The secrets of success—The Wal-Mart Way

DSN Retailing Today, April 11, 2005 by Mike Troy

Retired Wal-Mart senior vice chairman Don Soderquist's new book, "The Wal-Mart Way," will likely disappoint reviewers looking for juicy behind-the-scenes anecdotes as told by the man who spent two decades working shoulder-to-shoulder with company founder Sam Walton and former ceo David Glass. Suppliers and competitors too will likely find the book contains little information that they didn't already know.

That's okay with Soderquist because his intent was never to top various best-seller lists with a tell-all expose.

"My original intention was not to write the history of the company, but to write about the principles that made us what we were along with examples that demonstrated those principles," Soderquist said. "The whole thing about Wal-Mart's success is there really is nothing that complicated about it."

Even so, Soderquist was able to write an entire book about why Wal-Mart is successful with the focus on how the company's culture has been the driving force behind all that has been accomplished. It is a book Soderquist said he was encouraged to write while he was still employed at Wal-Mart. However, since he wanted to write the book himself it was difficult to find the time. That proved to be the case even after he retired, however in recent years it became apparent there was a need for a book about Wal-Mart's culture and how continued adherence to its three main principles was necessary to ensure the company's future success.

According to Soderquist, there are fewer and fewer people inside Wal-Mart that knew Sam Walton or were around during the early years when the company was much smaller. In addition, rapid growth has caused Wal-Mart's workforce to swell to roughly 1.6 million people. That's 500,000 more than worked for Wal-Mart when Soderquist was still employed there five years ago. Combined with the fact that Wal-Mart has experienced considerable negative publicity the past few years, Soderquist felt the time was right for a book, the cover of which promises to tell "the inside story of the success of the world's largest company."

Writing such a book required a mental adjustment for Soderquist who shared Walton's view about not "tooting our own horn."

"We've seen so many people who as they got bigger pounded their chest about how good they are, and that leads to ego and arrogance. We said, Let's not have that as part of our company. Let's just do our thing and in the end good will be recognized," Soderquist said.

That proved not to be the case however as Wal-Mart's reluctance to toot its own horn allowed others to shape the company's image.

"We might look at it today and it may seem naive, but it was a matter of just doing our thing down in Arkansas and not trying to get any attention or credit for it," Soderquist said.