In 2014 he became the company’s youngest CEO since its founder Sam Walton, earning him an annual salary of more than $25 million.
Today, Doug McMillon , 57, is one of the most important CEOs in the world , as he is in charge of Walmart , a company with 2.11 million employees, an annual turnover of more than US$600,000. million and a market value of US$ 485,000 million. And the most interesting thing about the story is that he started in the company as a simple warehouse worker.
During one summer in 1984, at the age of 17, McMillon began working in one of Walmart’s warehouses , unloading trailers for $6.50 an hour. Little by little, the young employee was promoted, and in 1991 he went from being a store assistant in Tulsa to entering the corporate headquarters to be a buyer.
That year he began his executive career, and in 2014 he became the company’s youngest CEO since its founder Sam Walton , which allowed him to obtain an annual salary of more than US$25 million .
Today, many of Walmart’s hundreds of thousands of employees email him asking how to emulate their success at the company , and his answer is simple: volunteer to cover more for bosses .
“One of the reasons I had the opportunities I had was that I would raise my hand when my boss was out of town and visiting stores or something ,” McMillon said in an interview with Stratechery. Later, he clarified that he even offered to replace his boss in meetings , even without being prepared to answer all the questions that arose.
At this point, instead of ignoring the inquiries that were above his pay grade and waiting for his boss to return, he was proactively responding : “I don’t know, but I’ll find out quickly and get back to you . ” “Then I put myself in an environment where it became a low-risk promotion because people had already seen me do the work ,” he said.
On the other hand, the top leader of the largest retail consumer chain in the world provided two other pieces of advice for young people to climb corporately: do the job well and play as a team .
“Don’t take your current job for granted. The next job doesn’t come if you don’t do the job you have well. Be a great teammate: learn to lead, learn to influence by the way you interact with your teammates. Treat them well, help them, help them do a better job ,” he concluded.
