Judith McKenna has had one of the most storied careers in American retail. The Brit was the operational guru behind the overhaul of Walmart’s 4,000 U.S. stores, leading the major chain into the e-commerce era. Most recently, he oversaw the modernization of the company’s $100 billion annual international business, exiting some markets such as the United Kingdom., Walmart will also partner with other companies, including in India, where it operates an e-commerce business but no brick-and-mortar stores.
Taking on such a large-scale assignment has cemented McKenna at the top of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women rankings for years. The 57-year-old would definitely have been near the top of this year’s list, released Thursday, if she hadn’t surprised the retail world with her retirement announcement in August. Her successor, Kath McCray, previously worked at Walmart’s Sam’s Club chain, which rose from 28th last year to 14th, due in part to the size of Walmart International.
Mr. McKenna has long been seen as a top candidate to replace Walmart CEO Doug McMillon whenever he retires, but although Mr. McKenna will remain as an advisor to Walmart, he has no interest in becoming CEO again. He said he has no plans. There is still no sign that McMillon is going anywhere… wall street journal In March, he announced that he intended to stay on for at least three more years.
In a wide range of interviews, luck, McKenna shares advice for women looking to chart a similar path to the C-suite, and how American companies can increase the pool of female CEOs, who currently make up just 10.6% of Fortune 500 companies. I thought about whether it could be done. She credits Walmart for giving her the challenge of growth. By overcoming her difficulties and being outside of her own comfort zone, she was able to prove her mettle. But she also points out the importance of taking responsibility for her own career.
“I was able to have these experiences, but I also had to jump into it,” she said. luck A few weeks after leaving office.
On the employer side, she urges companies to support women through training, mentorship and frequent feedback, citing Walmart as a model. wonderful. But don’t forget that it doesn’t end there. ”
Still, corporate America is beginning to come under new pressure amid a backlash against its commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity. “Every job needs the best people. Full stop, end of story. No one doesn’t want a job just because of who they are. They don’t want a job because of who they are. I want to have a job,” McKenna said. “Despite the rhetoric around ESG, it’s a business imperative to do this and have diversity. The focus has to be, ‘How do we attract top talent?’ ”
Mr. McKenna joined Walmart in 2013 after spending 17 years at Asda, the British supermarket chain that Walmart acquired in 1999, and helped develop the retail giant’s online grocery business several years later. It was in that role that McKenna caught the attention of upper management at Walmart’s Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters. After two years in an international strategy role at Walmart, Mr. McKenna was named head of operations for Walmart US, now a $400 billion-a-year company.
So she became a top lieutenant to Greg Foran, former CEO of Wal-Mart US and now CEO of Air New Zealand, making Wal-Mart’s stores more attractive places to be, then still light years away. There was also a complete overhaul to support e-commerce businesses. Behind the scenes of Amazon. Mr. McKenna then moved to Walmart International in 2018 and was tasked with exiting Walmart’s large but struggling markets, such as the United Kingdom and Japan. This is a shift in direction for the company, which has long prioritized a presence in as many markets as possible.
Mr. McKenna also needed to decipher how to make Walmart more competitive in India, a notoriously tough market for Western retailers. Ultimately, she led the largest deal in Walmart history, with Walmart purchasing a majority stake in Flipkart for $16 billion, a move that has seen the company opt for e-commerce over brick-and-mortar stores and has always pursued brick-and-mortar stores. It was a big change. Domestic and international strategies based on
Along the way, McKenna says she learned to tolerate failure after each setback. “I’m still not particularly good at it, nor do I enjoy it, but I’m more used to it than before. If you’re not ready to put yourself out there and take risks, you’ll never move on to the next thing.” I can’t,” she says.
At the same time, she notes, CEOs need to instill a culture of tolerance for misfires and avoid surrounding themselves with yes-men. The key is not to dwell on the error, but to honestly analyze it, understand why it happened, move on, and avoid the cardinal sin of prolonged navel gazing. “The biggest thing that has helped me is having a team that lets me know right away when something goes wrong. If you can build a team that bounces back, you reduce the risk of making big mistakes,” McKenna said. says Mr.
Another piece of advice she has for aspiring business owners is to avoid cosplaying as someone you’re not. “When I first started, I was always trying to be someone else, always trying to fit in, always trying to find a mold that I thought would work,” McKenna says. “One of the benefits of getting older is that I’ve become more comfortable with myself and more authentic. It’s easier when you have more experience.”
There were many stops and starts during her and Foran’s store renovation. But they ultimately paid off, and Walmart’s growth gained momentum in the mid-2010s. And with the ability to ship from stores and pick up online orders in-store, the company’s e-commerce business is finally starting to seriously compete with Amazon. McKenna says refashioning Walmart US has been the highlight of her career. She says, “It was very important to me to restore some of the shine and create an environment where employees can thrive on an individual level.”
As for what’s next, McKenna insisted his time as CEO is over and he’s taking time to think things through. This may include some education, as both of her parents were school teachers. “I’m old enough to reflect on the great opportunities and career I’ve had so far, and young enough to write a new chapter. I feel like now is the perfect time to do it.”