Sam Walton : Made In America

Inspiring. Educational. This is a story of a gutsy entrepreneur told by himself. This is also an account of what a man can achieve if he is hell bent on achieving his goals and willing to do what it takes to reach there- come hail or sunshine. Sam Walton has disclosed the secrets of his stupendous success in building one of the largest and most successful organization in the world. He could be described as intelligent fanatic who focused all his energy on his Life's work- discount retailing. He was maverick. He was humble, hard working, friendly and down to earth. But above all he was a learning machine. He says he did not come up with even a single new idea. All his ideas were taken from others. He just executed those ideas better than any one else. Sam Walton also demonstrates that genius is not in deconstructing complex things but is in simplifying matter to its essential truth. Sam Walton simplified whole retail into a simple idea - Reasonable quality goods at every day low price and customer satisfaction guaranteed. He devoted all his energy to achieve this goal of lowest price. He built sophisticated systems, hired people, designed incentives to accomplish this single goal. He developed a recipe to execute this retailing idea and then he just used same recipe again and again starting with his first discount store in Newport in 1945. You can learn so many things from Sam Walton's life. This is required reading for entrepreneurs, students and all those who want to become successful in life.

It shows true hard work and courage by Sam. Especially when he lost the Ben Franklin store and they ran them out of town. Another big lesson is that business is tough and it took him so many years to reach 15-20 stores. After that they expanded rapidly, instead of expanding first and then figuring out the model. Great control on expenses.

Very happy to read the book, where we come to know how Walmart started from small size and grew to giant size. Highly recommended for everyone to learn about how to build a company. Happy that Sam Walton took time to share his knowledge with wider community. Highly appreciated.

Sam Walton was definitely the O.G. of retail. As mentioned in Brad Stone's book about Amazon, there's no doubt that Jeff Bezos took a number of pages out of San Walton's playbook. I enjoyed reading about his journey, his hard work and customer-first mentality, and how Wal-Mart completely changed the face of retail. There wasn't a lot of personal detail here, it was more a biography of Wal-Mart, kind of like how Walter Isaacson's book was more a biography of Apple than of Steve Jobs. The tone of the book is informal, kind of folksy, like he's talking to you, with many bits with people who had worked with Sam Walton over the years. It fit well, I think, with what he was trying to convey, ie that Wal-Mart is an everyman's type of company. Good read, I recommend it.

The book gives us an insightful journey into building of the Wal-Mart. It tells us how the biggest private employer in the world started with one store and it still grows and takes care of one store at a time. It also tells how the trust and faith of people in Sam was the basic foundation of Wal-Mart. The way his family and friends had helped him achieve his single goal. The appreciation the man shows for his employees is also noteable. It's a must read book for anyone who wants to start a company. The lessons in it are suitable across personal and professional life.

i find it very good for its price point.

This is the most amazing autobiography I have ever read. This journey of Sam Walton who parlayed a signal five and dime store in hardscrabble cotton town into Walmart the largest retailer in the world. This book is full of funny and often humorous anecdotes of Walmart associates. Anyone who is aspires to be successful entrepreneur should read this book especially management students. This book is written in most Candide and straight from the shoulder manner.A man unruined by wealth and undisputed merchant king Sam Walton whom anyone can connect with because of his humble roots.. I enjoyed every bit of it, be it the hula dance on wall street by Mr.Walton or moonpile experiment in one of their earliest store. every detail is hearty and enjoyable....i definitely recommend this

This book seems like a promotion sometimes but if you can just figure that out than its an ok book to read.