Mr. Sam's Hula on Wall Street
Sam Walton firmly believed in “having a heck of a good time” while working hard. One of the best examples of his fun-loving nature and standout leadership style happened in 1984 when he danced the hula on Wall Street – grass skirt and all. From his book Made in America: “Back in 1984, people outside the company began to realize just how different we folks at Wal-Mart are. That was the year I lost a bet to David Glass and had to pay up by wearing a grass skirt and doing the hula on Wall Street. I thought I would slip down there and dance, and David would videotape it so he could prove to everyone back at the Saturday morning meeting that I really did it, but when we got there, it turned out David had hired a truckload of real hula dancers and ukulele players—and he had alerted the newspapers and TV networks. We had all kinds of trouble with the people about permits, and the dancers' union wouldn't let them dance without heaters because it was so cold, and we finally had to get permission from the head of Merrill Lynch to dance on his steps. Eventually, though, I slipped on the grass skirt and the Hawaiian shirt and the leis over my suit and did what I think was a pretty fair hula. It was too good a picture to pass up, I guess — this crazy chairman of the board from Arkansas in this silly costume—and it ran everywhere. It was one of the few times one of our Company stunts really embarrassed me. But at Wal-Mart, when you make a bet like I did — that we couldn't possibly produce a pretax profit of more than eight percent — you always pay up.”
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