I have to admit, I’ve always admired Wal-Mart and its success through the years. Certainly they have taken some (well-deserved) publicity hits around employee pay and certain labor practices, of which I’m not a fan. But remember that as a business, there are few that can match the long-term success of Wal-Mart.
Now the retail giant is showing the type of leadership that businesses across America need to emulate. The company recently announced that it will focus on hiring U.S. veterans — 100,000 of them. Sadly, unemployment for our veterans hovers above 10 percent. The same patriots who have kept our country safe have unemployment far higher than the national average. They should be able to get a job.
In our predictions report for 2013, I discussed how companies need to do a better job of hiring for aptitude, not just experience. Wal-Mart has taken a fabulous step in that regard, and with its incredible scale and size is playing a new leadership role in getting our country back to greatness.
In addition, Wal-Mart says it will invest $50 billion dollars over the next 10 years to buy more American goods – great news for our economy. While these moves are probably designed partially for public relations reasons, they also are very wise business decisions that will result in greater financial performance and set an excellent example for other American businesses.