About the Book
Leading From the Heart

Dear Mr. Kahl:

.I certainly appreciate your comments concerning our company and the people you have contacted and with whom you are involved. We do have some tremendous folks working for us; I'm happy to hear that your relationship with our management people has been on that level. I am mighty proud of our company and what our folks have accomplished. It is a matter of "people working with people" and communicating in the right way from top to bottom. We do that one thing about as hard as we do anything.

Again, many thanks for your comments and support. We appreciate your help as one of our excellent suppliers. Best wishes. Come see us any time.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

I have been out of the office a great deal lately, and am just now replying to my correspondence. This is just a note to let you know how much we enjoyed having you and very much appreciate your comments.

I also want to tell you that I am most impressed with your management style and your working approach to the development of your company. Keep up the good work! Best wishes.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

Thank you for your good letter of April 1 and I apologize for not having been more prompt in replying; however, as you know, we have opened several stores this month and I have been doing a great deal of traveling. You folks continue to do a great job with your company and we are honored to know that you have taken a few pages from our book-it reads well. Keep up the good work in Cleveland. I want to thank you and your associates for the excellent job you continue to do for us. You are one of our very finest suppliers and I know it is a direct relationship between your leadership and management talent, and the results of your company. Best wishes, my friend. Thank you for your continued interest and support of our company.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

I appreciate your Thanksgiving note. We are having a fine year and I am beginning to worry about that performance on Wall Street; it could happen. If so, we will certainly let you know.

Thank you and your firm for the good year and the fine cooperation we have received from all of you. Best wishes for the coming holiday season.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

Many, many thanks for your good letter of May 24.

Jack, it was certainly good seeing you in Florida. We appreciate so much your fine company's representation there for the discount store industry. You folks continue to do a great job and I know it is because of the constant attention you give your business, customers, and associates that has caused it to happen. You pay me too much of a compliment, but you know I, too, enjoy this business-it has to be fun, or we wouldn't do well in it, otherwise. I compliment you on the very fine progress you and your company continue to make.

I also want to thank you for sending me the book, The Next Economy. I will certainly get it on my list and get it done before long.

Come see us when you can; give me a call when you are in our area. Best wishes.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

I appreciate so much your sending me the very fine book, The Vital Difference. I am certainly looking forward to reading it and will probably do as you have done, request our folks to read it and outline it.

You write a beautiful letter and I just wish I could even approach being able to express myself as well as you do in so many different ways. We all are quite pleased with your continued growth and, most of all, the way you and your people have continued to work with and supply our Wal-Mart Company.

We have had a difficult month or two as far as comparable sales are concerned. However, it has been most unusual in that we have experienced a deflationary period wherein our prices are actually lower this year than a year ago on comparable items. It is a rather unusual situation and one which I have not experienced in my time as a retailer.

It was good to hear from you. I appreciate the book so much, and I know I will get many good ideas from it.

Hope you and your family have the best Christmas and holiday season ever. Come see us when you journey this way.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

It was good to see you and your folks in Dallas, I appreciate so much your supportive comments and the good things you and your Manco associates have done for Wal-Mart. You and your company have been most helpful to us through the years as one of our valued suppliers. Most of all, though, we appreciate your friendship and what you stand for.

I also want to thank you, Jack, for sending me the edition of "Across the Board." The articles were great and I really enjoyed reading them.

Be sure to let me know when you are back down this way. I would certainly enjoy visiting with you. Best wishes to you for your continued good health and success.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

You pay me considerable tribute when you rate me in the Secretariat class. I appreciate your comments and your praise, but I think you know that I don't feel I have contributed that much toward the success of Wal-Mart as the company it is today. I realize my role has been helpful and important, but you well know it takes a team, and we have been fortunate to secure the talents of some outstanding people at all levels throughout our company. They are doing one fantastic job for our customers and associates.

It was so good seeing you in Miami. I especially enjoyed meeting your fine son. I know you are very proud of him and his accomplishments, as well. You folks continue to do an excellent job as one of our primary suppliers. We compliment you for it. You continue to explore and develop effective ways to serve your customers and I know that will keep your company in the forefront for years to come.

Keep up the good work, my friend. IT was nice hearing from you. Thanks for your continued support of Wal-Mart. Best wishes.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

How good it was to see you, your son, Bill, and Tom at the recognition dinner last week. I am sorry we didn't have the chance to talk in more detail.

