Aging & Wisdom Quote by Lee Scott

Lee Scott’s line reads like a polite inversion of capitalism’s usual chain of command: serve customers, respect workers, expand the enterprise - and the financiers will fall in line. It’s a CEO’s attempt to reframe shareholder satisfaction as an outcome, not a marching order. In a culture where quarterly earnings calls can feel like religious services, the sentence offers a more operational creed: focus on the inputs you can touch, and the markets will reward the results.

The subtext is a message to two skeptical audiences at once. Internally, it signals to associates that they’re not merely a cost center to be squeezed for margin; they’re presented as a strategic asset whose treatment is tied to legitimacy. Externally, it reassures investors that any talk of employee welfare or customer-first rhetoric isn’t “soft” governance - it’s a productivity story that will still end at the altar of growth. Notice the careful sequencing: customers and associates come first, but the proof of devotion is “grow the business.” Stakeholders get the emotional front seat; shareholders still get the destination.

Context matters because Scott led Walmart during years of intense scrutiny over wages, benefits, labor practices, and community impact. The quote functions as reputational judo: it tries to convert critique into a managerial thesis. The brilliance is its plausibility; the weakness is its vagueness. “Take care” can mean genuine investment or better optics, and Wall Street’s pleasure, historically, has rarely been a patient emotion.