When the CEO and CFO of Wal-Mart decide to offer interviews in New York, big media decided it would give away free adverts to the pro-WM side:
For an executive who rarely talks with the media, it was a hectic 24 hours. After granting interviews to USA Today and the Associated Press, H. Lee Scott Jr., Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s generally low-profile chief executive, sat down for on-camera interviews yesterday with ABC, CNN, Fox and CNBC.I saw several of these interviews, and was dutifully unimpressed; Mr. Scott comes off to me as quiet, solid, competent, and completely toothless--which is the image he wanted.Anyone who somehow missed the TV blitz could have opened one of 100 newspapers across the country, from the Wall Street Journal to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and read a full-page advertisement bearing his signature. Or they could have visited a new Web site, www.walmartfacts.com, to read yet another statement from Scott.
News Hounds notes that Fox gave an extraordinary amount of time--commercial-free:
The company has been accused of such things as discrimination, human rights violations, paying miserably low wages, destroying local environments, locking employees inside its stores, invading residential neighborhoods, creating traffic congestion, noise and light pollution, contributing to urban sprawl, and censoring the books, DVDs and videos it sells.Here's a partial transcript of the Cavuto interview. And here's full video of Scott on CNBC (warning, requires IE with Flash).None of that mattered until Walmart was surprised by lower than expected 2004 holiday sales numbers. Now it's hitting the road, trying to convince the public that it cares.
Fox News was happy to lend a hand on Thursday (January 13, 2005) by giving the first 13 commercial-free minutes of Your World w/Neil Cavuto to Walmart's CEO, Lee Scott....
Nonetheless, I was touched to see these two corporations working together.
Also of note is a Q and A with H. Lee Scott. I think he's best here:
Q: Why do you attribute the frustration to associates?Yes, with 1.2 milion Americans employed by the company, it's truly shocking how few of them are vocal against the company. But he's not glossing over the difficulties a new WM can bring to a "town":A: They know the wage they make. They know they're full time or, if not, working the hours they want to work. They know they have health insurance. They know they have discounts. They know they have 401(k)s, profit sharing.
If anything, the negative press and the criticism take away the opportunity to feel as good as you can feel about your employment.
But Scott said he does not dismiss concerns that people express when Wal-Mart wants to open a new store.Personally, I think Mr. Scott is being had by organizations he has no chance of swaying; do the union sharks smell blood?"I think there's lots of questions when Wal-Mart comes to a town that need to be answered. Not all of those questions are frivolous," he said.
Scott said he planned meetings with a variety of groups not associated with government to help explain Wal-Mart's employment practices, environment-related policies and how it deals with its suppliers. He would not name the organizations, saying did not want the groups to feel they were being used to garner media attention.
Posted by Kevin on January, 17 2005 at 11:37 AM
Julie Pierce wrote:I can tell you one thing. They don't like the idea of a book that is written from inside of the stores during seven years and in four states being published.
They just found a reason to fire me.
It's okay. More time to write about all of it.
It wasn't even a bash Walmart book. It is on "The Walmart Way" Not Sam's Way.
They investigated me and interrogated me more than once in an office with no one on my side then had my store manager fire me on a speaker phone call Monday Feb. 28, 2005.-- March 1, 2005 01:01 AM ∞
Julie Pierce wrote:“The Walmart Way”
Not Sam’s Way
By Julie Pierce
Chapters
1 Where is Sam?
2 A Customer & A Small Business Owner
3 Florida 1998
Moving Onward and Upward
4 Alabama
Running without paper
The District Level
The Management Training Program
Just Do It
5 The Cult
6 New Hampshire
Then there were 4,5 and 6
Now there are five
Now there are four
Now there are three
Shoe Department
7 Louisiana
Part Two
Class Action Lawsuit
2005 January
8 The Culture
The Three Beliefs
Respect for the Individual
The Ten-Foot Rule
Customer Service
Service to our Customers
Aggressive Hospitality
Strive for Excellence
Servant Leadership
The Five Commitments
The Five Commitments of Management
9 Gender Discrimination
10 Open Door Communications
11 Propaganda
The Sundown Rule
12 Office Politics
In Store Policies
13 Ethics
14 Fluff
15 So Much More
A Hostile Work Environment?
Back Then
Computer Systems
Walmart Web Sites
Market Share and Profits
Retail or Corporate 101
The Turnover
Terminations
Labor Violations
Discrimination
16 Notes, Letters and Attempted Communications
“The Walmart Way”
Not Sam’s Way
Almost daily, there is mention of Walmart somewhere in the media.
Walmart finds itself up against more lawsuits then ever before and activists are at top of the list of problems that continue to plague Walmart.
From attempts to block the opening of new Super Centers to the individual and group lawsuits that are filed against the corporation, it will be the people, customers and the company’s very own associates who will determine the fate of the aging retailer.
