If you’re a sports fan and hear the names ‘Walton’ and ‘Watson’, you might think of a hyperbolic NBA analyst and a golfer who won eight majors beginning in 1975 (or a more recent two-time Masters champion named Bubba). If you’re a fan of business leaders, you might think of a legendary founder and a long-ago CEO.
Sam Walton took his single Rogers, Arkansas store and grew it into the mega-retailer that today employees more than 2.3 million. Thomas J. Watson, Sr., worked his way up from a salesman at National Cash Register, to GM of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording company, which he renamed IBM and became chairman.
Both ranked among the leading business icon’s – and wordsmiths – of their eras… and have many inspirational stories attributed to them.
In his book, Made in America, Walton explained: “The two most important words I ever wrote were on that first Wal-Mart sign: ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed.’ They’re still up there, and they have made all the difference.”
This one might be true… or perhaps anecdotal. When asked by a reporter how he became successful, Walton allegedly said, “I’ve made a lot of good decisions.” When the reporter followed up with how he learned to make good decisions, Walton responded, “By making a lot of bad decisions.”
Walton even wrote about Watson: “He decided they would never have more than four layers from the chairman of the board to the lowest level of the company. That may have been the greatest single reason why IBM was successful.”
Then there’s Watson’s legendary lesson: “Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody to hire his experience?”
Of course, in 1943, he said: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” Hey, nobody’s perfect.
