Lee Scott’s “21st Century Leadership” Speech

"Wal-Mart started as one man’s dream 43 years ago, a courageous vision brought to life as we speak, by more than one million Associates serving over 100 million customers every week. Sam Walton’s goal was simple, and yet when you think about it, radical: He wanted to help the people living in small towns and rural America enjoy a similar quality of life as those who lived in the big cities. While retailers were rushing to the suburbs, Sam Walton built a business serving these overlooked and under-appreciated customers.

We knew intuitively this was right for the country, but also that there was a big business opportunity to provide this kind of value and service. Sam Walton’s dream to serve the under-served changed the world. His method was to go where other businesses feared to go. The other retailers of that time were convinced they wouldn’t make money in small town America.

In other words, we didn’t get where we are today by being like everyone else and driving the middle of the road. We became Wal-Mart by being different, radically different.

Even with this great beginning, we have received our share of criticism over numerous issues, not the least of which is our size. To better understand our critics and Wal-Mart’s impact on the world and society, we spent a year meeting with and listening to customers, Associates, citizen groups, government leaders, non-profit and non-government organizations, and other concerned individuals. You might be surprised about what we heard. Many of these individuals and groups see things differently than we do, but they also have ideas. In fact many of our most vocal critics do not want us to stop doing business, but they feel business needs to change, not just our company, but all companies.

We didn’t send a delegation or committee to meet with our critics. I met with them, so did Mike Duke, John Menzer, Doug Degn, John Fleming, Doug McMillon, Claire Watts, Eduardo Castro Wright, Rollin Ford, Tom Schoewe, Susan Chambers, Lawrence Jackson and others. Mostly we listened. And asked questions. And listened some more."

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