In this episode of the Arkansas Inc. Podcast, Walmart Executive Vice President for Corporate Affairs and Corporate Real Estate Dan Bartlett discusses Walmart's mission, its New Home Office in Bentonville, and doing business in Arkansas.

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TRANSCRIPT

Clark Cogbill:

Welcome to the Arkansas Inc. Podcast. This is Clark Cogbill. I serve as Director of Marketing and Communications for the Arkansas Department of Commerce. Well, Arkansas is home to four Fortune 500 companies, and one of those companies, Walmart, is number one on that list.

Today, I'm very excited about my interview with Dan Bartlett. Dan is Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas. He is responsible for shaping and sharing the story of how Walmart brings to life its purpose, to help people save money and to live a better life. Dan and his team build trust and inspire change by shaping public policy, leading sustainability and philanthropic initiatives, and advising business partners throughout the company. He also leads the corporate real estate team that is overseeing the development of Walmart's new home office.

Dan brings decades of experience in public relations and government affairs to Walmart. Before he joined the company, Dan held leadership positions at several leading public relations firms, including Hill-Knowlton Strategies and Public Strategies, Inc., where he served as a strategic advisor to business leaders representing key sectors of the American and global economy. Dan's commitment to improving people's lives began with an early career in public service, which eventually led him to the White House, where he served in several high-ranking positions, completing his service as counselor to President George W. Bush. As one of President Bush's most trusted advisors, he was responsible for all aspects of communications for the president and his administration. Dan also played key roles in George W. Bush's presidential and Texas gubernatorial campaigns.

Dan is a Texan and lifelong Longhorn supporter. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and has served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs and a fellow of the school's Center for Politics and Governance. An outdoor enthusiast, he also serves on the board of directors of Trek Bicycles.

Dan Bartlett, welcome to the Arkansas Inc. Podcast.

Dan, for those who don't know the origin story of Walmart, please tell us how Sam Walton started it all.

Dan Bartlett:

Yeah, well, more than 60 years ago, Sam Walton had an idea that ultimately found itself into the five and dime on the Bentonville Square. And one of the things that we learned from Sam Walton in the history of Walmart is that he was a real student of retail, and he was always looking to see what the competition was up to. And it really was a really strong retailer back then called Gibson's that had a retail location down in Fayetteville that caught his eye. And he really got a glimpse of what it looked like to have mass merchandising for the customer. And so from that became the first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas, right down the street in which he started iterating on that format of Walmart that has obviously grown into something completely different today. But those were the origins of it, was how could he bring everyday low value prices to the type of assortment that the big cities, the Chicago's of the world, because Walmart was founded in the same year that Sears, Target, and other big retailers were founded. And it's been, become the most successful one, but his eye was on the fact that he could deliver a similar proposition to the rural parts of the country that a lot of the big cities back in the day were getting.

Clark Cogbill:

How does Sam Walton's legacy continue to drive the Walmart culture?

Dan Bartlett:

Yeah, sometimes you think about the history and you don't want to be as a company that's looking backwards. So what you try to find out is what were the underlying principles and values that Sam Walton stood for that are still relevant today. And what we found is more times than not, the principles of success that founded this company are still very relevant today, whether it's the way we treat our employees, the way we think about customer expectations, how to respect the individual, what we do when it comes to understanding the competition and the humility that comes in retail, which is you have to earn the trust of the customer every single day. These are all, if you read Sam Walton's book, you'll find all those principles that really were the foundation of starting the company that are still relevant today. So we use that as teaching moments and storytelling is a big part of our culture at Walmart. And so Sam Walton's stories are legendary in this community and there's anybody who's grown up in this area who's either through directly with Sam or Helen Walton or one of the family members can tell one of those stories that has just been this continuity over the decades. It's really fascinating.

Clark Cogbill:

Dan, please share the story of Walmart's purpose and how the company brings that purpose to life.

Dan Bartlett:

Yeah. So at its core, its we save people money so they can live better. And one of the real key moments in the company's history was really at the end of Sam Walton's life. He was battling cancer. This is in 1992. He received the prestigious Medal of Honor Award from a Presidential Medal of Freedom Award from then President George H.W. Bush. Typically, recipients travel to Washington, D.C. to the White House to receive that award from the president. He was too ill to travel. And with an extraordinary gesture of both compassion and respect, George H.W. Bush traveled to the home office here in Bentonville, Arkansas, and delivered that award to Sam Walton.

