The Best Sam Walton Quotes About Success and Work

Sam Walton is one of the greatest retailers and entrepreneurs in the history of America. Starting with a few stores in small towns in Arkansas, he turned his tenacity for serving customers, and delivering deep discounts, into one of the largest businesses in the world.

Today we look at some of our favorite Sam Walton quotes that you can apply in your leadership roles today and in the future.

To succeed in this world, you have to change all the time.

There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.

You can't just keep doing what works one time, everything around you is changing. To succeed, stay out in front of change.

Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish.

Communicate everything you can to your associates. The more they know, the more they care. Once they care, there is no stopping them.

The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary.

Celebrate your success and find humor in your failures. Don't take yourself so seriously. Loosen up and everyone around you will loosen up. Have fun and always show enthusiasm. When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a silly song.

The way management treats their associates is exactly how the associates will then treat the customers.

The secret of successful retailing is to give your customers what they want. And really, if you think about it from the point of view of the customer, you want everything: a wide assortment of good quality merchandise; the lowest possible prices; guaranteed satisfaction with what you buy; friendly, knowledgeable service; convenient hours; free parking; a pleasant shopping experience.

There's absolutely no limit to what plain, ordinary, working people can accomplish if they're given the opportunity and encouragement to do their best.