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>Hart has seen that change firsthand. About 20 years ago, then 19 years old and a mother of two, she started part-time at the same Walmart she now runs. Her fir

>Hart has seen that change firsthand. About 20 years ago, then 19 years old and a mother of two, she started part-time at the same Walmart she now runs. Her first job was cooking live lobsters pulled from a tank in the deli. Was definitely expecting this to be a story about someone who graduated college and walked into management. I have respect for anyone who could rise though the ranks of retail. She deserves every dime.

dewey 3y ago
This reminds me of a very interesting interview I've listened to a while ago (It was posted on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38924101 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38924101): https://inpractise.com/articles/aldi-culture-and-operations-of-a-hard-discounter https://inpractise.com/articles/aldi-culture-and-operations-... There they talk about the Aldi culture and how "walking into management" isn't possible there, as everyone goes through the ranks of a store. That means of course that hiring someone from outside is almost not possible, but people there usually stay a very long time or even retire at the company.
- Tostino 3y ago
  I honestly respect companies with that attitude way more than your standard American company culture.
  - geraldwhen 3y ago
    I wish more operated this way. No matter how well you do, or what you accomplish, you will never be as successful ($$$$) as someone who joined a women’s leadership club right after their MBA and never worked a real job in their life. Promoting from within forces you to actual reward value and understand the business.
    - dclowd9901 3y ago
      It has good and bad sides. Imagine working at a company for 10 years and you end up under some total knob as a manager. They don’t help you at all, they’re crap at their job, and you have no chance at moving up because you’ve basically reached a dead end. Hopefully you have some lateral move you can make but that’s going to cost you time as you endear yourself to another manager (who hopefully is not also a useless prick). And the only other options are bailing entirely and ending up starting over again somewhere else or just sucking it up and staying in that position for who knows how long.
- troad 3y ago
  So the main qualification for being an Aldi executive is years of experience throwing people's groceries from one side to the other, never making eye-contact? And this translates to the skills required to run a multi-national business how exactly? Don't get me wrong, sounds like a great deal for mediocre 'lifer' employees, but seems like a terrible deal for anyone bright (years stuck 'waiting the ranks' - or more realistically a massive brain drain for places that do let them 'walk into management'), or just corporate strategy in general (the skills required to run international JIT food logistics and the skills required to mop a spill in aisle 12 don't exactly have the greatest overlap.)
  - dewey 3y ago
    I’d suggest you listen to the episode, and it’s obviously not about transferring grocery stacking skills to running a logistics company but steeping people on the culture of treating suppliers well, saving costs, paying above market salaries etc. I think their success speaks for itself and people who want a long term, stable job are not necessarily “mediocre lifers”, which is a pretty ignorant thing to say.
    - troad 3y ago
      > I think their success speaks for itself and people who want a long term, stable job are not necessarily “mediocre lifers”, which is a pretty ignorant thing to say. That's a pretty ungenerous micharacterisation of what I said, and a bit of a false dichotomy. It's entirely possible to have a long term stable job in a company that doesn't adopt any of Aldi's practices on hiring and promotion - and those practices are, as a matter of simple incentive logic, going to lead to brain drain and a senior management structure afflicted by the Peter principle. [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle
dec0dedab0de 3y ago
When I worked at best buy we called them “lifers.” Last time I was in there I noticed one of the managers was a guy I worked with when we were teenagers. I’m still kinda mad he got picked to be the idea box over me, but in retrospect it looks like they picked the team player.
blackhawkC17 3y ago
Walmart’s current CEO, Doug McMillon, also began working there as a high schooler unloading trucks (before completing college and returning to a corporate role). https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-profile-2019-1?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-pr...
paulpauper 3y ago
It's inspiring because it's in large part an outlier and not applicable to the vast majority of people who lack college degrees. It would not be remarkable it it were common or realistic.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
TMWNN 3y ago
>Was definitely expecting this to be a story about someone who graduated college and walked into management. I have respect for anyone who could rise though the ranks of retail. Some huge percentage of Americans's first job is at McDonald's (another business that has historically found management talent in-house). They learn the importance of cleanliness, customer service, accuracy.
hx8 3y ago
A lot of Walmart management are promoted into it. While certainly not a great job, it's not too bad to make a career out of it. The average Walmart location will see about $70M/yr in revenue, so her responsibility is fairly high.

