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#Post#: 17438--------------------------------------------------
Sam Walton, Made in America
By: NealC Date: July 5, 2019, 7:19 am
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Autobiography of Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart stores.
I know, not a very intellectual read but I read it when it first
came out in the 90's and found it inspiring (Capitalist!) so I
thought it would be a good re-read.
It is an easy read and the ghost writer gave it a folksy style
befitting his rural, southern subject. Of course Sam has some
good points on business but there is one program he was very
proud of in the book - an employee profit sharing plan.
Back when Wal-Mart was growing by leaps and bounds many
employees supplemented their income by the profit sharing plan
and those who bought stock in the company made a ton of money.
The really big growth period for Wal-Mart is over so the stock
is a so-so buy now, but the profit sharing still chugged along,
bringing corp profits down to even the lowliest store clerk.
Walton devotes a large section of the book to profit sharing as
a motivational factor and how important it was to treat
employees right and give them ownership. To the point where he
doubted the future of the company without these policies.
Sam is long dead now and I wondered if his successors were
holding tight to his employee first policies, with profit
sharing as the centerpiece. To the internet! Of course the
idiots in charge now are empty suit corporate hacks and so
profit sharing was ended 9 years ago. This article is an
excellent opinion piece about it:
HTML https://www.cbsnews.com/news/walmarts-short-sighted-cost-cut-profit-sharing-for-workers/
At the same time I am listening to a 6 hour seminar about
creating a corporate culture that puts maintaining an excellent
employee experience first - even before customers.
It saddens me that corporate America only pays lip service to
caring about employees, even corporations that were started with
a different culture. I am struggling with how to fit these
ideas in a practical way, in my businesses.
#Post#: 17480--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sam Walton, Made in America
By: SHL Date: July 5, 2019, 8:39 pm
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I don’t know about old Sam Walton, but that whole Walton family
are the most greedy capitalist crazed family in the world that
treats its employees like doormats. If the employee can‘t work
long and hard enough they just cast them aside like an old shoe.
That’s why I can only do self-employment. With all its
downfalls, it‘s the only way to make it. I had some guy call me
from the States (I get a European phone and internet plan each
year so calls are cheap, texts are free, local roaming charges
are low.) I told the guy I was in Europe a month and he might
need to contact someone else for his divorce. He said no, he’d
wait till I got back because he was referred to me by one of my
former clients and was told I was good.
Now, people like that make the best clients. (If you’ve been
doing something for 20 years and aren’t good at it by then, you
should find something else to do. ) So, I liked that.
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