This week’s ceremony at Nasdaq to mark Walmart transferring to the stock exchange home of the Magnificent 7 tech giants was an appropriate time to reflect for the retailer’s EVP of corporate affairs Dan Bartlett.
A decade ago, in October 2015, CEO Doug McMillon presented his “transformation plan” to the Street, focusing on digital and e-commerce integration and transformation, raising wages for staff, getting closer to customers and upgrading technology infrastructure.
It was a bold initiative and the initial reaction by the markets was the opposite to what Bartlett saw this week at Nasdaq. As the former George W. Bush comms lead told us on the latest edition of The PR Week podcast, Walmart’s stock lost over $20 billion in value.
Bartlett explains on the podcast how he was in a car with McMillon headed to the airport getting into it with CNBC business broadcaster Jim Cramer about the coverage of Walmart’s plan when McMillon grabbed the phone and agreed to turn around and go to Cramer’s studio to be interviewed.
The duo understood they had a lot of work to do, much of it behind the scenes and with their most important stakeholders: staff members. But they knew they had the underlying facts on their side, due to work already started by their predecessors. It was a matter of convincing other stakeholders such as investors and analysts that the investment narrative was the right way to go.
The plan to raise wages, increase training, provide more opportunities to progress within the company (McMillon himself started out as a warehouse worker at the Sam Walton-founded retailer), invest in pricing, e-commerce and digital, and supply chain automation ultimately paid off.
It contained the ingredients that led to a journey filled with growth, success, a turnaround in reputation at what was once one of the most hated brands in the world, and massively increased shareholder value.
The transformation of the company was the result of many people at Walmart, but the excellent working relationship built on trust between Bartlett and McMillon was key to it. As Bartlett told us on the pod, you have to ask the question at any organization: “Is the [comms] function tolerated or valued?”
If the CEO and C-suite don’t understand the key strategic role communication can play in the business model, then the enterprise is set up to fail.
Bartlett notes that, though McMillon comes over as a natural communicator, this perception is based on thorough and almost exhaustive preparation. He puts in the hard yards prepping to present that face to the public, in a natural not staged manner. “I’ve never had an executive prepare more,” said Bartlett.
Walmart’s lead communicator compares McMillon’s style to the other “most important client” in his career — President George W. Bush. Though Bush junior was not a natural communicator and will not go down as one of America’s most “poetic orators”, he had authenticity — one of strongest currencies in communication that was demonstrated in off-the-cuff moments such as the iconic ad lib bullhorn moment in New York City after 9/11.
As Bartlett explains: “The message has to fit the messenger, who must have the credibility to deliver it — not everyone can deliver a [particular] message.”
There are plenty more fascinating anecdotes in the podcast and reflections on Bartlett’s time in the agency space at Public Strategies and as U.S. CEO at Hill & Knowlton, his use of agencies at Walmart as one of the biggest clients in the world, thoughts on the Omnicom acquisition of Interpublic Group, the switch from NYSE to Nasdaq, and much more.
In February, Bartlett will be part of a new chapter as McMillon retires and hands over the CEO baton to another Walmart lifer, John Furner. He will build on an existing strong relationship there to ensure Walmart is as well placed as possible to prosper in its tech-focused future.
Anyone looking to understand what lies behind the most effective comms pros and informs the strategies they use to protect and grow the reputation of their organizations should listen closely to what Dan Bartlett has to say — not without reason does he regularly appear at or near the top of the PRWeek Power List every year.
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