I want to thank you so much for the book, Trigger Points. That is a dandy and I am in the process of getting it read-I am about one-third through and I know it will help us in so many ways in continuing to try to develop good morale, good attitude, and keep our folks motivated as we go down this tough old road of retailing. It has to be fun, as you well know, and that is what we all must keep uppermost in mind.

You folks continue to do a great job, Jack. I appreciate so much your continued support of our company and your interest. Keep the ideas flowing. Anytime you think of something that might help us and where we, in turn, can help you, let's sit down and talk about it. I would appreciate it very much.

Best wishes. Again, thanks for the great book.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

You give me more credit, and have for a number of years, than I really deserve. You know well that our company has continued to develop, principally because we have worked together as a team and we have had some mighty talented players on that team, including our good friend, Ron Loveless, who has certainly been a great help to us in many, many ways. I don't believe any of us ever dreamed we would build the kind of company we have, but, together it has been possible. I agree with you, I don't believe it could have been accomplished without a large measure of enthusiasm as well as the other ingredients that are necessary to have a successful company.

I am real proud of what you folks have achieved, as well. I know our partnership has made part of this possible, at least. I very much admire your management approach and the job you are doing with your good people. That, of course, is the bottom line.

I hope to get up to Cleveland sometime and see your new office and manufacturing complex. I think that is terrific.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

You are the guy who writes a beautiful letter and I appreciate so much the support you and your wonderful people have been to us consistently.

More than anything, with such a glowing recommendation on that book, you are going to cause me to start reading it today. That is what I will do.

We have one more meeting left in Little Rock for our Wal-Mart Company. We have four down and one to go, and I will be thankful to have that behind me. I noticed your company had a very fine display at either Little Rock or Nashville and I want to tell you how much we appreciate your being represented.

Take care of yourself, my friend. I will be sure to read the book. I know it will be most worthwhile for myself and our company, as well as our customers. Have a good year.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

I certainly enjoyed visiting with you. I appreciate so much your suggestions concerning the prospective book I have been thinking about doing. I believed I have found a good candidate (to do the writing).

I hope to see you here at the stockholders' meeting. I may be visiting with your company before you get this letter. Regardless, you are some kind of a friend and we all appreciate you, your fine company and your wonderful associates, for the outstanding cooperation you folks have extended to our company and being one of our primary suppliers.

Keep up the good work! Thanks for your help on the book. Best wishes. I'll keep you posted.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

I tremendously enjoyed your Fourth of July card, "Great Expectations." It is a real great expression of this wonderful country of ours. I know you and your company are as much a believer and patriot of this great USA. Keep up the good work! Come see us when you can. Best wishes.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Note: 4 cards per year

Dear Jack:

That book you sent me, Barbarians to Bureaucrats, looks like one fantastic publication. The author certainly writes well and does a beautiful job with his thoughts in relating to our retail environment and building companies.

I have already gone ahead with the publisher and have engaged another author. I should have waited until you got your thoughts collected before I made a decision, but we were on a pretty tight schedule and needed to get on with the program.

Again, Jack, thanks for that wonderful book. I'll certainly enjoy it and learn much from it. Take care of yourself. Come see us when you can. Best wishes.

Your friend,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

I don't know when I have received a letter that I have appreciated more than the one you sent me. You always do so well in expressing yourself, your convictions, and your philosophy. I still contend you give me more credit than I deserve. Wal-Mart, as you well know, has taken a lot pages out of a lot of people's books and so many of our associates-our management team as well as our folks in the stores-have made such wonderful contributions through the years and suggestions to have brought us to where we are.

Your friend,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

It was so good having you and your sons here for our stockholders' meeting. We appreciated so much the comments you made Saturday morning and suggestions. We are going to follow up on your ideas and see if we can put them into action as soon as possible. You certainly hit a good nerve with our people and got a thumbs up vote throughout the house.

