Sam, uh any comments about that?
SPEAKER_01:Andy, you're spot on. Um there's it's not an accident that commit to your business is the first rule. How many businesses do you know where people were maybe not as committed to the business? Um, you've got to see through the hard times, you've got to help your people get through the hard times and stay committed. And that's not an easy task. Uh the way, one of the ways that you get there though is by sharing information. And uh that was something at Walmart that that I think we prided ourselves on. Um, there were no ivory towers at Walmart. You didn't have a bunch of executives up on the 10th floor or the 20th floor. Uh, they were out in the field talking to the associates, sharing information with them. And uh I think that's such a key to helping people stay committed. If they know what you know, then they feel like they are an owner and a partner and an associate in that business. Uh that term associate, it's no accident that we use that term to refer to our people. That's a big word. And associate, you know, you're really associated with that business in a way where your performance is going to help determine the results. Andy, if I could mention something quickly. Uh, when you launched the this part of the podcast, you talked about strategy and you talked about the mission of a company. Uh, I had the privilege in a couple of my jobs to lead strategy teams. Um and we had a model that we used called the CASH model. I loved it because I'm a finance guy, but it wasn't the kind of cash you're thinking about. It was an acronym. And the C in the model stood for customer, the A for associate, and the SH for shareholder. You think about people who develop strategies, they often approach it from the reverse angle. They start with the shareholders and say, okay, we've got to keep the shareholders happy. What do we want to do? What kind of strategy do we need to make sure our shareholders and our owners are happy? And then they trickle down from there. But if you always put the customer first as you're developing your strategies, you're not going to go wrong. Find the way to make your customers happy. And then right behind them, the associates, the employees. They've got to be bought in. And if those two groups are bought in, Andy, the shareholders are going to be just fine. They are going to end up getting what they want because your customers are happy and your associates are happy.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, thank you, Sam, for adding that. So we talked about first strategy here is your business strategy, has got to be integrated with your talent strategy. So that begins. You've got you can't, they're there, they're not mutually exclusive. You've got to integrate that because it begins with your people. And then we talked about as leaders, you commit to your business, you share the profits. One of the things that Sam talked about was uh he talked about communicate everything. And so I'm gonna the second strategy that I want to I want to talk about with you is execution. Execution has to be a strategy. That execution model, again, must be integrated into your business strategy, your talent strategy, because uh in our uh part one, Sam shared a great story about execution. And we you I really how you need to go back and look at that because he did a really great job talking about the importance of execution from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. in one day, you will love the story. So execution. So let's talk about execution for a moment. And then, but but we have to, we again, you know, Sam said you got to communicate everything possibly to your associates. That means not only to your leadership team, but all the way down through your organization. Execution model is really critical because what it does, it clarifies what is our business, what is our objectives, what are our results, who are our customers, and then it says, what is your value proposition? Those things are critical inside of execution because if everybody understands the customer, who is the customer, what's our business, what's our objectives, then what's our value proposition? If they understand that, all of that we used to say this, and we mean nothing negative by this, we used to say at Walmart, all the way down to the cart pusher, the guy and girls that get the carts off the parking lot. Let me just tell you something. When we would drive up on a parking lot, we would grab some carts and we push them into the store. Here's why. Because if everyone got a cart and we wanted everyone to get a cart, we know their spending goes up. We know they're gonna buy more if they got a cart. In fact, we want the biggest carts possible to get through the stores. But the thing was we knew that. So we spent time and we listened to those cart pushers, and somebody came up and said, we needed like an automatic thing because this is breaking our backs and it's really hard to work. Our team, they our store planning team, they heard that. They went to work and they got a deal that you can electric deal, you put 50 carts or 20 carts on and take them to the store. See, that's that's understanding the value proposition. That's also you know, understanding your business and and and all that. So, Sam, as we think about the execution model for a moment, and then commun again, Sam talking about communicating everything all the way down. What are your thoughts about that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, a couple of things uh to add to that conversation, Andy. Um important thing on execution is not giving people too many things to do at the same time. You really need to think about what is most important, what is it that you really need them to do, and boil it down to three, four, maybe five things that they own and that they have to execute on. When you give them a laundry list and you keep adding to that laundry list, nothing gets done. So I think simplifying is a big key to execution. Staying focused on the basics, making sure that those things are taken care of, a big part of execution. And another big part of it is setting expectations. Uh, I remember a podcast we did uh a year or so ago, we talked about high expectations are the key to everything. And I think that is so true. Uh if you set high expectations and let your associates know, hey, yes, we do expect a lot, but your reward is going to be commensurate with your performance. And you talked about the importance of sharing profits with the associates. That dates back to Sam Walton. And really, I think Helen Walton was the one who gave him the inspiration for it. Hey, Sam, you've got to start finding a way not just to invest everything back into the business, but to share some of these profits with the associates. And nowadays, you look at our really good store managers, their pay potential, their compensation potential is outstanding because Walmart has developed compensation plans that allow them to share in the success of the store. And that flows all the way down uh into the into the other management roles of the store. So I think those are key principles.
