This is an excellent interview with Doug McMillon, CEO of AAPN member Walmart. I encourage you to give it a read.
Speaking of reading, In Fortune's August 2019 listing of the world's largest companies, I was really stunned to learn that (AAPN Member) Walmart, by FAR, was #1 with 2018 revenues of $514 BILLION. Other notables include:
- 11 Apple $265B
- 13 Amazon $232B
- 35 Costco $141B
- 122 Target $75B (AAPN Member)
- 182 Alibaba $56B
- 294 Maersk $41B (AAPN Member)
- 341 Nike $36B
- 481 Adidas $26B
- 487 Macy's $25B (AAPN Member)
Fortune Interview: Walmart CEO Doug McMillon on Automation, Training 2.2 Million Workers, and the Tragedy in El Paso
Fortune: August 19, 2019
Spend a few minutes talking with Walmart CEO Doug McMillon about his company, and it’s a good bet that he’ll touch on the importance of learning. Walmart, he will tell you, is a “learning organization.” He believes it is crucial that his employees—or associates, as Walmart calls them—be lifelong learners to adapt to a fast-changing retail landscape. And McMillon himself is focused on the continual learning he must tackle to lead his massive company successfully through the process of digital transformation.
But even as McMillon, 52, keeps his focus on the future, his company’s day-to-day operations continue to build momentum. In fact, Walmart is reaping the benefits now of a plan McMillon put in place five and half years ago when he stepped into the CEO job, becoming just the fourth executive to run the company after iconic founder Sam Walton. At the time, the world’s biggest retailer was struggling in its core U.S. stores business. So McMillon decided he needed to invest significantly in higher wages and benefits for his workforce, confident that it would lead to better-run stores and boost results. The investment has paid off. Last week, Walmart reported its 20th straight quarter of U.S. same-store sales growth and a 37% gain in U.S. e-commerce sales. Read More