Name: Doug McMillon’s Rise at Walmart, From Unloading Trailers to CEO
Uploaded: 2026-02-21T11:00:00Z
Duration: 1 min 37 s
Description: Outgoing CEO Doug McMillon reflects on a 35-year journey from unloading trailers in a Walmart warehouse to eventually leading the world’s largest retailer.

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Outgoing CEO Doug McMillon reflects on a 35-year journey from unloading trailers in a Walmart warehouse to eventually leading the world’s largest retailer. Photo: WSJ Leadership Institute

https://m.wsj.net/video/20260205/9d0ca2b7-c3dd-4aaf-b61b-436ac5ce5646/1/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

Outgoing CEO Doug McMillon reflects on a 35-year journey from unloading trailers in a Walmart warehouse to eventually leading the world’s largest retailer.

Doug McMillon’s Rise at Walmart, From Unloading Trailers to CEO

Let's talk about you a little bit, how you got here. Your dad was a dentist, moved to Bentonville when you were 16 years old.

Yeah.

Did you have any, at age 16, any idea of what your life was gonna look like?

I definitely didn't wanna be a dentist. You knew that?

I'd seen how hard that was.

My kids would feel the same way about being a journalist.

The way it worked out is when we got here, Dad said, "By the way, you're gonna pay your way through college. That'll be good for you, get a job.

Alan: Wow.

Yeah, I was mowing yards and stuff like that. But in Bentonville at the time, there was McDonald's, a Kraft cheese factory that's now a museum and a Walmart distribution center. A couple of them maybe. And Walmart paid 6.50 and McDonald's paid 3.35 and Kraft never called me back. So I got a summer job, and then another summer job, both at Walmart warehouses, and then I was just so totally surprised at how happy people were.

Alan: Huh?

It was hot, summertime. You couldn't touch the top of those trailers. They'd literally burn you in a painful way. So hot. But the people working in the warehouse were talking about Sam Walton, profit sharing, talking about the company in a way that I was shocked by. So I kind of got the bug then to learn more about Walmart. And then started hearing more about Sam and Helen and what they were doing. Wanted to learn something, so I applied for a local bank, which the Waltons also owned, and got an air conditioned job to learn a little bit. And when I was leaving to go get my MBA, the president of the bank said, "Do you think you might want to have a management training experience with the banks? And I said, "I think I want something faster." And he said, "You should go talk to Walmart." And he set up an interview, which got me into the merchant training program. I then worked in a store and then came in the home office as a buyer.

The WSJ Leadership Institute Presents: Leaders. A new podcast series bringing you revealing conversations with top executives shaping business today. Hosted by Alan Murray, president of the WSJ Leadership Institute, the series goes beyond headlines to explore how leadership really works in times of upheaval, transformation, and uncertainty. Our first episode was released Monday, Sept. 22, at 5:00 a.m. ET, with new episodes every other Monday.