During my career, I’ve enjoyed working with and getting to know many amazing organizations and leaders. A few have influenced and inspired me more than others. Two of those were Walmart and Sam Walton. I never knew the man personally, but I’ve felt his spirit and have seen his impact on numerous occasions. Walmart was a great client of mine earlier in my career, providing distribution for products that we made in our small, rural Pennsylvania manufacturing company. Through Walmart’s stores and distribution, our products could be purchased in virtually every midsized town in America, and of course at a very reasonable price.

I’ve enjoyed numerous trips to Walmart’s headquarters in the quaint small town of Bentonville, Arkansas. We would travel there to participate in training and meeting sessions in their understated yet somewhat intimidating purchasing and corporate offices. As you can imagine, the best sales and marketing representatives in the world walk through their doors each year, and I was humbled to be among them.

Whatever your experience with or beliefs about the company, Walmart’s story and Sam Walton’s legacy is worth knowing.  Sam Walton believed that running a successful business boils down to ten simple rules, and that they helped Walmart become the global leader it is today.  In this post I’d like to hightlight just one, Sam’s simple rule #2:

“Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners. In turn, they will treat you as a partner, and together you will all perform beyond your wildest expectations.”

If you have any interest in becoming a successful leader and growing a prosperous organization, I encourage you to learn more about Sam Walton’s ten rules.  Then consider how you might treat your employees like partners and share your success with them as they perform beyond your expectations!

Source: Sam Walton, Made in America: My Story.