We live in a business world where keeping ahead of the competition matters. If you’re not a first mover, you at least want to be the best mover, the fastest to market, or the best in your class. Incremental change is applauded, but the true rewards go to those who seek to transform organizations and execute.
It’s been a rocky ride, but Walmart has pulled out of a heavy stock slide. Looking back to June 2015, Fortune splashed the news with a provocative article on Walmart’s newly appointed CEO titled “The Man Who’s Reinventing Walmart.” It kicked off by stating, “CEO Doug McMillon may be the best-prepared executive to lead Walmart since Sam Walton. Here’s how he’s guiding the retail giant in the Age of Disruption.”
McMillon and his executive team spent time with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg when they visited the Facebook office back in 2014. What struck me is this endorsement because she’s considered by many to be the “holy grail” among astute, truly capable leaders. Sandberg stated, "Usually when you meet leaders, you get a sense that they’re focused on one or the other: execution of their current business or innovative ways to grow. What’s interesting about spending time with Doug is that he’s clearly on both. His conversations, his questions—he’s on both.”
Okay, this is Walmart – a massive company. Or course the CEO is going to be noticed. But everyone has to start somewhere. Now ask yourself, who doesn’t want to be the “best prepared” or get recognized for making positive waves within an industry or company?
Whenever I read Fortune magazine, I learn something new about business, leadership, technology and startups. It’s one of my standard go-to sources on up-and-comers, most admired companies or leaders, and the biggest or brightest of the bunch. Walmart’s CEO now has Sheryl Sandberg as one of his go-to resources.
Consider your go-to sources for information. Like any good leader, you probably have a list of sources that serve as advisors - whether it’s your personal board of directors or your actual company board of directors. And with any good board of directors, you need one that has a representative mix of leaders and trusted advisors who have expertise in different disciplines to help ensure that you look at all the angles when working on solving a problem or honing your strategy.
We could probably all use our own sounding boards or board of directors at any stage in life doing whatever we choose to do. Are there any T-birds on yours? One of my favorites lives in Singapore, so we don't get to talk often, but whenever we catch up, it's fantastic!
Join us at our next event to make some new friends, share some tips, and maybe discover something new. We can always keep learning.
If you're interested in reading more, you can check out the original blog post here.