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November 10, 2025 | 6 Mins Read

Walmart’s Offensive AI Strategy

November 10, 2025 | 6 Mins Read

Walmart’s Offensive AI Strategy

By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

Last week I attended Harvard Business Review’s virtual Future of Business event, which featured executives from across industries alongside academics discussing everything from geopolitical uncertainty and innovation to leadership and change management. One of my favorite sessions was with Doug McMillon, President and CEO of Walmart Inc.

McMillon’s 30+ year career with Walmart began in 1984 as an hourly associate, picking orders and unloading trailers in a warehouse. He went on to serve in senior leadership roles across each business segment before taking his current position as CEO in 2014. While much of the discussion was around leading with purpose in uncertain times, what stood out to me is how that mission is being applied to the company’s AI journey.

“The first thing that comes to mind with AI is opportunity,” McMillon said. “When GenAI first began capturing attention, we were pretty balanced in our mindset between offense and defense. That shifted over time to being offensive. There’s a great opportunity with AI for us to change.”

Starting Off Strong

While Walmart finds itself in a good position to play offense with AI today, McMillon spoke about how the foundation to be in that position was built over the past decade. He retold the tale of Walmart’s massive investment in transformation and the long-term view that was required. “It’s probably important to remind everyone that a little over 10 years ago we made a number of large investments simultaneously,” he explains. “Walmart invested billions in our people, billions to lower prices, billions in ecommerce and to modernize our tech stack.”

Doing so required commitment from shareholders, taking the profitability of the company down for some time. “Operating income was 6% when I took the role and came down to just North of 4%. Our shareholders paid for this so that we could invest in the future of the company. Over time, we’ve been able to bring that operating profit back up,” McMillon says.

Having this foundation in place positions Walmart well for the AI era. “Our technologists have done a great job of modernizing our tech stack and now we can infuse that with AI,” he says. “We know our priorities, we’re resourcing , we’re driving that change.”

Adapt to Continuous Transformation

A capable tech stack is just one piece of the puzzle, though. That foundational journey also readied the company for a necessary shift in approach to one of continuous transformation. “The catch up on ecommerce led us to understanding that we had to literally change the way we worked. You have to set yourself up to change all the time, not just once,” emphasizes McMillon. “That means constant learning, mindset shifts, changes to structure, new capabilities, a faster pace – so that you don’t fall behind again.”

AI will irrefutably bring with it a new wave of change, one that will transform how we work in ways we’ve only begun to imagine. “I do think every job we’ve got is going to change in some way. I can imagine how AI will change every one of them and create new jobs too,” says McMillon. “It will eliminate some tasks and some roles and what we want to do is equip everybody to make the most of the new tools available. To learn, adapt, add value, and drive growth and still be a really large employer years from now.”

6 Tips for Change Leadership vs. Change Management

Perhaps Walmart’s biggest offensive strength is McMillon’s view on what’s required to lead the company through change. His approach feels genuine, grounded, and people-centric and he shared a number of thoughtful insights on how to bring people on this journey.