In his remarks, he talked about the purpose of the company and talked about how we can save people money and help them live better, not just here, but all around the world. And that's really been the mission of this company ever since. The way we deliver that mission is we try to run the most efficient business as we can in order to plow those savings into lowering the price of everyday needs. So the cost of living, the very cost of living for the public, is less than it would have been if Walmart weren't here. And so that's our North Star. It's shaped our strategies since the very beginning and will do so going forward.

Clark Cogbill:

We've been lucky at the Department of Commerce to be a part of Walmart Open Call the past few years, the program that allows inventors and entrepreneurs to bring their products to Walmart and pitch those products for a chance to have those products sold in Walmart stores. How does Walmart support and foster the spirit of entrepreneurship through programs like Open Call? Can you talk a little bit about that?

Dan Bartlett:

Well, it's a really important tenet to our overall program because we are only as successful in serving our customers by having the products and the assortment they want and need. And what you find is, and this is all across the world, but here in the United States, those products that either are made or grown in the communities in which we serve is not only a better business model for us, but it's typically more relevant to the customers in that community as well.

And so when we can make that magic happen and be the place where we marry up suppliers and entrepreneurs and small business owners with the customers and become that connective tissue, that's music to our ears. And so a lot of people maybe not appreciate that two-thirds of what we sell in the United States to customers either made or grown in the United States. And so we've made a lot of progress in that regard, and we want to continue to do that. Not only to, like I said, to change the lives of entrepreneurs, because we know when they get a purchase order from Walmart, that can be life-changing because of our scale, but it's also important to our customers. And ultimately, at the end of the day, that's what we're here to do is to serve our customers.

Clark Cogbill:

Walmart is number one in the Fortune Global 500 with operations and employees worldwide. Dan, tell us why Walmart continues to make its home office in Bentonville, Arkansas. Over the years, we've had a chance to ask ourselves that question, and is it still very relevant for us to operate a global enterprise like Walmart? Like you said, over 2 million employees. We are currently the Fortune 100 company. Can we serve all of those interests from Northwest Arkansas? And why Northwest Arkansas?

Dan Bartlett:

I think it comes back to where we started, which is the core principles and foundational values of this company founded by Sam Walton are still very relevant today. The things that we believe that bring us together as a community, as a leadership team in Northwest Arkansas is distinctive. And it's one that is an integral part of our culture, and we actually believe one of our biggest competitive advantages is our culture.

And so if we extracted ourselves and maybe moved to another state or a larger urban city, we feel like we would be pulling at that very successful recipe of our culture in a way that could be detrimental to serving our communities, our customers, and our employees. So we've looked at that over the years and believe anytime we've made that assessment that this is our home for a reason.

We obviously have a longtime partner in the Walton family who is a majority owner in the company, and they are very vested in this part of the world and obviously this part of the state, as we are in the entire state. And so those things kind of are synonymous for us and for Walmart and for the Walton family. And so with the decision we made with the building of a new corporate home office here, we kind of planted our flag here forever.

Clark Cogbill:

Well, we're very proud that Walmart chooses to call Arkansas home. Dan, I know you've been very involved in the planning of the new Walmart home office campus, and it's a very exciting project. Can you talk to us about that planning and how the new Home Office is being shaped around Walmart's core principles?

Dan Bartlett:

Well, if you've been around Bentonville and you see some of the buildings in which our corporate headquarters is in, we've got a lot out of them. We've sweated those assets, as they say, quite well, and it really got to a tipping point for us in two different ways. One was the end-of-life cycle of the buildings that we're currently in. And a lot of people wouldn't appreciate, because we are in a smaller market, we were spread over more than 20 buildings across northwest Arkansas. And the inefficiencies that come with just trying to simply schedule a meeting in which different departments have to get into a car and drive across town and find parking and do that, the collaboration that you expect between teams is almost siloed in some respects because of the very physical limitations that our current footprint had.

Layer on top of that, that we know as a Fortune 1 company that is not only a retail company, but increasingly a technology company, there is a real competition for talent. And a lot of the aspects of a modern-day office infrastructure and campus is something that we knew would resonate with recruiting new people to come work to Walmart. So a combination of those things lent us to believe that it was time for us to build a new corporate home office.

What we feel good about is that we feel like we've done it in a way that stays true to our roots and true to the values of the company, because knowing that Sam Walton used to say back in the day, there's no cash registers at home office, which is his way of saying you're not generating revenue there, so don't spend a lot there. And so we've brought that everyday low-cost mentality, but we've also done it in a modern, smart way, which also it's an investment we've made for generations. This is going to be a facility that can serve our associates and through that our customers for decades to come. So we're really excited about it.