SPEAKER_00:You know what they said, you're right. And I would just add another comment by Solid Execution is that execution is it's it's a discipline and a system. It's a discipline. And again, we talked about that in podcast one, the discipline that we we had as leaders, and and then we taught that and pushed that discipline down in the organization. And everyone in the company understood that discipline that's needed to execute and do their role. And their jobs. And um also, you know, execution is built into the strategies we already talked about. It's built into his goals, it's built into the culture of the company. So again, we talked about talent, hiring that talent. And then now your job is really to teach and train and develop that talent into your systems and your processes and the your culture of the organization. But see, that's what you're doing. You're integrating these things into the talent. That's why the talent's number one inside your business strategy. If you have a team that's out of line and it looks out of line, let me tell you where you start. You don't start, you start with a leader, because the leader could be out of line. And um, you know, that's why we we talked about in podcast one the Friday morning meeting, the Saturday morning meetings. What that was really was alignment. That was where, because you can sometimes, as you know, running a business is is a bit crazy, and and you're you're hopping from one state to another state or one country to another country, things can get blurred. And when leaders get blurred, and yeah, it happens to all of us. It's happened to me, it's happened to Sam. It's like this. This is the best word picture I know when you get blurred as a leader. When you're in fog driving a car, it's difficult to see, and you immediately want to put your lights on bright because you're trying to see through the fog. All that does is make it worse. Now you can't see, you see less in front of you than you did a moment ago. And it's really important to know where you're going. That's alignment to in your business. And think about this: when a leader, when your team gets not aligned and it's not executing, it's it's not communicating properly, then start with the leader. Set the leader down, have those conversations with the leader, find out why they're in the fog, help them navigate out of the fog, help them to get them realigned first, then you'll get that team realigned. And when that team is realigned, now execution happens quickly, fast. That's where speed, Sam talked about speed, that's where speed happens.
SPEAKER_01:Andy, so so very true. That alignment um and the uh example you use of driving in the fog, that's that's how business is. You're driving in the fog most of the time. And if you don't narrow your beams down to create a vision of what's right in front of you, and then focus on that, you're gonna get lost. And so I think I think you've nailed it there. Um if I could also mention, in in addition to the alignment, um we've talked about the importance of motivating people. I remember again in a prior podcast, we talked about inspiring people, and that is such a big part of a leader's role is to be inspirational. Uh, it's there are different ways to motivate people, and people are motivated by different things. Sometimes it is compensation, sometimes it's just the satisfaction of knowing you're doing a great job in the job you're in. But uh, I would encourage leaders to think about how they can inspire their people. And one of the ways you can inspire them is by helping them recognize when they do hit a home run or when they do, even if they get a base hit sometimes, just calling that out and pointing that out and praising them and thanking them for a job well done. Uh, I can't tell you how many handwritten notes I got from great leaders in our company, unexpected, just saying, hey, you did a terrific job on this particular report or this presentation or this idea that the strategic idea you came up with. Those little notes meant a lot to me, and they inspired me to continue to do the best job that I could in the job I was in. So I would encourage leaders to think about ways to inspire their associates and their team members.