When change is vast, focus on the constants. While the inclination is to talk about the ‘why’ and the ‘what’ related to change, in a time where change is immense, consider focusing instead on what isn’t changing. “We decided fairly early on to explain to people what wouldn’t change – the list of what would was long and could be overwhelming,” says McMillon. “We spoke about what we will stay committed to…our purpose, our four core values. Everything else is open to change.”
Keep technology in perspective. Even though McMillon is bullish on the potential around AI, the ethos for the company keeps things in perspective. “We say people led, tech powered. We want to be great at deploying technology, and we want to start with the humanity of the experience – the technology is to serve people,” he says.
Recognize when new skills are needed. Earlier this year, Walmart brought on a new role to help lead its AI journey. “We knew top down what we want to accomplish, but so many of us were doing these things on top of everything else,” says McMillon. “We created a new role, which reports to me, who has AI experience and whose responsibility includes speeding up our AI transformation.”
Invest in upskilling. We know that AI will change roles, but human talent will remain crucial. So, it’s important to invest in training, upskilling, and reskilling to bring your teams along and ready them for what’s coming. “We’ve given everyone a ChatGPT license so they can learn and grow and go through this process with us. We have 2.1 billion associates around the world and we’re giving them all the tools we can and being as transparent as possible,” shared McMillon. “Specific programs are being created for Walmart Academy, and we have Live Better U – we’ll pay for college tuition and books if people want to get a degree. I’ve run into people in a store that want to get into cybersecurity, for instance.”
Nothing replaces facetime. McMillon spoke about the amount of time he spends visiting Walmart locations and engaging with the frontline, and how much value that investment yields. “Sam Walton was in the stores all the time; he became a pilot to get around faster. I spend a lot of time visiting locations and 99% of the time no one knows we’re coming,” he says. “We show up and go straight to our associates helping people check out or picking orders. The conversations always lead to something – I always leave those visits with a list of to-dos longer than what I leave because the things I learn we can use to help the whole company.”
Prioritize honesty and consistency. In uncertain times and situations, fall back on honesty and consistency. “Being really honest about things is important and being consistent. Remind everyone what you’re trying to do. The rhythm of the company comes to mind; how often are you together in person? We really believe in that,” says McMillon. “Build relationships, earn trust, shoot people straight, go through it together. If something doesn’t work, acknowledge and move on to the next thing. Encourage, support, but lean in to change because the alternative is not very enjoyable.”

Walmart’s Technician Development & Field Service Revenue Potential

As McMillon spoke about some of the ways Walmart is investing in the upskilling and reskilling that AI demands, he shared that beyond opportunities with Live Better U, the company has begun training and certifying technicians. Further, Walmart is even offering those services externally. “We’ve been creating a lot of technicians – people to fix systems such as automated storage retrieval in DCs and HVAC,” says McMillon. “There’s more talent needed in the world to do those jobs, and we’ve been teaching and certifying them to do that work. In some cases, we have started to sell those services outside the company in what might grow into a profit center.”

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6 Tips for Intentional Leadership from One Who’s Walked the Talk

By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

There’s plenty of discussion around why service leaders deserve a seat at the C-suite “table,” and I don’t disagree. However, while this seat may be deserved, it cannot be demanded. I think there’s value in service leaders reflecting on what beliefs, actions, or habits might be keeping things stuck and perhaps getting honest about where they may benefit from taking a fresh approach.

Roy Dockery, Sr. Director of Field Services Research at TSIA, shared some valuable insights on this topic in a podcast earlier this year. We discussed some of the ways service leaders can become stuck in, and sometimes even perpetuate, the “outsider” role. Roy gave advice, based not only on his interactions with various service organizations but also on his own experience as a service leader, for how leaders can shift their thinking and evolve their actions to yield better results.

Recently, my conversation with Carrie Toth, VP of Customer Experience at Generac Power Systems, reminded me of the podcast earlier this year with Roy. My first impression of Carrie when we connected to discuss a podcast was, wow – this woman is smart. But not only smart, effective. Over her career, Carrie has alchemized her experiences into well-curated skills that allow her to gain influence and inform decisions.

Carrie’s advice, distilled into five tactics, could apply to any leader in any company in any industry, really. She’s shared a real-world guide to conducting yourself in a way that will garner attention and respect, because it’s been earned. If you didn’t listen to the podcast, or aren’t a podcast person, here’s what she suggests.

#1: Take Time to Observe & Assess

Rather than coming in like a wrecking ball, even one formed of passion and good intent, consider slowing down. Carrie suggests taking time to assess the broader organization you’re working in, to invest time in observing before acting. Understanding the dynamics of company culture is crucial to determining how best your objectives fit.

“I find that the company cultures can have many different dynamic elements. Cultures can be around growth. Cultures can be around cost out. If you don't understand those, it's really hard to frame a road map for your team that matches with those cultural aspects as well as the business objectives,” she explains. “And then you're just fighting a battle all the time of what you want for your team and how to make a compelling business case.”

