Good marketing offers us a view of the world. Bad marketing offers us a product to buy.

Leadership is a choice. It's not a rank, it's a choice. I know many people who are at the top of their organization who have authority. We have to do what they say because they have authority over us. But they're not leaders. We wouldn't follow them. They may be at the top of the company but they're not leaders.

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.

I never set out to do the things I'm doing now.

The next time someone starts listing all the reasons an idea won't work or can't happen, ask them to give 3 reasons it can.

People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it and what you do simply proves what you believe.

Offer someone the opportunity to rebuild a company or reinvent an industry as the primary incentive, and it will attract those drawn to the challenge first and the money second.