Quote

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.

Sam Walton

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Sam Walton
Age: 74 †
Born: 1918
Born: March 29
Died: 1992
Died: April 5
Businessman
Businessperson
Economist
Entrepreneur
Kingfisher
Oklahoma
Samuel Moore Walton
Stills
Operation
Still
Efficient
Make
Operations
Brilliant
Mistakes
Mistake
Business
Inefficient
Running
Recover

More quotes by Sam Walton

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It's just paper - all I own is a pickup truck and a little Wal-Mart stock.
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One thing my and mother and dad shared completely was their approach to money - they just didn't spend it.
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Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom.
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I learned a lesson which has stuck with me all through the years: you can learn from everybody. I didn't just learn from reading every retail publication I could get my hands on, I probably learned the most from studying what John Dunham was doing across the street
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I not only knew I wanted to go into retailing, I also knew I wanted to go into business for myself.
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Focus on something the customer wants, and then deliver it.
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Don't get so stuck in your ways that you can't change.
Sam Walton
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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.
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Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your competitor.
Sam Walton
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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.
Sam Walton
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The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary.
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Money and ownership alone aren't enough. Set high goals, encourage competition, and then keep score.
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Great ideas come from everywhere if you just listen and look for them. You never know who's going to have a great idea.
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I probably have traveled and walked into more variety stores than anybody in America. I am just trying to get ideas, any kind of ideas that will help our company. Most of us don't invent ideas. We take the best ideas from someone else.
Sam Walton
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I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work. I don't know if you're born with this kind of passion, or if you can learn it. But I do know you need it.
Sam Walton
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Leaders must always put their people before themselves. If you do that, your business will take care of itself.
Sam Walton
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Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody else is doing it one way, there’s a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction.
Sam Walton
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...You can make a positive out of most any negative if you work at it hard enough.
Sam Walton
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Exceed your customer's expectations. If you do, they'll come back over and over. Give them what they want - and a little more.
Sam Walton
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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.
Sam Walton