While you might quickly form some of your own opinions, Carrie urges leaders to lean in to the power of listening. “When I come into an organization, I’m really focused on listening. It’s important to do skip-levels with my team as well as peers and then upwards to understand the brand of the team and how people feel about it,” she says. “I’ll use visual boards where we display metrics and say, what do you think about these metrics? I’ll ask questions like, are these the right goals that you think we should be working on? Sometimes I find that we're over invested or trying to achieve something sales aren’t even asking for, which is very costly proposition. Calibrating that the team is working on the right things and has the right goals is crucial and then understanding what's important to those people and what they think we're good at already versus where they think we need to improve.”

These interactions and time spent observing allow Carrie to gain what she refers to as a 360-degree view of what she’s learned triangulated with what a variety of stakeholders, including employees, really think. “That allows me to shape up a short-term game plan of how to get aligned while we create a long-term roadmap. It shows people that you’re listening and have reflected input from stakeholders in your strategy. Sometimes you’re able to shine a light on a disconnect in the organization that needs addressed. But you’re positioning yourself as wanting to calibrate to the environment and to partner and that’s always well-received,” she says.

#2: Earn Your Voice by Building Relevance

Only after you’ve spent ample time observing and listening can you channel that into a voice that builds relevance and will earn attention. Once you understand the company’s biggest objectives, as well as the team’s sentiment, you can determine what focus will be most relatable to senior leadership and most impactful to your function.

How you speak up from here can depend somewhat on your level in the organization, what projects are underway, and what phase of the planning and budgeting cycle the business is in. Carrie suggests considering first how you can get involved in what’s already in play before introducing new ideas. “It’s important to understand the cadence of the business and the forums where you should be plugged in, and then how do you get involved in the right initiatives that are already in motion versus creating a bunch of new ones straight away,” she says.

She also stresses that, particularly for experienced leaders, this can force an exercise of reigning in your views or vision to align to what’s already in play. “You need to take stock of what the team is already working on and what they’ve already determined is important, and find your way to hook in,” Carrie advises. “Sometimes this means changing my own priority list. I may think I need to do these seven things over the next year in order to be successful, but if the team is already funded and resourced to work on number seven, I need to adjust myself to tackling that before number one. Sometimes this is an internal battle within yourself, and you go home pulling your hair out. But it’s important to understand that as long as you get to the endpoint, it doesn’t matter which road you took to get there.”

By staying married less to your own vision, you can dive into what’s in play to instead apply your leadership to steering the project to success while building rapport and creating trust. This then puts you in a better position when the next strategic planning window comes along to ensure your voice is heard and to play a larger role in crafting what’s next.

#3: Practice Smart Storytelling

Storytelling can be a challenge for service leaders because many find they speak quite a different language than the broader business. But it’s an art that will serve you well when it comes to getting buy-in and support for what you feel is most important. Crucial to smart storytelling is knowing your audience and speaking in terms they care about.

Knowing your audience was covered in part in tactic #1 – take the time to observe the dynamics of the broader business and understand the personalities (and motivators) of the key characters. Where I see many service leaders struggle more is in “translating” the world of service – and its challenges and opportunities – into the native language of the C-suite.

Again, Carrie has honed this skill over time. “Generac is a growth company, so it’s focused very much on new customer acquisition and upsell, cross-sell, etc. These are great things to focus on, but I need a lot of foundational things on the team too. So, for me it’s finding ways to position yourself within that growth initiative,” she explains. “If I focus, for example, on how does post-sale sell new equipment, it might not be what I think is the team’s number one mission, but it’s a mission that’s relevant to the business and it’s a story that resonates. I can then frame things I need inside of delivering growth and I do deliver it, but I’ve also gotten the additional pieces that benefit the team overall. It’s a bit more of an art than a science, though.”