Attempts at redeeming itself publicly and improving its image are a new way of handling the perception people have of the company. In the past public relations and the media were areas that the company avoided unless there was an extremely negative situation had to answered through the media in some way. Now the corporate offices have decided to defend the company to the extent of taking out full page ads in different areas of the country and designing a web site called Walmartfacts to allow the public access to its’ own view of the wonderful world of Walmart.
A corporation, a company, the as big as life retail behemoth whose founder Sam Walton, is looked at and remembered by many in different ways. Sam was a man who is quoted almost continuously by an assortment of different people and associates. Opinions vary and views on the man and his legacy continue.
The book” The Walmart Decade” by Robert Slater looks at not only the Walmart of today but also has many references to Sam Walton and the way it was. The book “Made in America” by Sam Walton and John Huey is a look at a man that seemed to genuinely care about the people that he more than once said “should be treated as partners;” his associates; his company’s employees who are no longer protected by the founder and his way of “respecting the individual.”
A new book titled The Walmart Way by Don Soderqist is being released on April 21, 2005. It is supposed to be about the Walmart exectutives. It is already listed on Amazon and although it is from the inside of the corporate and executive offices it is not from inside the stores and I am sure will not deal with the same things I am addressing in this book.
The corporate officers, the directors and the executive officers of the company are business people running a corporation, not Sam Walton. All the books are pro Sam Walton and say much about the man especially as far as the culture that he started.
Anyone attempting to find a company, or a corporation to work for that would appreciate hard work could at one time find it here. A person could take a look at “The Walmart Culture” and that person would be easy to convince that Walmart has it all and will give it all to you if you work hard and treat the customer as number one, according to Sam Walton. It seems, from the inside to be getting further away from that kind of respect and inclusiveness each day.
Today we have “The Walmart Decade “By Robert Slater “How a New Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy into the World's #1 company”
You really need to read between the lines.
You would need to understand that Mr. Slater received his information as it is listed at the end of the book.
He did not work in the stores and did not really have access to or the ability to really touch the average associate. I did.
The largest retailer in the country and the world is more than just a retailer, employer and a stock on Wall Street. America’s most admired company is a large part of day-to-day living for the typical American family. It is a very large part of the day-to-day life of Walmart Associates.
From the outside of the stores, there is more than one opinion of the company, its’ suppliers and its’ worth.
From inside there is also more than one opinion, and depending on many factors that determine your position in the Walmart order of things an opinion can be valid as far as Walmart is concerned or an opinion can be an expression of possible hostile aggressive behavior the way Walmart is today.
Among the many files, policies and trade secrets of the number one retailer in our nation and in the world are the people. These people work in the stores. The people that greet the customers and the people that keep the shelves stocked. In many cases, this book reflects the very lives of the people that this company will forever be connected to, like it or not.
This is the warehouse, the truck driver and the system that keeps count on all of it. This is the story that includes a factory in a foreign country that produces the clothing that hangs on the racks in the softlines departments.
This book is a written view from the inside of the stores. It takes an in depth look at the associates, individual stores, salaried management and the executive offices of this company that is listed on tickers of the New York Stock Exchange as wmt.
Copyright 2005 Julie M. Pierce All rights reserved. “"The Walmart Way” Not Sam’s Way The information contained in this may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without prior written au
-- March 13, 2005 10:34 AM ∞
julie pierce wrote:My feelings are that I have so much more.
It is one thing to have billions of dollars to leave as a legacy and to your family. It is wonderful to have been able to do so many things that are good.
Still, even with the loss of what I at one time felt I had I am at a loss to compare what I have to what they have.Billions of dollars, whether in cash, stocks, company holdings it’s money and money can be a comfort in a time of loss as it can be at any other time.
Still, the continuation of ignoring the people that helped to compile that money is something that makes a person wonder when money becomes the real God.Too much time to think and is it what you use time thinking about.
The itch to go back, to start all over again only because that is the norm for you and the way it has been for a lifetime.
The feeling of guilt that can run unchecked and make an average person of any age feel that they have to do because they are categorized as a have not.
What would I use my time on if I had the money to do all of the things that I think of now, especially considering I do not have it.
Money rules the mind and the heart and although some of the most wondrous lives have been ruled by money, many others have gone beyond the need for it and even without it have done wonderful things.
How do you?
At a time when I seriously thought I was finished with new employment beginnings, at a time when life is more than paying the bills and decisions really mean something because if nothing more I need to stand for something I can truly believe in.
If I leave nothing else behind I must leave what I believe in. I feel that even if no one else can, I must write the words that I truly believe.
I could have continued to act as if the way things were, what I saw was unimportant and would have been allowed to continue to work or not work…my decision for a company that was not what it seemed to be when I came across it in 1998.
I could decide, they were right, I was wrong. Even now, I wonder and I hold inside the reasoning that allows me to justify the monetary losses that my family will endure because I bucked the system and even though it looks like my fault to see it on paper, I know and my family knows better.
I know what it may look like. I have accepted that. I also know that proving any of it without the help that could actually say, actually verify, it will always look like something it is not.
I also have the temporary thought that giving up is easier. Starting over is easier. Why?
Because there is no interest as far as the media is concerned as to why it is the way it is.
