The genius of copying others just like Sam Walton
Sam Walton (Walmart founder) wrote in his book, Made In America, "Most everything I've done I've copied from someone else…"
It's genius and an indication Walton was a lifelong learner looking for insights rather than just "grinding harder."
In the spirit of Sam Walton always looking for ideas, it was so fun to take a tour of Delta Defense as a Senior Leadership Team to see in action growth AND care for others. Tim Schmidt (CEO at DD) has built an inspiring organization and he shared the same philosophy as Walton always taking the best ideas and implementing them at Delta Defense.
One of my favorite moments:
Me: "Tim, where did you get the idea to have life coaches on staff?... Was it from the Matthew Kelly book…"
Tim: "I got the idea from Billions!" (HBO TV Show)
Tim's generosity and abundance toward us as guests was really beyond extraordinary spending over 2.5 hours with us.
My top 10 takeaways:
Learning - Tim Schmidt - "You will be the same person in five years unless you read and are mindful of the people you associate with…" (be around people who have done what you want to do)
Dream Wall: (help people get where they want to go!) have the team share their dreams in 4 categories of life: "Stuff", "Contribution", "Growth", & "Experiences"
Who drives growth - The leaders reporting up to the Senior Leadership Team drives the growth AND does the work for the initiatives to grow business
Quarterly Super Week - updating the leaders throughout operations after the Senior Leadership team completes strategic planning quarterly game plan. (engaging leaders to work ON business)
Onboarding: Prioritize Senior Leadership team presence as part of the onboarding process. Maybe even include a video defining explicitly the values of the organization.
Interviewing for values: have people write down what our values mean to them
Team Building - Tim Schmidt - "It's more important the team you are on than the team you lead." (i.e. cohesive & accountable teams take care of themselves)
GOSSIP - Tim Schmidt - "Gossip destroys relationships, families, & businesses."
Intranet - Build out the tools & processes for all to have a library for accessing the "Century Operating System"
Recruiting Tool - Building the 5 year vivid vision for prospective teammates to see if the journey excites them.
I had many other takeaways but I'll leave those for another day.
SLT - what was your favorite takeaway?
I look forward to discerning what we want to implement in the business in the days, weeks, & months to come! Let's keep finding great ideas and evolve!
Onward,
Matt