Art, indeed! Carrie goes on to explain that while this art of storytelling becomes a more familiar and natural craft, the narrative that works for one business won’t necessarily work for another. “Each business has a different love language, and you have to find that out a little bit through trial and error,” Carrie says. “I remember talking to our leadership team about upsell and cross-sell and then in listening to their feedback, the light bulb goes off. I understand what they need to hear and see and know that if I deliver that, I have the attention and credibility I need.”

#4: Land and Expand

Once you’ve learned to watch for those lightbulb moments and you know what it is that sparks that connection between your story and the target audience, you can then turn language into action. Carrie suggests an approach of “land and expand” – creating value around what’s most important to senior leadership and then using that success to expand into more of what you want to change or accomplish.

“Showing results, even on a small scale, is a way to earn belief that leads to investment,” Carrie explains. “I've done pilots on my team where my team would say things like, why are we working on this when this is the bigger opportunity? And I’m teaching them that, if we can show what we can do to contribute to new equipment growth, then with that excitement we can explain that to do more of it, we need an upgrade to the CRM, or we need a consumer data platform that'll show us this so we can have a more elegant conversation, or we need screen sharing that'll allow us to see their old equipment and position it to the right customers at the right time, or AI lead scoring. Whatever the tool is that we're trying to get, it'll benefit us for post-sale support, as an example, but we frame it in the presale context.”

As Carrie points out, in service and support, you’re often seeking a foundational toolset that is necessary for whatever scenario you’re working toward – so this act of framing it around what’s most important to the business is a way to gain relevance and buy-in but helps in accomplishing many other objectives as well. You’re simply storytelling around the topics your audience cares most about.

#5: Always Remain Agile

While the skills throughout these tactics are translatable, the storylines and narrative and audience members will change. So, service leaders must become adept at being agile. Objectives change, plans need to shift, success criteria evolve – and you have to obviate these waves and be proactive in how you respond.

Carrie relies on lean methodology with a heavy dose of common sense. “Most businesses still have some type of continuous improvement team. Historically, these are more plant-based resources or people that might be a headquarters team that get farmed out to a variety of ops teams to drive productivity. You're always begging for those resources because the plant has so many different needs and I've just found in my career that I always lose to the plant. So, for me, it's a non-negotiable when you have a large team, very complex processes, and work across many different systems to work on process and lean because it is so meaningful for productivity and for the employee experience,” says Carrie, “I’ve always had a dedicated CI leader, and I see that as a bit of a secret sauce. Having that CI leader on the team, they're infused in a lot of different cadence meetings, huddles, stand ups, project reviews, and that allows them to work on the cultural pieces. I think having a dedicated person and using those tools consistently and for culture is key.”

A Note on Authenticity

I find myself wanting to add a few notes here after reflecting on Carrie’s advice, particularly for those who will read through this insight rather than listen to the podcast. First, it was clear to me in our discussion that what Carrie is suggesting here is smart communication and the application of emotional intelligence.

In my opinion, Carrie is not suggesting being inauthentic or staying quiet when you feel it’s right to speak up. The use of these tactics isn’t to “play” people or to be anything less than transparent; rather to intelligently position your needs or ideas in terms you’ve taken the time to learn the audience cares about.

I say this because I think there are a lot of nuances here – any of these tactics, if poorly executed, could backfire and have the opposite effect than intended. And this is precisely what was so impressive to me about Carrie – that she isn’t presenting this advice as how to “play the game,” but rather what she’s learned over years of experience in how to communicate and build influence genuinely and effectively.

Walmart’s Offensive AI Strategy

Walmart’s Offensive AI Strategy

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Starting Off Strong

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6 Tips for Change Leadership vs. Change Management

Walmart’s Technician Development & Field Service Revenue Potential

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#1: Take Time to Observe & Assess

#2: Earn Your Voice by Building Relevance

#3: Practice Smart Storytelling

#4: Land and Expand

#5: Always Remain Agile