dewey 3y ago

This reminds me of a very interesting interview I've listened to a while ago (It was posted on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38924101 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38924101): https://inpractise.com/articles/aldi-culture-and-operations-of-a-hard-discounter https://inpractise.com/articles/aldi-culture-and-operations-... There they talk about the Aldi culture and how "walking into management" isn't possible there, as everyone goes through the ranks of a store. That means of course that hiring someone from outside is almost not possible, but people there usually stay a very long time or even retire at the company.

Tostino 3y ago
I honestly respect companies with that attitude way more than your standard American company culture.
- geraldwhen 3y ago
  I wish more operated this way. No matter how well you do, or what you accomplish, you will never be as successful ($$$$) as someone who joined a women’s leadership club right after their MBA and never worked a real job in their life. Promoting from within forces you to actual reward value and understand the business.
  - dclowd9901 3y ago
    It has good and bad sides. Imagine working at a company for 10 years and you end up under some total knob as a manager. They don’t help you at all, they’re crap at their job, and you have no chance at moving up because you’ve basically reached a dead end. Hopefully you have some lateral move you can make but that’s going to cost you time as you endear yourself to another manager (who hopefully is not also a useless prick). And the only other options are bailing entirely and ending up starting over again somewhere else or just sucking it up and staying in that position for who knows how long.
troad 3y ago
So the main qualification for being an Aldi executive is years of experience throwing people's groceries from one side to the other, never making eye-contact? And this translates to the skills required to run a multi-national business how exactly? Don't get me wrong, sounds like a great deal for mediocre 'lifer' employees, but seems like a terrible deal for anyone bright (years stuck 'waiting the ranks' - or more realistically a massive brain drain for places that do let them 'walk into management'), or just corporate strategy in general (the skills required to run international JIT food logistics and the skills required to mop a spill in aisle 12 don't exactly have the greatest overlap.)
- dewey 3y ago
  I’d suggest you listen to the episode, and it’s obviously not about transferring grocery stacking skills to running a logistics company but steeping people on the culture of treating suppliers well, saving costs, paying above market salaries etc. I think their success speaks for itself and people who want a long term, stable job are not necessarily “mediocre lifers”, which is a pretty ignorant thing to say.
  - troad 3y ago
    > I think their success speaks for itself and people who want a long term, stable job are not necessarily “mediocre lifers”, which is a pretty ignorant thing to say. That's a pretty ungenerous micharacterisation of what I said, and a bit of a false dichotomy. It's entirely possible to have a long term stable job in a company that doesn't adopt any of Aldi's practices on hiring and promotion - and those practices are, as a matter of simple incentive logic, going to lead to brain drain and a senior management structure afflicted by the Peter principle. [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle

dec0dedab0de 3y ago

When I worked at best buy we called them “lifers.” Last time I was in there I noticed one of the managers was a guy I worked with when we were teenagers. I’m still kinda mad he got picked to be the idea box over me, but in retrospect it looks like they picked the team player.

blackhawkC17 3y ago

Walmart’s current CEO, Doug McMillon, also began working there as a high schooler unloading trucks (before completing college and returning to a corporate role). https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-profile-2019-1?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-pr...

paulpauper 3y ago

It's inspiring because it's in large part an outlier and not applicable to the vast majority of people who lack college degrees. It would not be remarkable it it were common or realistic.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

TMWNN 3y ago

>Was definitely expecting this to be a story about someone who graduated college and walked into management. I have respect for anyone who could rise though the ranks of retail. Some huge percentage of Americans's first job is at McDonald's (another business that has historically found management talent in-house). They learn the importance of cleanliness, customer service, accuracy.

hx8 3y ago

A lot of Walmart management are promoted into it. While certainly not a great job, it's not too bad to make a career out of it. The average Walmart location will see about $70M/yr in revenue, so her responsibility is fairly high.