SPEAKER_00:You know, Sam, I want to underline that because recently I was looking for something in the attic and opened a box, and in this box was um in for it was things at Walmart that I've received. And I I had time, so I thought I'm gonna look at this. I haven't looked at it in decades. And there were handwritten notes on thanking me for things, and from my leaders. There was a few Sam Walton in there that he'd scribbled, and uh, I had to get it interpreted, but you know, I anyway, you know, but it it was it was what it was, it was my journey. And it was it was my journey growing up at Walmart from one job to another job and having opportunities. And I will tell you that when I was and I didn't go through all of them, but when I when I did that, it brought back and fully memories back to me of wonderful opportunities I was given, but also challenges. But those leaders were encouraging me through those challenges. They, you know, they would send me that note, they would see that. They that's again, that's that's as a leader, you have an pulse on your leaders, you're watching them closely, you're communicating effectively. It's but again, it's back to what I would the example I used around around the alignment. Um but but you know, we we talked about something earlier that I think would fit here again, Sam. We talked about MBWA, management by walking around. And again, Sam talked about it's difficult today with with we're scattered all over the world. Maybe your team is. It's difficult because you can't walk around and do that. But you but you've got to find ways to listen to your people, and find ways to do that one-on-one, even if it's even if you have to do it electronically. But you you've got to listen, take time to listen. And Sam's uh 10 principles, number seven, here's what Sam said listen to everyone in your company, and more importantly, try to get them talking. The ones who really talk to the customers are the ones who really know what's going on. Okay, now if you are one of those that talk to the customers, I know what you're thinking. If only I could get someone to listen to the real issue, because I know the real issue because my customers are telling me the real issues. But Sam said, as a leader, it's your job to talk to those people and ask them about the customer. See, they they're trying to push it uphill and get the communication uphill. And you know, it's hard to row up, it's hard to swim against the current. What your job as a leader is you got to go down to those people and listen. And I'm gonna tell you a quick story. And I was on my first tour store trip with Sam Walton, first ever as an officer of the company. Now, Sam came in my store many times as a store manager or system manager, but um I was having, I was this was a I told Sam before we went to the source, so you know, we're we're having some issues here. I'm straight up with you. Here's what we're doing to work on it, and I would appreciate your help. And so, you know, I was real, you know, we said this in the car before he walked in the store. And Sam, you know, he I gave him that bit of information, and I I wasn't afraid to ask for the chairman to to give me some advice here because I want to solve the problem, right? So he walked in and he looked at me and he said, Hey Andy, why don't you take the team and you go over in that side of the store, and I'm just gonna walk around. MBWA. That's what he was doing. Same had a chamber quarter. He always had a tank recorder in his jacket pocket. So um he walked up to uh this apartment manager in apparel and he's chatted with her how it sales, how things are going. He said, Hey, what's going on here? You know, what you what suggestions do you have? We can improve some our morale or we can improve this. And um, you know, she told him a couple of things, and he said, Hang on a minute. So he pulled his recorder out and he said, Hey, I'm at store 359 today. I'm here with Mary, and she's telling me these great ideas on how we need to improve, you know, how our processing and how how we process apparel. And he, you know, gives all that, he and he talks to her, and and then uh he says, now I'm going to um I'm gonna you know ask her a few more questions, and he did, and then he went over to the next person, and he did that throughout the store. I'm on the other side of the store, and we sort of crossed and we went around. Now, here's what Mary didn't know. Mary didn't know that that tape was going to go to Sam's assistant Becky, and Becky was going to transcribe that tape, and that tape would she would send it then to any to anybody with alphabet on their name that was in charge of whatever Sam was talking about or asking a question about. Now you're Mary, okay? You're in apparel at store 359, and that store happens to be in Avery, Mississippi. So let's just say that you're there, and I mean Fedville, Arkansas. Sorry, sorry. Uh, but anyway, Sam is there with that that associate the next day. Whoever has that responsibility of that apparel and and supply chain calls Mary. Say, hey Mary, uh Sam Walton sent me a note and said, You have an idea how we can improve our supply chain and get our apparel out quicker. What's your idea? Now, think with me. Now, the chairman was there the day before. Now, the next day, somebody with alphabets and behind their name is calling them because they're in charge of supply chain and they're listening. And that person would say, Okay, we're going to get this done. Now, will you be okay if we have some other people get with you? We're going to implement this, we're going to do it, and we really appreciate your idea. But we so thank you. And before long, she's helping design a new idea and execute so and so and execute something inside the organization. That's what Sam taught us how to listen to our people. And in then on the just to close that out, I asked Sam after the store was it. We got back in the car, headed to the airport. I said, Can you give me a couple of suggestions? And he did. He gave me a couple ideas how we could help improve the store from a morale issue. So the whole idea here is listen to your people, stay close to the people that you work with, and then ask for assistance. Don't don't hesitate. There, there's leaders there around you with more experience that can help you. So ask for help.
