A Role Of Sam Walton That Few People Realised, Servant Leader

by RikCharbonneaux. To Your Health  
12/26/25
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A Role Of Sam Walton’s That Few People Realised, Servant Leader

I always thought that Sam Walton was just the right man, right thought, and right time, to step into unparalleled fame and history, and I was not expecting to find out that he had accepted the role of a strong Servant Leader twenty years earlier.

Just a little background on Sam Walton’s life is needed to bring his role as  Servant Leader out for all to see:

Sam Walton was born into extreme poverty.  As the son of a poor dirt farmer who could not sustain his family, Sam went to work every spare minute, working around school hours to help with the family’s situation by milking cows, then bottling and selling the milk, by selling newspapers, and hiring himself out as a laborer. 

That’s the way it was with families back then: you stuck together and attended church together to hope for better times. 

It was at this time that Sam would become the youngest BSA Eagle Scout in his state’s history.  Sam was a person of action, even back then.

As you would expect, Sam was looked down upon by his more affluent peers and marginalized as being poor; however, Sam had a magnetic personality and was extremely intelligent and could make people respect him for those strong qualities that would later define his role as a Servant Leader when he went into business, but he proved himself in that role when he attended college on his own dime,

It was during his time at the University of Missouri that he was brought into service by Christ and accepted the role of Servant Leader by becoming the President of the Buria Bible Class, a huge class/group of Christian students from both the University of Missouri and Stephens College.  

For his dynamic leadership of the Buria Bible Class and for his ability to “lock-pick” the best in people, develop it, and to have them come forth as Servant Leaders of  Christ themselves.

Further, Sam left such a mark upon the student body of the University of Missouri that he was named Permanent President of the Graduating Class of 1940.  That is amazing, given his economic situation.

Following his appointment to the National Military honor society “Scabbard and Blade”, Sam answered his country’s call to serve in the military with Army Intelligence as a Captain over stateside US aircraft sites.  He was also trained in flying and was outstanding in his ability and instincts for "low-level high-speed" flying. 

He would bring this skill with him later as he would tour his several new store openings in a single day, flying about 200 feet off the ground and at more than 150 knots. 

He would absolutely scare his Executives near to death by flying this way, but he always offered to land in a cow pasture and let them walk home!  That was just Sam Walton’s love of life, and could have become a great bush pilot like Reverand Doctor Franklin Graham of Samaritans Purse and the Billy Graham Ministries, who also knows no fear while in the cockpit.*

It goes without saying that Sam never forgot his roots in poverty and how he was treated as second-class by most others, so as a servant-leader, he literally turned the American business model upside down when he structured his Walmart model to solicit ideas and ideas from the bottom up to further his strategies to be the first to bring low prices to small-town America.

No more of that “My way or the highway” management top-down model for Sam, as he knew from his short time working under the direct supervision of James Cash Penny at the Des Moines, IA Store, that Penny’s retail model no longer fit the times. His future vision was one of developing the skills of his developers and Associates to better serve across all of America's cross-section with the best price that would keep customers from having to drive 50 or more miles, where better prices could be had. 

Although not an extraordinarily religious man, he never failed his beloved servant-leader role to his people, the Associates of Walmart.  Here are a few Sam Walton quotes that illustrate that level of his commitment and vision for them:

"Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish."

“The servant leadership model at Walmart operates on the premise that managers exist to serve those they lead, rather than the traditional hierarchical approach where authority flows downward.”

“A leader knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”

“Make leadership a privilege to serve, not a right to command. “

“Actively discover and provide what your followers genuinely need to grow and succeed. 

“Instead of projecting your own needs, you actively discover and provide what your followers genuinely need to grow and succeed, fostering an environment of empowerment, respect, and service.”

The Three’s of Servant Leadership: Competence, Character, Commitment.” (Not Sam’s direct quote, but he fairly wore that one out, inspiring his executives to always promote change to address expanding opportunities.

There is only one boss – the customer.”

“People vote with their feet.  If they are unhappy with us, they will go elsewhere.”

“I have always had a strong bias toward action.”

“My role has been to pick good people and give them the maximum authority and responsibility.”

“Great ideas come from everywhere if you just listen and look for them.”

Sam Walton's last words were: "I blew it ..”

Meaning he regretted not spending more time with his family and their pursuit of happiness, instead of being driven to leave them the legacy of Walmart.  A common regret of people who push hard for success against time. 

He died of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, at age 74 in 1992, and is buried under a humble headstone at the Bentonville, AK, Cemetery.  He never forgot his humble roots.

Samuel Moore Walton,  A servant-leader and an American Original.

* Franklin Graham was saved by Christ from an outlaw motorcycle club that would have been the end of him.  To return his appreciation for his salvation, Franklin learned to fly the high-performance and regular aircraft needed to land and unload medical supplies and take off quickly in very dangerous and hostile ground held by rebel forces.  Franklin is as fearless as Sam Walton was when flying in ‘low and hot”.

As a funny aside about Franklin's sense of humor and love of scaring people while in his HP aircraft, just like Sam loved to do:

    Franklin and Greg Laurie were returning from an engagement in PA, and Franklin wanted to show Laurie the Graham Farmstead.  Flying straight at the back patio, where Billie and Ruth Graham were sitting, reading newspapers.  

    Without warning, Franklin put the powerful plan into a high-G power dive with Laurie groaning all the fast way down as Franklin drove him into his seat from high G-forces, and then leveled off about 20’ feef the ground, headed right at his parents, and going over 200 knots per hour, and then finally pulling up, as his parents calmly looked up and waved at them.  

    Laurie recovered nicely, but did jokingly say he would have appreciated a bible in one hand, the other hand on the door handle, and a parachute strapped to his back after that heart-stopper.  

    Ruth Graham was not a stranger to Franklin’s tricks.  When she would try to wake him as a heavy sleeper and fail, she would climb out a window onto the front porch roof and throw lighted firecrackers through his bedroom window to abruptly roll him out of bed. Ruth was not a mother to be fooled with!

** My favorite quote from Sam Walton was what he said in response to Johnny Carson's quip to him about “What is it like to gain and lose a few billion with the stock values daily?  To which Sam immediately replied with the exact number of jobs lost or gained at that amount, which stunned Carson into silence at once, taking a moment for him to recover.