The Unexpected Mentorship of Doug mcmillon
I’m always fascinated by who CEOs turn to for feedback, and who they choose to mentor outside thier companies. Some relationships develop organically through working with people who become friends after you move on. (I feel lucky to remain connected to former bosses like Norman Pearlstine, as well as numerous colleagues over the years.)
Then there are the leaders whose names come up because they offered advice or made a gesture that was meaningful to another CEO. One of those names is Walmart’s Doug McMillion, who is retiring as CEO next month after 12 years at the helm. A lot will be written about his legacy in transforming the world’s largest retailer into a daunting competitor in the digital realm. But carla Vernón, CEO of the Honest Company, recently recounted a story about him that stuck with me.
About a year ago, Vernón said, she had an prospect to meet McMillion for about 30 seconds at an event. Instead of talking about the business that her $383 million-a-year company does with the $704 billion-a-year Walmart, she took a different tack: “I said, ‘I want to be an remarkable CEO. You are, in my view, one of the best of our time. So, if I could borrow a bit more time from you, I would love to ask you a question or two.”
McMillion shared his email with Vernón, who’d been CEO since 2023, and told her to get in touch.”I thought it would be like a zoom call,but he invited me to come to Bentonville with one of my leaders and set up an entire day of one-on-ones for us,” she said. “He connected us with everybody who we needed to know strategically, everybody on his executive team who he thought might be able to help me build a strong executive team in the C-Suite. There was no agenda and this was Q4, which is the season for retailers that’s super busy.”
She compares her experience in Bentonville to being in a regional dance company and getting invited to go backstage and watch the New York City Ballet rehearse The Nutcracker. “If I can, for one day, watch what the very best at what they do do, then I’m going to forever realize what’s possible from myself as a leader,” said Vernón, who brought her VP of Sales. “When you meet somebody who you think of as some kind of iconic business brilliant mind, and realize they are just human, trying to have a good life, trying to be good to others, it’s helpful to put in viewpoint what is absolutely possible for you.”
It’s clear she was moved by McMillon’s desire to help her in a meaningful way. “I’m Afro-Latina. I’m female … In these companies that we get to run, the people are
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