SPEAKER_01:Andy, what a great story, and um so fitting, really, uh, to illustrate this point. And the underlying principle there in that story, and it was in Don Soterquist's book that we just talked about in podcast one, Don said, spend less time in meetings and more time with individuals. Less time in meetings, more time with individuals. And that's when you when you're one-on-one with people, that's when they get to talking. And that's when you really find out what they think and what their ideas are, as was the case with Sam and Mary, uh the department manager there in Apparel in Store 359. And so, you know, I think that is a great lesson for any leader. Um, look, you you're gonna have to have meetings. Go ahead and have those, and hopefully they're productive. But the real value comes in your individual interactions with your team members and your associates. If I could uh uh uh layer one more layer on top of this one, Andy. Remember a leader named Paul Carter. Paul uh had a number of roles with the company. Uh he was one of our CFOs, uh, so I reported up through Paul. And Paul had a saying uh people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. You've probably heard that a gazillion times, Andy. As Paul would, yeah, it seemed like every time we were together, he would spout that saying, but he met it and he lived it, and he was a great example of people leadership. Uh, I want to take that principle uh to a personal anecdote very quickly. During the time I was the CFO of Sam's Club, my mother passed away. And she lived in another state. Um, my family and I flew out uh to be at the funeral. Uh my mother died relatively young, uh, breast cancer. I got to the funeral, and I'm sitting there with my family, and in walk, the CEO of Sam's Club, his name was Kevin Turner, uh Doug McMillan, who was the chief merchant, Celia Swanson, who was our membership leader, Greg Spragg, who was our operations leader, essentially the whole leadership team of Sam's, unbeknownst to me, arranged to be at the funeral of my mother. I didn't, I had mentioned to Kevin about her passing, he knew about it. As a leader, he took the initiative to get the team together and said, let's go support Sam and his family. Um, Andy, that act of other leaders being there to support me in a difficult time showed me how much they cared. And uh it bonded us in a very significant way. And later on, I had the privilege of doing something similar with one of the people working with me, Claire Babinau-Fontenneau. You may know of Claire. She led our tax team for many years, was later our treasurer, and now is running uh Feeding America. Uh, when her mother passed, we got a plane together and we took a bunch of people down to Opalousis, Louisiana, little town you've probably been in a hundred times. And a very humble situation there that Claire grew up in. But being there to support her, I could see how much it meant to her to have her team members close by during that difficult time in the passing of her mother. Um, I'm just passing that along because those things matter. And when you really show your associates how much you care, believe me, you will be aligned.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's powerful, Sam. I think we we I think most of us could have similar stories, but we do have similar stories of our leaders at Walmart engaging with us in in difficult times in our lives. And um and you know, you you you you as leaders, it's it's not optional. It it really isn't if you want to be successful. So that's why I started said, okay, our business, we must our business strategy must incorporate our talent strategy. Yes, it's a strategy, but it's about people, and we've got we've given some stories and things about that. You know, the second thing we talked about is execution, the importance of executing your principle, your the company, the vision, the mission of the organization. You can't do that without great people. That's why your talent strategies are integrated into your mission, vision. And then we talked about in our part one, we talked a lot about values, and we talked a lot about, and that's why you got to you got to review this one and look back at the values and the principles that Sem and I shared with you together, because these all are integrated into your talent, talent strategy. It's very important. If you want to build a great company, if you want to be successful, you know, your business strategies and and and finance strategies and operating