This book was a top recommendation by Sam Ovens who says that it’s Jeff Bezos’ MUST-READ book for all of his associates. I guess this alone is enough to give it a go and start of this wonderful journey of making book notes.
Anyway, here’s what I got from the book:
Sam Walton is the founder of Wal-Mart, the biggest variety store chain in the world. He was at one point the richest man in the USA. He wrote the book in 1992, 2 years before his death. He was a very humble man who never lived like a billionaire and I think this is one of the biggest reasons that made him so successful.
Lessons:
- Value the dollar. Don’t spend it if not necessary. Partnerships are the way to go. Whenever Wal-Mart saves a dollar, a customer saves a dollar. And vice versa.
- Be friendly. Talk with people. Care for them, genuinely.
- Always look for talent. Hire the best people.
- Don’t be afraid to swim upstream. Experiment, try new things. Mistakes are to be made.
- Always put the customer first. Always do your best to serve the customer. Listen to what they want and try to make them happy. Always the customer first.
- Research. Check what the competition is doing. Improve. Step by step work on being the best at what you do. There’s always room to improve and there’s always something to improve.
Good artists copy, great artists steal.
- Be humble and don’t spend on useless things. If the CEO doesn’t waste money, the same values will spread around the company. This is one of the reasons why Walmart always had the best prices and has saved billions of dollars for its customers.
- Double down on what works. Systemize. Expand.
- Cross-pollinate. Switch positions. Study other fields. Learn from everybody.
- Share your success with your employees. Not only psychologically but also financially. Offer % of sales, bonuses and rewards.
- Create a great company culture. Care for your employees, genuinely.
- Be obsessed to win or at least always improve – there’s always room for that.
Sam’s Rules for Building Business
- Commit to your business — Believe in it more than anybody else
- Share your profits with your associates
- Motivate your partners — money is not enough → high goals, encourage competition, keep score, make bets, switch jobs, don’t become predictable
- Communicate everything you can to partners
- Appreciate everything your associates do for your business
- Celebrate your success and don’t take yourself too seriously
- Listen to everyone in your company
- Exceed your customers’ expectations
- Control your expenses better than your competition
- Swim upstream — ignore conventional wisdom, if everybody is doing one thing there is somewhere else a niche for you