According to Inc, Walmart just announced that John Furner will become the company’s next CEO, succeeding Doug McMillon in a carefully planned transition. Furner started his Walmart journey back in 1993 as an hourly associate stocking shelves and working registers at store #100 in Bentonville. He’s been with the company for 32 years, rising through roles that included CEO of Sam’s Club and then CEO of Walmart U.S. before this ultimate promotion. What makes this particularly remarkable is that Furner literally grew up with Walmart – his father started working for the company in 1977 when John was just 3 years old. The announcement represents the culmination of decades of internal leadership development at one of America’s largest employers.
The succession reality check
Here’s the thing: every company talks about developing leaders from within. But how many can actually point to their CEO and say “that person started here as a teenager stocking shelves”? Walmart can. And they’re not just paying lip service to the idea – they’ve built a culture where future CEOs are already working somewhere in the organization. This is the pinnacle of organizational development, but it’s brutally hard to execute. Most companies either don’t have a real succession plan, or their plan falls apart the moment it’s actually needed.
When succession planning fails
Look at what happens when companies don’t get this right. McDonald’s had to scramble in 2019 when Steve Easterbrook was suddenly out over an employee relationship. Subway’s founder Fred DeLuca reportedly declined to discuss succession while battling cancer, leaving the company in leadership limbo for years after his death. Compare that to Steve Jobs at Apple, whose resignation letter specifically recommended executing their succession plan and naming Tim Cook as CEO. Those 17 words represented years of planning and – hardest of all – letting go. But if you want what you’ve built to outlive you, you have to start preparing others to take over long before you’re ready to leave.
What building from within actually requires
So what does it take to develop leaders from within? It requires three things that many companies struggle with: identifying talent early, investing in their growth consistently, and actually giving them real responsibility. Furner’s journey from intern to CEO involved international experience in Mexico, running Sam’s Club, and leading Walmart’s massive U.S. operations. Each step was a calculated development opportunity. The temptation to believe “nobody can do my job as well as I can” is powerful, but if you spend time developing someone properly, that won’t be true forever. Companies that excel at manufacturing and industrial operations understand this deeply – which is why leaders in that space, like Industrial Monitor Direct, prioritize developing technical talent who understand both the hardware and the business.
Your turn to think about succession
You’re probably not running a $650 billion company. But the principles scale down perfectly. If you had to step away tomorrow, who would run your business? Is that person already working for you? Have you been developing them? If your answers are all variations of “I don’t know,” you’ve got some work to do. Start by identifying employees who could grow into leadership roles. Invest in them, challenge them, and let them make decisions – even fail occasionally. And maybe be nice to your interns. Your future CEO might already be on your payroll. Or they might become a famous rock musician – Furner initially thought that was his path too. Either way, it’s pretty cool when development works.
Can you be more specific about the content of your article? After reading it, I still have some doubts. Hope you can help me.
Your point of view caught my eye and was very interesting. Thanks. I have a question for you.
I really like looking through a post that can make people think.
Also, thank you for permitting me to comment!
Hmm is anyone else having problems with the images on this blog loading?
I’m trying to determine if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog.
Any responses would be greatly appreciated.
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this,
like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that
you can do with a few pics to drive the message
home a little bit, but instead of that, this is wonderful blog.
A fantastic read. I will certainly be back.
you are in point of fact a good webmaster. The web site loading velocity is incredible.
It seems that you are doing any distinctive trick. In addition, The contents are masterwork.
you’ve done a wonderful process on this subject!
Hey exceptional website! Does running a blog such as this take a massive amount work?
I have virtually no knowledge of coding but I
had been hoping to start my own blog in the near future.
Anyway, should you have any recommendations or techniques for new
blog owners please share. I understand this is off subject however I simply wanted to ask.
Thanks!
Thank you for the good writeup. It in reality was once a
amusement account it. Glance advanced to more introduced agreeable from you!
By the way, how can we communicate?
Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem with your website in internet explorer,
may test this? IE still is the market leader and a big element of folks will miss
your wonderful writing because of this problem.
