Sam Walton's Way

This is another short by New Word City Books about Sam Walton. Sam was incredible in that he started with just about nothing, and built an empire. One of the keys was that he did not try to build all at once. He built one store at a time and grew his business slowly and surely through its formative years.

This short book outlines several things that differentiated Sam Walton and provided him the success that he enjoyed:
1. He defined his overarching goal and never lost sight of it, no matter what little things tried to trip him up.

2. He empowered his employees by giving them information about the business. He stated that the more they know, the more they would understand and the better decisions would be made.

3. Listen and Look. He watched his competitors and listened to his employees for ideas.

I found this interesting because Wal-Mart is a corporation that I do not like very much. I see them as a company that puts small mom and pop businesses out of business. On the other hand, the way Walton built his business reads like a textbook on how a business should be built. He was just very diligent about it, which is a good thing.

So maybe my issue with Wal-Mart isn't a principle issue, it's a charity issue. Wal-Mart obviously doesn't need my business, and probably doesn't even care about my business. I can get better quality merchandise at the same or slightly more prices elsewhere and make me feel that I am actually making a difference in their business and helping someone succeed.

On the other hand, I shop at big box electronic retailers and buy books on Amazon.com. Call me inconsistent, but I'm human.

Some quotes from Peter Drucker

Tonight I read a short book on Peter Drucker who was a business theorist during the 20th Century. While I usually have little respect for theorists because they don't usually know from what they speak and ignore the pragmatic side of things, it seems that Peter Drucker had his feet planted squarely on the ground. The following is a list of quotes from the book that I wish modern management would live by:

1. One either meets or one works

2. The best way to predict the future is to create it.

3. Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done.

4. There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all

5. The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said

6. When you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision

Some good thoughts for modern management.