How Would You Characterize the Leadership of Walmart Founder Sam Walton?

Sam Walton was born on March 29, 1918 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. Shortly after he was born his family uprooted and moved to Missouri. Sam grew up in Missouri playing sports in high school and was a good student. He later attended the University of Missouri where he graduated with a degree in economics. After serving in World War 2, he opened his first business, a Ben Franklin franchise in Newport, Arkansas. Over a 20 year period he came to own 15 Ben Franklin stores with the help of his brother. Walton became frustrated with the management of the chain and decided to branch out on his own. In 1962, Walton opened the very first Wal-Mart.

There are many attributes that a good leader requires, but some of the most important attributes are empathy, persistence, and knowledge.

As mentioned in (Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. 2013 Pg. 37). The Big Five Model of Personality gives traits of an effective leaders which are surgency, agreeableness, adjustment, conscientious and openness to experience. My organization wants these traits to be imbibed in its employees.

Three leadership characteristics that I value the most are being respectful and being flexible and also open-minded. I believe that in order for someone to be considered to be a leader or to develop the mindset of being a leader then they fist have to be respectful. They have to be able to respect people and understand that there are going to be people who are against them but they have to respect them no matter what the situation may be and that they will gain more respect from the people around them because then they will be considered to be respectful, it is a basic concept of if you respect other then they will respect you. In order for you to get respect they have to give respect to the people they need and people who want to see them fail.

2. What are the traits of an effective leader? How can these traits be developed?

Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, which is the biggest retailer in the world, had coined the famous saying ‘individuals don’t win, teams do’. There are several characteristics of Sam Walton that enabled him to be successful in his life and business dealings. Sam Walton could do anything he put his mind to. This can be witnessed in his ability to transform a small town store into a 25 billion-dollar industry at the time of his death. Also, Walton difficult childhood gave him something to strive towards later on in his life.

2. To be an effective leader, leaders must exhibit expertise, build trust with their subordinates and continually develop those subordinates. These three leadership traits create a positive work environment, which ensures soldiers “buy-in” to the leader’s vision. Thus, allowing the organization to be effectively and efficiently controlled . The subsequent paragraphs will clarify the importance of each leadership trait.

Before reading this book, I had no idea about the story of Walmart or who its founder was or anything like that. All I knew was that Walmarts are huge and everywhere you go. After reading this book, I learned that Walmart really did start from the bottom and came out of nowhere. In addition, I learned that a reason Walmart was successful was because Sam Walton wasn’t a risky man like most greedy business owners who want to make as much money as fast as possible “Sam never did anything in size or volume until he actually had to. He played it close to the belt”(Walton 89). He was careful with his money and considered all his options before making any decision. Another thing that really stood out to me was his policy on giving back to his employees

My third leadership quality is Communication. I am good at speaking to large crowds and communicating what needs to be done.  I am also a good advocate for myself. When, I need help I always communicate what I am struggling with. 2.

Three best characteristics of a leader There are many people that could be considered and have been chosen as good leaders for certain traits such as respect, reliability, responsibility, trustworthiness, and being really good at what they do and how they present their thoughts. Jensen Ackles, a director, actor, singer, Queen Elizabeth I, queen, reliable person, Abraham Lincoln, president and a very trustworthy person. These three people show many great leader traits, but they have only one trait per person that defines them best. Abraham Lincoln, a very well-known president of the United States with many traits, one being responsibility.

Philip (2008) has listed 7 common traits in the characteristic of leadership. The characteristics are empathy, consistency, honesty, direction, communication, flexibility and conviction.

According to Sullivan and Decker (2009), leadership is influencing others into working toward accomplishing a common goal. Some people are born with an innate leadership quality within them. Others require learning leadership and management skills. It takes a certain personality trait that makes them a natural leader. Intelligence, personality, and abilities are three categories of the trait theory that is a part of the profile of successful leaders (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). I will discuss my personal views of leadership. It will

Wal-mart has seen itself become a retail giant over the past decades. They have an enormous amount of control over both consumers and suppliers. Brands literally sacrifice profit margins to have shelf space within their stores. With the addition of grocery brands as well, Wal-mart has positioned itself as a “one-stop” destination for all consumer’s needs. However, there are various internal and external factors that affect the four functions of Management positively or negatively. Organizations need to pay close attention to these factors because it can enhance the company’s success when used appropriately. Currently several factors are top of mind for management. They need to be concerned with in this era are globalization, new technologies, innovation, diversity, and ethics. Wal-mart is a big player in the nation and global market and must stay reactive to these internal and external factors to stay on top. Wal-mart is addressing each of these issues directly.

Sam Walton graduated from the University of Missouri in Columbia with a degree in economics in 1940 (Biography.com Editors, n.d.). He entered the retail business in 1944 in Newport, Arkansas as the owner of a franchise store called Ben Franklin (Shenron, 2009). Six years later Walton relocated the store to the town square of Bentonville, Arkansas and renamed it Walton’s Five and Dime. By 1962, Walton’s innovational management style empowered him to open a second store just seven miles down the road in Rogers, Arkansas. Before the year was out, Walton owned eleven stores locally. He was driven by “his vision of a discount retail store in rural areas” (Biography.com Editors, n.d.). His successes stemmed from his ability to market

This theory is based on the premise that there are certain personality characteristics that are essential for a person to possess in order to be a leader. The main emphasis is on what the person is in terms of a constellation of personality traits. This theory searches for that set of universal leadership traits that will assure success. Numerous traits have been suggested: courage, integrity, loyalty, charisma, ambition, intelligence, honesty, clairvoyance, persistence, arrogance, health, political skill, confidence and vision.