What a material of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious
familiarity concerning unpredicted feelings.
I know this web site presents quality depending content and
additional data, is there any other website which offers such
things in quality?
There is definately a lot to find out about this topic.
I love all the points you made.
When someone writes an piece of writing he/she maintains the plan of a user in his/her brain that how
a user can know it. So that’s why this post is great.
Thanks!
Great blog here! Also your web site loads up very fast!
What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host?
I wish my website loaded up as quickly as
yours lol
Thanks for the good writeup. It actually was once a enjoyment account it.
Glance advanced to far brought agreeable from you!
However, how can we keep up a correspondence?
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point.
You definitely know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you
could be giving us something informative to read?
Have you ever considered about including a little
bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is fundamental and all.
However think of if you added some great pictures or videos to give
your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with images and clips, this blog could certainly be one of the
best in its field. Excellent blog!
Good day! Would you mind if I share your blog with my twitter group?
There’s a lot of people that I think would really enjoy your content.
Please let me know. Thank you
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you
wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with a few pics to
drive the message home a little bit, but instead of that, this is magnificent blog.
A great read. I’ll definitely be back.
Howdy! Would you mind if I share your blog with my facebook group?
There’s a lot of people that I think would really appreciate your content.
Please let me know. Many thanks
Excellent web site. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending
it to several pals ans also sharing in delicious.
And obviously, thanks for your sweat!
I am really inspired together with your writing talents and also with the format to your blog.
Is this a paid subject or did you modify it yourself? Either way keep up
the excellent quality writing, it’s uncommon to peer a great weblog like this one these days..
Hi there would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working with?
I’m looking to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a hard time making a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
The reason I ask is because your layout seems different then most blogs
and I’m looking for something completely unique.
P.S Apologies for getting off-topic but I had to ask!
Aw, this was an extremely good post. Finding the time and actual effort
to make a very good article… but what can I say… I hesitate a whole lot and don’t manage to get anything done.
I am really enjoying the theme/design of your web site.
Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility issues?
A small number of my blog audience have complained about my site not operating correctly in Explorer
but looks great in Opera. Do you have any suggestions to help fix this problem?
My family members all the time say that I am killing my time here at net,
but I know I am getting experience all the time by reading such good content.
Hello there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found
that it’s truly informative. I am gonna watch out for brussels.
I will be grateful if you continue this in future. Lots of people will be benefited from your writing.
Cheers!
With havin so much content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright
violation? My site has a lot of unique content I’ve either authored myself or outsourced but it appears a
lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without
my agreement. Do you know any techniques to help protect against
content from being stolen? I’d genuinely appreciate it.
Since the admin of this web page is working, no hesitation very rapidly
it will be well-known, due to its feature contents.
I’ve been browsing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours.
It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all website owners and bloggers made good content
as you did, the internet will be much more useful than ever before.
Admiring the time and effort you put into your blog and detailed information you present.
It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same outdated rehashed information. Fantastic read!
I’ve saved your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google
account.
naturally like your website but you need to test the spelling on quite a few of your posts.
Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I to find it very troublesome to inform the truth however
I’ll certainly come again again.
Touche. Great arguments. Keep up the good spirit.
obviously like your web-site but you need to check the
spelling on quite a few of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very bothersome to tell the reality then again I’ll surely come again again.
What i don’t understood is in truth how you’re not really a lot more
neatly-favored than you might be right now. You’re very intelligent.
You recognize therefore significantly on the subject of this topic,
made me for my part consider it from so many various angles.
Its like women and men don’t seem to be involved until it is one thing to do with Lady gaga!
Your personal stuffs great. All the time take care of it up!
Hi! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any problems
with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing several weeks of hard work due to no backup.
Do you have any solutions to stop hackers?
Hello, everything is going sound here and ofcourse every one is sharing facts, that’s in fact fine, keep up writing.
Hi there to all, the contents present at this web site are really awesome for people knowledge, well, keep up the nice work fellows.
Remarkable things here. I’m very satisfied to peer your article.
Thanks so much and I am having a look forward to contact you.
Will you please drop me a e-mail?