Sam Walton Quotes

The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary.

I learned this early on in the variety business: You’ve got to give folks responsibility, you’ve got to trust them, and then you’ve got to check on them.

The way management treats their associates is exactly how the associates will then treat the customers.

You can make a lot of mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you’re too inefficient.

We let folks know we’re interested in them and that they’re vital to us. cause they are.

What am I supposed to haul my dogs around in, a Rolls-Royce?

All that hullabaloo about somebody’s net worth is just stupid, and it’s made my life a lot more complex and difficult.

Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen,
well-timed, sincere words of praise.
They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune

There’s absolutely no limit to what plain, ordinary, working people can accomplish if they’re given the opportunity and encouragement to do their best.

I learned early on that one of the secrets of campus leadership was the simplest thing of all: speak to people coming down the sidewalk before they speak to you. I would always look ahead and speak to the person coming toward me. If I knew them I would call them by name, but even if I didn’t I would still speak to them.

Focus on something the customer wants, and then deliver it.

In the beginning, I was so chintzy I really didn’t pay my employees well.

Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up.

Great ideas come from everywhere if you just listen and look for them. You never know who’s going to have a great idea.

Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your competitor.

One person seeking glory doesn’t accomplish very much.

Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.