Finding your tenacity

There’s little denying the success of Wal-Mart. Whether you love their stores or not, the company revolutionized retail shopping in many ways. Years ago, shoppers might have to visit multiple stores to get all the items that they wanted. As Wal-Mart stores grew, they become one-stop shopping destinations.

While the organization has been wildly successful, that success did not come overnight. In fact, Sam Walton had quite the storied past. As he initially started in retail, he became so focused on the shoppers, that he often overlooked his duties as an employee. On multiple occasions, Sam's leaders had conversations with him and he faced potential termination. As he continued in retail, he took over his first 5 and dime store. Soon, the group he franchised from threatened to cut him off. This was not because of Sam Walton being a failure. He was anything but a failure. He was wildly successful.

His stores weren’t the biggest when compared to the other stores nearby. His stores didn’t operate with the highest revenue numbers either. Sam found success in refusing to accept what others would. He had a tenacity that many around him were intimidated by. He pushed limits and challenged status quo. He wasn't happy with just being successful, he wanted to be the best. Sam was never afraid to change things, even if they were working well, in an attempt to find something that worked better.

Others may become upset as we challenge the status quo, but it is always the right thing to do. Walton did it in an attempt to serve the customer. He knew the customer was the key to his success. As leaders, we must identify who is the key to the success of our business and make them our main priority. This may be customers, patients, or even our employees that are doing the work for us day in and out. They should be the main focus of everything that we do.

We must also find our own tenacity, as Walton did, that drives us to challenge things as we have "always done them." Tenacity and success can be intimidating for those who are trying to improve and those who are bystanders. That doesn't mean we don't keep trying. We should never be afraid of change or challenging ourselves, our leaders, our peers, or our teams. That is the only way we can achieve improvement and success.

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