Also, Jack, I want to thank you for sending me the information and the offer you made concerning your Manco ducks. I played the tape you sent and that was so well done and so very effective. We would like to have that program set up some Saturday morning. We could do it anytime you could work out a schedule with your folks. It is something our associates and management would enjoy so much and it would be awfully entertaining and interesting to them, as well. You're a great motivator and leader, and I admire and respect you so very much for the exceptional job you are doing with your company and the development of a very fine organization. The partnership you have with your associates parallels ours and, of course, we both can appreciate the good that comes from sharing information as well as responsibility with our people.

Your friend,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

I hope this Christmas season finds you and all your Manco partners in good health and enjoying the holidays. I know it is a busy time for all of our suppliers, as well as our customers. We have so much to be thankful for and certainly need to stop and appreciate the many blessings we have in this wonderful country of ours.

Thank you so much for sending me the book, Peak Performers.

Again, congratulations on all the good things you're doing, Jack. Be sure to give my best to everyone. You have a great team and you're doing one fantastic job as their servant-leader.

Your friend,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack,

I'm just now getting around to replying to your letter of February 8.

I don't think there is any question but what our competitors are doing a better job all the time and becoming more competitive. We will have to work even harder to maintain the momentum we have and the market share.

Also, I want to congratulate you and your wonderful team, Jack, on your accomplishments and that fine article in Inc. that told about your company. I don't know of any company that deserves the recognition any more than you and your partners who have done such a great job over the past ten years. You learn more every day and all of you are working together. As your partners, we sense it and know that is one of the reasons you're doing so well.

Keep up the good work! I'm feeling better than I have in a long time. I'm not on chemo-therapy at this time, as well. Best wishes.

Your friend,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

How good of you to write and include your notes as well as your application of those principles to your very fine Manco team and company. Your communications skills are as good as anyone's in this business of managing people. I respect so much the constant effort that you make to study, listen, and improve on what you believe to be right for your partners within your company as well as those of us who are your customers and partners outside.

I would like very much to use some of your material in either a Saturday morning meeting or some of my Wal-Mart World presentations. In either event, if you have a problem with that, by all means, let me know. What you're preaching, what you believe, and the way you're doing it, is consistent with our own philosophy and I can't help but re-emphasize some of the points you've illustrated.

I'm hoping, Jack, to get back to Ohio within the next month or two, if we can set up a time that might work, to visit your company and your associates, as well as some of those units which have come on the scene there.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton

Mr. Packy Nespeca
Senior Vice President
American Greetings Corp.

Dear Packy:

Thank you for your good letter.

I probably enjoyed my visit to Manco even more than they might have enjoyed having me there. It's just such an exceptional company and I think Jack is one of the finest management talents I've run across anywhere.

Your friend,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

I haven't done a very good job of keeping up with my correspondence. I have had a few more health problems since I saw you, but things are going fairly well, even so. Our retail sales are a little slower than we would like, but, overall, I think we are still doing better than most of our peers. We must keep doing the good things for our customers and our associates, just as you have done with your outstanding people.

I enjoyed the articles on Paul Brown. More than anything, I want to thank you for the great visit we had in Cleveland. I will wear my Manco green "top gun" hat with pride, probably at my quail hunting camp better than any other place.

I hope everything is going well with you, Jack, and your fine team. I know you're very proud of your two sons. They are tracking their dad well and will probably exceed your achievements in time. That's the way it should be.

Take care of yourself. Best wishes. Come and see us when you can.

Your friend,

Sam Walton

Dear Jack:

It certainly was good to hear from you. I want to congratulate you, as well, on being recognized as one of the most outstanding small business entrepreneurs in the United States, an honor that you and your Manco team richly deserve.

I, too, like the program Bill Fields has put together on Sam's American Choice brand.and I'm glad we're able to donate some of the sales to help improve the quality of manufacturing in our country. I don't know how that's going to work out, but it seems to me it makes a lot of sense for a number of reasons.

My Myeloma has been getting worse lately and I've been in the hospital a couple of times. Right now, I'm about as low, health-wise, as I've been in quite a while. I haven't even flown my airplane for three weeks and that, for sure, tells you I've been grounded.

Thank you for your friendship, Jack. I hope you and your family have the finest Christmas ever. I did get started on Dr. Charles Garfield's book, "Second to None". I'm enjoying reading it. Your statement in Crain's Cleveland Business magazine was appreciated, as well, although you give me more credit than I deserve.

Take care of yourself. We'll be in touch. Best wishes.

Very truly yours,

Sam Walton