strategies, if they don't incorporate your talent strategies, your people strategies, if they don't do that, you will probably not be successful, or you will not be as successful as you would like to be. Because at the end of the day, it's about people. Sam Walton taught us this. He taught us, he taught us that, as I share, commit to your business, share your profits, motivate what he called partners or your associates, your team, motivate them, communicate everything, celebrate your successes with them. That's very, very important. And listen to everyone in the company, listen to everyone, and then exceed those customers you're serving. And just like we showed we shared with you before, if that person that's down close, if they can't communicate up, if they can't, it's like you know, it's like swimming upstream. It's difficult. You're swimming in a current. And and then if you have a leader that's our team that's on the line, look at that leader because I would tell you they're in the fog. And I shared the example of the in the fog. And the last thing, too, that Sam taught us and his principles were about, you know, controlling your expenses better than your competitors. Sam shared a wonderful story in part one about how fast that he and his team and others would get the profit and loss statements to the operators so we can make decisions quickly about our business. And the last time he just said, uh, I mean, the last principle Sam talked about is swim upstream. Find your niche, he says, by going in another different direction if you need to. But he says, swim upstream. You know, when you're swimming upstream, it's because that's because you're working harder every day, you're thinking harder every day, you're good, you're looking at your competition every day, and you're thinking, how do we get better? How do we get better? How do we improve? And you're looking at your entire organization and you're making daily analysis and you're talking to your people, you're close to your customers. If you do those things, I promise you that you'll have a successful business. And uh, as we talked about Walmart, and and there's many great companies, but we weren't sharing, we were not afraid to learn and still their ideas, but we would just execute them better. So anyway, Sam Dunn, um again, mummy thanks to you. Close us out today, Sam, with any thoughts that you have.
SPEAKER_01:You know, Andy, quickly, there's one group that we haven't talked much about. Uh, we've talked about customers, we've talked about associates. As an extension of the customer base, Sam really focused on service to the community and being at Active civically. And I would encourage any business owner and business leader to do that. Get your associates motivated to help out and serve in the community. Because those are your customers. And as they see you and your team members out there giving uh service through nonprofits, through just through the good acts of goodwill, think of all the great publicity Walmart has received simply by responding, being the first responder to disasters when they occur. Things like Hurricane Katrina and many since then. You know, finding a way to make your community a better place to live is another important aspect of the principles that Sam taught and that Don Soterquist also emphasized. So I would maybe end on that note, uh, just to make sure we don't exclude that group and tell you thank you, Andy, for having me on today.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, Seb, as always, a pleasure to have you back have you on. I want to have you back soon. Um again, thank you for what you're doing. Uh and um is and as I mentioned, you're you're such a dear friend, and I can't thank you enough for our friendship. I can't thank you enough for the many, many hundreds of miles we ran together. Uh, and we've run a lot together. Uh and so everywhere we went, we traveled, we ran. And and so it was just great time with you, my friend. So blessings to you and your family, and thank you, Sam Don. It's been a wonderful being with you.
SPEAKER_01:It's been an honor and a pleasure. Thank you, Andy.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, to all of our viewers, thank you again so much. We appreciate you. Uh, don't hesitate to reach out to me in the LinkedIn if you have any questions, thoughts, concerns, and how we can get better and your ideas. I'd love to hear from you. Again, uh, Sam, I look forward to uh seeing you again soon, my friend. Thank you.