And it's so much more than just a collection of really interesting buildings on an interesting campus, isn't it? That's exactly right. And one of the design features that was top of my mind and others as we were in the early days of this was, we really wanted a campus to be just that a part of the community. Oftentimes, corporations build almost a moat around their offices, and it feels almost exclusionary from the community in which they serve.

And one of the things that was one of the kind of guiding principles that at least was in my mind was, it's like when you're in a community with a college like Fayetteville, Arkansas. And I think some of the better college atmospheres is one of those where depending on which side of the street on, you don't know if you're on campus or off campus, it all just kind of integrates together and you feel like it's just a part of the community.

That's the feeling. And that's the design features that our new corporate home office, the hike and bike trail, the Razorback trail is going to go right through the heart in which the entire public is going to have mixed use retail in the heart of the campus, in which families and community members outside of associates can take advantage of. So we're really excited about this being not just a place where Walmart can meet its expectations as a company, but it's one that will meet the expectations of the entire community.

Clark Cogbill:

Dan, you work all over the world. What would you tell other executives or what have you told other executives around the country and around the world? For those who don't know about Arkansas, what would you tell them about Arkansas that might surprise them?

Dan Bartlett:

Yeah. And I have to say myself, before I joined the company, I had not spent time in this part of Arkansas. I'd spent time in Little Rock. It's unique. It is a fabulous combination of natural beauty, coupled with incredible talent because of Walmart's history here and J.B. Hunt and other companies like that, coupled with our supplier base, the Procter's and Gamble's of the world, the Coca-Cola's who've had roots here now for many, many years.

You get a diverse, really broad set of expertise, backgrounds and perspectives. And so when you can couple together talent at a high level in a living dynamic and the type of natural beauty you have in northwest Arkansas, coupled with the other companies that are here, you've got a unique ecosystem that is only growing and getting better. And there's investments in it, whether it be in the arts or in ecotourism through the hike and bike trails to a growing competitive university like the University of Arkansas just down the street that becomes a talent pipeline of the future, a supply chain ecosystem that is being invested in which next generation technology. So you're really getting a unique aspect, almost a hybrid of the comfortable living of smaller accessible living with world-class talent, world-class technology, and capital investments that are unique for a market of this size. So you put all those things together and it's something special.

Clark Cogbill:

You obviously have many Walmart partners that have offices here. You have employees who come to Arkansas for the first time. How do you hear, Dan, from partners, from employees about their first experience living and working in Arkansas?

Dan Bartlett:

Well, you often hear is it takes some convincing them to get here, but then it's really hard to get them to leave. And a lot of those suppliers you talk about, usually they're on a rotation. And I can't tell you how many times I've made friends over the years who, well, I was only here on a two-year stint with a certain supplier. And when that two years up, I went to go work for another supplier so I could stay in Bentonville or in Northwest Arkansas. And so I think the stickiness of this community, and it is a community that has a lot of authenticity to it. And for a lot of things we talked about, the natural beauty of the region, the economic opportunities that big employers like us, but others as well, we've got a real dynamic with entrepreneurs here and venture capital.

And so layered on top of that with a university system just down the street from us, these are the types of things in which, particularly if you're somebody early in your career and maybe at the same time you are starting a family and it's a place where you could see yourself raising kids. And so that work-life balance of having exceptional opportunities in the workplace, but also having the type of personal lifestyle that is advantageous for raising kids and growing a family, those are not easy to come by. And so we're excited about that. We're excited about a lot of our other, like I said, supplier community. And that's why I think people tend to stay a lot longer than maybe they originally intended.

Clark Cogbill:

All right, Dan, one final question for you. How would you answer the question, why Arkansas?

Dan Bartlett:

Well, I'd say why Arkansas is why not? It has everything you need. It has natural beauty. It has world-class talent. Increasingly, it has world-class cuisine and foods and entertainment. And so the upside for Northwest Arkansas is limitless, as I've seen. I've been here for over a decade, and the growth that has happened in Northwest Arkansas is on the national map, and in some cases, the global map of one of the most dynamic communities in the country. And so what I can see going into the future, not only with the investments that we're making as a company, but other investments in the community, is that the future is very bright. So that's why Arkansas.

Clark Cogbill:

Well, my guest today on the Arkansas Inc. podcast has been Dan Bartlett, Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas. Dan, thanks so much for spending time with me today. While you've been listening to the Arkansas Inc. podcast, this is Clark Cogbill, Director of Marketing and Communications for the Arkansas Department of Commerce. You can subscribe to the Arkansas Inc. podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast apps. For more information about the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, and to sign up for the AEDC monthly newsletter, visit ArkansasEDC.com, and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and YouTube. As always, thanks for listening.