Sam Walton- "Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else."
Ignore the 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.
Sam Walton
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.
Sam Walton
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.
Sam Walton
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.
Sam Walton
Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else.
Sam Walton
Capital isn’t scarce; vision is.
Sam Walton
Money and ownership alone aren’t enough. Set high goals, encourage competition, and then keep score.
Sam Walton
I have always been driven to buck the system, to innovate, to take things beyond where they’ve been.
Sam Walton
The secret of successful retailing is to give your customers what they want. And really, if you think about it from the point of view of the customer, you want everything: a wide assortment of good quality merchandise; the lowest possible prices; guaranteed satisfaction with what you buy; friendly, knowledgeable service; convenient hours; free parking; a pleasant shopping experience.
Sam Walton
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 Walton
There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.
Sam Walton
Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.
Sam Walton
Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your competitor.
Sam Walton
We let folks know we’re interested in them and that they’re vital to us, cause they are.
Sam Walton
My feeling is that just because we work so hard, we don’t have to go around with long faces all the time. While we’re doing all of this work, we like to have a good time.
Sam Walton
High expectations are the key to everything.
Sam Walton
I had to pick myself up and get on with it, do it all over again, only even better this time.
Sam Walton
Remain a corporation and retain control if you like, but behave as a servant leader in a partnership.
Sam Walton
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.
Sam Walton
Keep everybody guessing as to what your next trick is going to be, he said. Don’t become too predictable.
Sam Walton
Individuals don’t win, teams do.
Sam Walton
A computer can tell you down the dime what you’ve sold. But it can never tell you how much you could have sold.
Sam Walton
We’re all working together; that’s the secret.
Sam Walton
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.
Sam Walton
Each Wal-Mart store should reflect the values of its customers and support the vision they hold for their community.
Sam Walton
Celebrate your success and find humor in your failures. Dont take yourself so seriously. Loosen up and everyone around you will loosen up. Have fun and always show enthusiasm. When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a silly song.
Sam Walton
Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune.
Sam Walton
I probably have traveled and walked into more variety stores than anybody in America. I am just trying to get ideas, any kind of ideas that will help our company. Most of us don’t invent ideas. We take the best ideas from someone else.
Sam Walton
There’s a lot more business out there in small town America than I ever dreamed of.
Sam Walton
I still can’t believe it was news that I get my hair cut at the barbershop. Where else would I get it cut? Why do I drive a pickup truck? What am I supposed to haul my dogs around in, a Rolls-Royce?
Sam Walton