When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you.

The world is a bell curve. Classroom test scores, employee performance in a company or how many people really, really like you. No matter the population you're studying, they always fit neatly across the standard deviations of the famous bell curve.

Wal-Mart's size and scale is so vast they literally have the ability to change the face of the entire country. If Wal-Mart were to make a decision tomorrow to refuse to sell a single product made with partially hydrogenated oils, for example, we'd probably see rates from heart disease decline a few years later. That's how powerful Wal-Mart is.

The trick to balance is to not make sacrificing important things become the norm.

A friend is an emotional bond, just like friendship is a human experience.

People don't buy what you do; they buy what you stand for.

My own career is a case study for what I believe in.