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The Leadership of Sam Walton

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Sam Walton

Research their life, management style, employment background, and what skills, traits, and characteristics made them a good leader.

1,496 words and five references

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This is a detailed explanation of almost 1,500 words that describes the traits of a good leader. The paper goes on to describe the traits, leadership style, and personality of Sam Walton.

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Sam Walton: A Business Leader
Many of us can truly learn from effective leaders that were successful. Sam Walton was leader that has left his mark on the business world in creating Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. From opening his first Wal-Mart store in 1962 until his death his stores are known as the leader of the industry. Sam Walton was born in 1918 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma.
Walton's lived on a farm up until 1923 when Sam's father decided to return to his previous occupation as a loan appraiser due to the farm life not providing enough income. Sam's family moved to Missouri where they moved around for several years. During his 8th grade schooling in Shelbina Sam became the youngest Eagle Scout in the state's history, which lead to him receiving the distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America later in life (Investing Value, 2010).
Sam Walton was no stranger to success from the time he was a child. "As a child, Sam moved with his family to Missouri where he was an Eagle Scout at age 13, a student leader, basketball star and quarterback on a state championship football team at Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri" (Sam Walton Biography, 2010, para. 2). Sam Walton graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1940 with a B.A. in economics (Sam Walton Biography, 2010). Sam Walton opened his first store when he was 44 years old but no one believed he would change the way millions upon millions of people would live. Sam Walton was also successful in the military serving as a Captain in the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps (Sam Walton Biography, 2010). Sam Walton met and married his wife Helen in 1942 and married her in 1943. Sam Walton before serving in the military briefly worked in a retail position at J.C. Penney. This little bit of experience help to drive his ideas about offering more products at a lower cost.
After the military 1945 saw him leave the military with the ambition of opening a department store, and so with a $20,000 loan from his father in law and his own savings of $5000 Walton bought a Ben Franklin variety store from the Butler Brothers franchise in Newport, Arkansas (Investing Value, 2010).
Sam Walton then opened up his own store called Walton's Five and Dime. The successes of great leaders and visionaries like Sam Walton can be very different. Several leadership theories are present to try and identify what a successful leader looks. ...

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