He's been accused of pitting people against each other
For the most part, Sam Walton has been admired by the vast majority of people the new him and what he had accomplished. One of the few spots that are on his record were when people accused him of "pitting people against each other."
His response was that he was "cross-pollinated folks." He never saw it in a negative sense or initiated things for that purpose.
As usual, Walton was simply ahead of his time. Now we may have specialized meetings and sessions to create that pollination effect, but in the beginning stages those weren't developed yet.
Walton was simply going around everywhere throwing ideas out that someone said in one place, and then brought to someone else at another location. Because communications weren't near as fast, varied and almost ensured of contact like they are today, it created the illusion that he was just passing things along for the purpose of creating bad will.
But if anyone really knew Walton, they would have known that this wasn't the case at all. He had stumbled onto drawing out ideas from everywhere and bringing them together to make the company better. Some people didn't like their ideas being thrown out in the way they were.
These days it's simply part of doing business, back then it was a radical departure from business as usual. It was one of the few things that some people had a hard time reconciling with Walton on.
Many times it's not till many years later that someone's insights and practices are understood, many times later than those that were affected by them will ever understand. It's part of being ahead of your time and a pioneer. It can't be escaped.
Other Walton Sources:
The Most Underrated CEO Ever The legendary Sam Walton
Sam Walton: The Power of Persistence
Sam Walton Business Quotes for Ya
Remember to Sign up for my feed, bizzbite and digg this!
Sponsored link: The outsourcing every manager requires - Tampa Locksmith
Comment Preview