Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your competitor. Sam Walton More Quotes by Sam Walton More Quotes From Sam Walton Swim upstream. Go the other way. 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. But be prepared for a lot of folks to wave you down and tell you you're headed the wrong way. I guess in all my years, what I heard more often than anything was: a town of less than 50,000 population cannot support a discount store for very long. Sam Walton opposites long years I had to get up everyday with my mind set on improving something. Sam Walton get-up everyday mind Do it. Try it. Fix it. Sam Walton trying ...You can make a positive out of most any negative if you work at it hard enough. Sam Walton gratitude enough negative Job security lasts only as long as the customer is satisfied. Nobody owes anybody else a living. Sam Walton lasts jobs long When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a silly song. Sam Walton costumes silly song If you don't listen to your customers, someone else will. Sam Walton customers ifs Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else. Sam Walton commit believe commitment Control your expenses better than your competition. This is where you can always find the competitive advantage. Sam Walton expenses advantage competition High expectations are the key to everything. Sam Walton leadership motivational inspirational There are only four things in life that matter. The first is happiness and I'll sell you the other three for a dollar. Sam Walton dollars things-in-life three Lose your smile and lose your customers. Sam Walton your-smile loses customers I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that. We're going to be successful, but the basis is a very low-wage, low-benefit model of employment. Sam Walton employment greed success I had confidence that as long as we did our work well and were good to our customers, there would be no limit to us. Sam Walton limits would-be long Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Sam Walton team-building appreciate appreciation If I had to single out one element in my life that has made a difference for me, it would be a passion to compete. Sam Walton passion differences would-be Each Wal-Mart store should reflect the values of its customers and support the vision they hold for their community. Sam Walton educational business commitment I learned early on that one of the secrets to campus leadership was the simplest thing of all: speak to people coming down the sidewalk before they speak to you. I did that in college. I did it when I carried my papers. I would always look ahead and speak to the person coming toward me. If I knew them, I would call them by name, but even if I didn't I would still speak to them. Before long, I probably knew more students than anybody in the university, and they recognized me and considered me their friend. Sam Walton college leadership names I'd still say that visiting the stores and listening to our folks was one of the most valuable uses of my time as an executive. But really, our best ideas usually do come from the folks in the stores. Period. Sam Walton listening opportunity ideas Focus on something the customer wants, and then deliver it. Sam Walton walmart focus want