Wal-Mart is good for small business

Who on earth would say such a thing? Well, this man would:

This man is Mike Duke, the CEO of Wal-Mart who I had the opportunity of hearing speak this week as part of my Strategic Management course. The head of the Leadership and Management Studies (LMS) Program is a former Wal-Mart executive and I guess still has connections enough that he was able to arrange for us to listen to the leadership perspectives of the head of the largest company in the world. Pretty cool opportunity I think. The LMS chair, Dr. Hennelly, thinks that business leaders often study military leaders for leadership lessons, but military leaders rarely study business leaders for leadership lessons. Can you name the greatest CEO of the 20th century (according to Fortune)? None of us could. It's a shame because there really are relevant lessons that cross the business-military line, yet we too seldom consider those lessons. So it's appropriate that 60 or 70 future Army leaders got to talk with Mr. Duke.

As an aside, Mr. Duke began his talk by flashing up the cover of a recent Fortune magazine:

His point is that businesses are targeting military leaders (pun very intended) for their management teams, which is very true. Does anyone else see the irony of this? I thought it funny that he began his talk with a magazine cover that has the headline "World's Most Admired Companies" which I would say Wal-Mart is not. But that's all besides the point.

Mr. Duke did share some of his leadership philosophy, something that all leaders should have (even I do). He had five talking points to offer:
1. trust is key. It comes from demonstrated integrity, no skill is respected or maximized without truth, it is measured most accurately in your lowest/weakest of moments
2. compassion- caring for other people is critical, especially with 2.1 million associates (employees), it should be practiced on an individual level as well as corporate such as how Wal-Mart has assisted in the earthquake response in Chile
3. performance- the numbers do matter, "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it" (not sure I agree with that quote), a company does have obligation to make money for the shareholders, not measuring performance is like not keeping score at a sporting event
4. leadership- on the individual and corporate levels, lead social responsible areas like sustainability (reducing packaging, compact fluorescent light bulbs, efficiency of trucking fleet), figure out where you are going to be a leader and make a difference and then do it
5. global nature of business- "just part of my job"

Mr. Duke shared his three core principles: respect, serving customers, and striving for excellence. Then it was time for questions (I've shortened/simplified his answers):
Q: Do small businesses in other countries not like Wal-Mart?
A: "not at all"
Q: How do you respond to criticism of Wal-Mart being hard on small business?
A: If you go to the average Wal-Mart, you'll be surprised at the number of small businesses that have popped up around it, stores that offer services Wal-Mart doesn't. Wal-Mart was a small company too at one point, it's the way that free enterprise works.
Q: How do you translate/transfer your company's values into other countries?
A: bottom line: hire good management
Q: What are you doing with waste compact fluorescent light bulbs?
A: Wal-Mart will figure out the reverse logistics for light bulbs, for now there are other more pressing things that they need to focus on. (the concern is those light bulbs ending up in landfills I believe)
Q: How can Wal-Mart compete with organic food stores like Whole Foods?
A: There are huge inefficiencies organic food supply chains, and that is one area in which Wal-Mart traditionally excels.

So what did I think of all this? Well, as far as leadership points go, Mr. Duke's comments were general and not that remarkable. He must be doing something right in his office as a business manager because he really wasn't inspirational at all as a leader. Also, his piece about Wal-Mart being good for small business is a load of crap. I hope he wasn't looking at me when he said that because I'm pretty sure I rolled my eyes pretty dramatically.