Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

Walton's 10 Rules of Business Success - Rule 4 - Communicate Everything

Walton understood that there's an interesting paradox that exists in the communication aspect of business.

He listed this as the fourth of his ten rules on business success. He said: "Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners. The more they know, the more they'll understand. The more they understand, the more they'll care. Once they care, there's no stopping them. Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your competitors."

Many business leaders think that the openness of information sharing in business can leave them at a competitive advantage, in reality, as Walton says, it is an empowerer that gives returns to the business through our our people far greater than any type of information that may get out to competitors.

But there's another side to this as well, when you are in constant flows of information between manager and worker, workers and workers and management and vendors etc., it gives such a competitive edge that it becomes really impossible for someone on the outside to know all that is happening within a business; there are just too many interactions to be able to measure.

The paradox of all of this is that the more freedom of information that flows, the more of a competitve edge it gives you business and workers. It seems on the surface that it would be the opposite, but it isn't.

One thing about information that competitors glean, is that overall, it can't help them much. Look at Wal-Mart (WMT) itself. Everyone has known for years what there strategy is and the power of their distribution system and how it's done. Yet nobody can reproduce it.

There's something about a company that has its business DNA inherent in its people. It's like nobody can be that specific person (or company) if they keep the DNA as part of their makeup. That's how it is with information and knowledge.

Closing off communication channels will do more to harm a business than possibly any other potential mistake. Walton knew this and simply opened up everything to his people and partners and never looked back.

Other Sam Walton Sources:

Sam Walton

Sam Walton: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Business

Sam Walton - Retail Success Story

Sam Walton and Wal-Mart

How Wal-Mart Got Started

Sam Walton: King Of The Discounters

Sam Walton: Great From the Start

Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?

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