Because for some reason, yes I would love to make money doing it, yes I would love to be able to show, prove what I say is true. No one will look at any of it, even if I offer it for free.A few of the people I made promises to understand. Few, very few of the numbers of hard working Americans actually have verified to me that I am not wrong for the way I feel.
I was very tired of the continued attempt to get the entire situation into the open while working hours posted on a wall by another who is only interested in the monetary value of their time and nothing else.
If I could lie to myself and others I could have done it. If I could lie to my family and anyone else who presented the questions that no one would answer I could have done it.
As mom instilled in me, somewhere along the way, I can only feel that I once again made the mistake of looking at the entire company as what it was in a small piece of it by comparison very small.
The illusion of clean…it looks that way but I knew better within no time at all and at that time I continued to work there, I continued to accept something that was not right with the belief that the company would somehow redeem itself.
At a time in my life when I felt fairly down due to the loss of my business and any additional amount of feeling inadequate because those with money could win by default I was looking for something that could in some way make up for it and it didn’t work.
If I had been truly concerned I would have admitted to myself and others in 1998 that they were not even then what they seemed to be. I accepted the status quo. I accepted that being a female was just that being a female and made the attempt to be one of them until the baggage that came with it became too heavy to carry.
As a woman and as one that has worked most of my life I accepted the status quo. I accepted many times in my work life that as a woman I could only achieve so much when it came to business.
It could have happened anywhere, for any company. It just happened that at that time of my life it was this company and that along with the good, there was bad.
(To be continued)
-- June 28, 2005 12:23 PM ∞
julie pierce wrote:Almost daily, there is mention of Walmart somewhere in the media. Walmart finds itself up against more lawsuits then ever before and activists are at top of the list of problems that continue to plague Walmart.
From attempts to block the opening of new Super Centers to the individual and group lawsuits that are filed against the corporation, it will be the people, customers and the company’s very own associates who will determine the fate of the aging retailer.
Attempts at redeeming itself publicly and attempts at improving its image are a new way of handling the perception people have of the company. In the past public relations and the media were areas that the company avoided unless there was an extremely negative situation had to answered through the media in some way. Now the corporate offices have decided to defend the company to the extent of taking out full page ads in different areas of the country and designing a web site called Walmartfacts to allow the public access to its’ own view of the wonderful world of Walmart.
A corporation, a company, the as big as life retail behemoth whose founder Sam Walton, is looked at and remembered by many in different ways. Sam was a man who is quoted almost continuously by an assortment of different people and associates. Opinions vary and views on the man and his legacy continue.
The book” The Walmart Decade” by Robert Slater looks at not only the Walmart of today but also has many references to Sam Walton and the way it was. The book “Made in America” by Sam Walton and John Huey is a look at a man that seemed to genuinely care about the people that he more than once said “should be treated as partners;” his associates; his company’s employees who are no longer protected by the founder and his way of “respecting the individual.”
A new book titled The Walmart Way by Don Soderqist. It is supposed to be about the Walmart executives. It talks of the Judeo-Christian culture and although it is from the inside of the corporate and executive offices it is not from inside the stores and I am sure will not deal with the same things I am addressing in this book.
The corporate officers, the directors and the executive officers of the company are business people running a corporation, not Sam Walton. Anyone attempting to find a company, or a corporation to work for that would appreciate hard work could at one time find it here. A person could take a look at “The Walmart Culture” and that person would be easy to convince that Walmart has it all and will give it all to you if you work hard and treat the customer as number one, according to Sam Walton. It seems, from the inside to be getting further away from that kind of respect and inclusiveness each day.
Today we have “The Walmart Decade “By Robert Slater “How a New Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy into the World's #1 company” You really need to read between the lines. You would need to understand that Mr. Slater received his information as it is listed at the end of the book.
He did not work in the stores and did not really have access to or the ability to really touch the average associate. I did. The largest retailer in the country and the world is more than just a retailer, employer and a stock on Wall Street. America’s most admired company is a large part of day-to-day living for the typical American family. It is a very large part of the day-to-day life of Walmart Associates.
From the outside of the stores, there is more than one opinion of the company, its’ suppliers and its’ worth. From inside there is also more than one opinion, and depending on many factors that determine your position in the Walmart order of things an opinion can be valid as far as Walmart is concerned or an opinion can be an expression of possible hostile aggressive behavior the way Walmart is today.
Among the many files, policies and trade secrets of the number one retailer in our nation and in the world are the people. These people work in the stores. The people that greet the customers and the people that keep the shelves stocked. In many cases, this book reflects the very lives of the people that this company will forever be connected to, like it or not. This is the warehouse, the truck driver and the system that keeps count on all of it. This is the story that includes a factory in a foreign country that produces the clothing that hangs on the racks in the softlines departments.
This book is a written view from the inside of the stores. It takes an in depth look at the associates, individual stores, salaried management and the executive offices of this company that is listed on tickers of the New York Stock Exchange as wmt.-- July 25, 2005 02:05 PM ∞
