VISITING BENTONVILLE AND 10 RULES FOR BUSINESS
Back on September 12 I finalized my airline reservation to and from Bentonville, Arkansas, a midsize community that I had only read about and learned a little about from my daughter, a long-time Walmart employee, who a decade ago was selected by her store to attend an employee event for associates, all expenses paid.
My interest is the upcoming PeopleForBikes SHIFT 22 Conference October 18-20 that I will be attending with my partner, Mike Fritz, representing Human Powered Solutions, a member of PeopleForBikes.
Imagine my surprise September 19 when I did my daily reading of publications and articles (online, I might add). I found Alan Murray, CEO of Fortune, started his column with, “I was in Bentonville, Arkansas last week for the first time in 15 years, and was surprised to find what a lively little town it has become.”
He points out that “Much of the credit for Bentonville’s renaissance, of course, goes to the Walton family, which has invested heavily in the town, including building a world-class museum – Crystal Bridges…”
In that museum, Murray found Walmart founder Sam Walton’s 10 rules of business posted on the wall. Because he felt they “…still seem to strike all the right chords,” he listed them in his column, and I am providing them here:
- Commit to your business.
- Share your profits with your associates.
- Motivate your partners.
- Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
- Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
- Celebrate your successes.
- Listen to everyone in your company.
- Exceed your customers’ expectations.
- Control your expenses better than your competition.
- Swim upstream.
I respectfully suggest there is a lot to be learned from these 10 rules of business, and the Crystal Bridges museum is on my list of places to visit while I am in Bentonville this month.
Contact Jay Townley: jay@humanpoweredsolutions.com