Doug McMillon Was Raised to Run Walmart

During my time at Walmart, we often said that the only thing that is consistent is change. Change is coming in February, as Doug McMillon will take over as CEO. In my opinion, he is the perfect candidate for the job and will bring a positive future of innovation and growth to Walmart.
Doug, quite literally, grew up at Walmart. His dad was an associate with the company. He worked his way up from loading trucks in a distribution center, in stores, as a buyer and even as general merchandise manager. He is someone who fully understands not only where the company is headed, but where it has been. Most importantly, he knows Walmart’s customers.
Doug has the leadership abilities needed for the job and has the experience to know what it takes to drive sales and be a leader on price. In addition, he has strong relationships with former Walmart executives to whom he can turn for counsel.
His experience as a buyer may pose a challenge for suppliers. I think he will be tough, expecting them to focus on EDLP offers and work with Walmart to improve trips and baskets. When things typically got difficult in years past, Walmart won by "focusing on the basics." I believe that Doug knows the "basics" as well as anyone.
The question becomes what will happen to Bill Simon, the head of Walmart’s U.S. business. He has done a great job and it would a loss for Walmart to do without his skills and leadership. Will he be moved to International or will he decide to move on from Walmart?
If Bill stays in his current job, will Walmart turn to Rosalind Brewer, current president and CEO of Sam’s Club, to lead its international business? If Bill goes to International, will Walmart U.S. name it current chief operating officer Gisel Ruiz to run that business?
This next year will be interesting to watch. Doug will have plenty of challenges to address, including better managing inventory to improve on-shelf availability, adding labor in-store to raise performance standards while reducing dependence on service providers in keeping shelves stocked. I believe he’s up to the challenge, but only time will tell.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing Doug McMillon as he prepares to take over as CEO of Walmart? Do you see Mr. McMillon as a caretaker choice to follow Mike Duke or do you think he will reinvent Walmart’s business in significant ways?
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13 Comments on "Doug McMillon Was Raised to Run Walmart"
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Certainly there are challenges for Walmart. Over the past few years, Walmart has tried many new initiatives, veered in a number of new directions, and returned to basics. As someone who understands Walmart’s roots, Doug McMillon is uniquely positioned to center the organization. How he decides to fill leadership positions and the direction he chooses to champion will set a course for Walmart that will be well grounded in its core values. For Walmart, this could mean adhering to core values and centering its strategy.
On the surface, it appears as though Mr. McMillon will just continue the same strategy as Walmart has generally followed for decades: Open new stores, whether the community wants them or not, continue lowering prices to bring business into the stores, and blame everything but a saturated market for lack of positive comps.
I really hope I’m wrong. But I think Walmart is way too inbred. It’s also too big to fail at this point.
Bypassing Mr. Simon signals that Walmart is not as happy with its U.S. business as the article suggests. Mr. McMillon’s challenges include continuing to grow the company’s e-commerce and international businesses, but he also needs to figure out how to restart the domestic volume beyond its food and commodity categories, heavily dependent on its most economically stressed customers. It sounds like the new CEO is well prepared for the job, especially having the “home-grown” credibility so important to the Walmart culture.
Biggest challenge: Amazon, Amazon and Amazon. If he’s simply a caretaker, Walmart’s business will suffer.
The biggest challenge facing Doug McMillon as WM’s new CEO will be preventing it from become a future Kmart, once the top dog in discount retailing.
Doug has a plate full of specific challenges: softer sales, keeping shelves stocked, wage and pricing pressures, etc.
Growth in the USA is more limited than international expansion. So McMillon will put emphasis on the sector. He already knows that potential customers in other countries are generally more likely to be receptive to WM’s reputation for having low prices but the world’s retail marketplaces are in transition.
With his savvy, McMillon will try to hard to try to make Walmart the world’s best retailer, then sustain that position, and that will demand innovative skills that may not have been birthed in a long WM career.
If Doug is to reinvent Walmart’s business in significant ways, it will come from whatever vision is chomping at the bit in his brain, heart and soul.
The appearance is Doug McMillon is the logical and best choice for Walmart at this time. He knows the business, which is a plus and minus. Plus: he knows what the company is about and can take it to the next level. Minus: he is too inbred and will not be able to think outside Walmart. My hope is he remembers where he came from and keeps Walmart moving forward aggressively to combat both Target and Amazon.
The choice of Doug McMillon is in line with the objective to follow Mike Duke. Duke’s objective and clearly that of the choice of McMillon is to continue to focus on the businesses other than the historical Walmart U.S. core. Walmart will look not to reinvent itself, but to broaden its business by geography and channel.
The future is in the international business where 95% of the world’s commercial growth will occur. The future is in online, which will continue to grow at double-digit rates. The future is in unique formats that may not yet exist. McMillon seems to be the man to do this.
No business, domestically or internationally, can have a CEO as a mere caretaker. Don’t look to see Doug McMillon even thinking of that role.
The culture of Walmart is to see themselves as either growing and innovating, or taking a long slow path to decline. Walmart doesn’t have that in their DNA.
Look for McMillon to place a strong focus on the consumer first in the U.S. markets. He’ll have merchandisers and marketers listening to and watching consumer sentiment, behavior and future purchasing plans. Then, he’ll lead an attack from that position.
Secondly, McMillon will build on international markets to strategically build share and profitability.
Third, Walmart will fight the battle successfully on multiple channels and formats – supercenters, local stores, online, etc.
Walmart will not sit idly by and let competitors out-maneuver them. Duke will leave the company in good shape, and will insist that Walmart continue to grow and evolve. Doug McMillon is the right individual to take the reigns.