Are the challenges that Wal-Mart faces today similar to those you faced when you were Director of People there? Michael Bergdahl's answer: In terms of the sheer size of the company the executives face daunting challenges never faced by a leadership team before. In terms of people and serving customers the challenges remain the same. Wal-Mart teaches its leadership team to simplify everything they do. They are taught to think about one store at a time, one department at a time and one customer at a time, otherwise the tasks at hand are overwhelming. The key to the Wal-Mart Strategy then and now is “simplification.” Leaders at other companies have a tendency to overly complicate their approach and solutions to complex projects with the strategy, “Think Big, Start Small and Scale Up”, while Wal-Mart teaches its leaders to simplify everything they do with its strategy, “Think Small, Start Small and Scale Up.” The difference in approach is in keeping with Sam Walton's rule about “swimming upstream” by challenging the approach company leaders take to solve problems. He used to tell us, “If everyone else in business is doing it this way why don't we try doing it the opposite way!” He believed by taking this approach you were likely to find the sustainable competitive advantage.