#345: Doug McMillon — CEO of Walmart
The Tim Ferriss Show
Is There a Bigger Thing at Play?
Wmi was the chip buyer for fridolay in the early nineties. He says he got really excited when free doley brought out a lime and chilly flavored tostitoes. But then they didn't have that item west of the mississippi. And so his supervisor told him, you need to go tell bill fields about it. The solution: A coupon for a free bag of chips for any customer who complained. 'It's like i'm deat like i'm dead,' said wmi after hearing this story.
Doug McMillon (IG: @dougmcmillon) is president and chief executive officer of Walmart, a company that, if it were a country, would be the 25th largest economy in the world. Walmart serves 265 million customers weekly in 27 countries across more than 11,000 stores and online, and the company employs roughly 2.2 million associates worldwide, which would equate to the second largest army in the world (behind China) if it were tasked with defending that 25th largest economy.
75 percent of Walmart's store management team began as hourly associates, and Doug is no exception. He started out in 1984 as a summer associate in the Walmart distribution center, and in 1990 while pursuing his MBA, he rejoined the company as an assistant manager in Tulsa before moving to merchandising as a buyer trainee. He worked his way up, and from 2005 to 2009 he served as president and CEO of Sam's Club (owned and operated by Walmart) with sales of more than $46 billion annually during his tenure.
From February of 2009 to 2014, Doug served as president and CEO of Walmart International, a fast-growing segment of Walmart's overall operations. He has served on the board of directors for Walmart since 2013 and is currently the chair of the executive and global compensation committees. In addition, he serves on the board of directors of the Consumer Goods Forum, the US-China Business Council and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. He also serves on the executive committee of the Business Roundtable and the advisory board of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management in Beijing, China.
This episode was recorded live at the Heartland Summit in Bentonville, AR, surrounded by the jaw-droppingly mind-blowing Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Please enjoy!
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