• Walmart chief people officer Donna Morris oversees more than 2 million workers globally.
• She shared three green flags that make her lean in during a job interview.
• Morris said she likes to see a track record of grit in a candidate.

Donna Morris oversees over 2 million employees, so she knows a strong candidate when she sees one.

Walmart's chief people officer identified three green flags that make her lean in during a job interview — regardless of the role they're applying for. First, she told Business Insider that she looks for a genuine alignment with the company's purpose and values.

Second, she wants to see an ability to take on multiple responsibilities and make things work.

"They demonstrate a track record of grit," Morris said, defining those individuals as people who have overcome adversity.

In an ideal world, she said that means they've worked on the frontline, since so many of Walmart employees have customer-facing roles. She said the company looks for candidates with a focus on service.

Morris, who started working at 13 at a dry cleaner's and then worked at a drugstore for eight years, said that if a candidate has never experienced what it's like to be a frontline hourly worker, it may be challenging for them to lead. Morris said those jobs gave her purpose, and she found it hard to resign.

Now, when she interviews candidates, Morris said her go-to question is "If I was to ask people who've worked for you before, what will they tell me?" She said the open-ended question generates a genuine response and helps her gauge whether the person is focused on servant leadership, which is a "big green flag."

Asking this question allows her to hear more about a candidate's first job or a work experience. She said that while graduating from an Ivy League school is valuable, she's more focused on hearing about what they've learned from work experience.

"What was the grit they had to persevere through?" Morris asked.

The chief people officer, who worked at Adobe for more than 17 years before joining Walmart, said that her third green flag is candidates who are passionate about making a difference.

"That, to us, would be really, really key," Morris said.

• Today's tip to get better at work: Get better at handling disagreements at work.
• Jeff Bezos wrote about his '"disagree and commit" strategy in a 2016 Amazon shareholder letter.
• Make your case, but once a decision is made, commit to the decision, even if you disagree.

Get better at: Disagreements

Today's move

In an era where leaders want to move quickly, you don't want to be the one slowing everyone down.

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, wrote about the phrase "disagree and commit" in a 2016 Amazon shareholder letter under a section labeled "High-Velocity Decision Making," and it's been making a comeback.

While Bezos popularized the phrase, it echoes a management philosophy that goes back to the 1980s, when Andy Grove ran Intel. Richard S. Tedlow, Grove's biographer, previously told BI that the concept of disagreeing and committing "was the essence of how he felt you should comport yourself at Intel."

Why it works

The idea behind "disagree and commit" is to defend your argument and make a clear case. However, if the team rallies around a different decision, you have to commit to it too. Bezos argued that the use of "disagree and commit" could "save a lot of time."

"If you have conviction on a particular direction even though there's no consensus, it's helpful to say, 'Look, I know we disagree on this but will you gamble with me on it? Disagree and commit?'" Bezos wrote.

The former Amazon CEO has even used it himself, such as when his team green-lit an Amazon Studios project that he didn't think would succeed. Instead of continuing the back-and-forth, he disagreed but committed to the plan.

Try it today

The next time you disagree with a coworker, make the case for your idea and give it your all.

Once the decision is made, though, ask yourself if there's anything you can do to help it work better.

The bottom line

You don't need to agree with every decision at your job, but everyone benefits if there's an expectation that once a decision is made, everyone rallies behind it and tries to make it work.

Source

This insight is drawn from Business Insider's reporting about the origins of the "disagree and commit" phrase that Jeff Bezos popularized, and why it's making a comeback. Read the full story in Business Insider from Ana Altchek and Tim Paradis here.

Has this framework for disagreements worked for you? Tell us what you think of this advice in the comments below.

• GoDaddy's CEO said Dara Khosrowshahi once gave him career advice that changed his leadership.
• Aman Bhutani said Khosrowshahi told him he'd never gain ad experience if he didn't start speaking up about it.
• The advice prompted Bhutani to push through the discomfort of learning new functions.

Getting a seat at the leadership table is a challenge in itself — but speaking up confidently once you get there is a different beast.

Aman Bhutani, CEO of the domain registrar and web-hosting company GoDaddy, said he received advice on navigating those moments from Uber's current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who at the time led Expedia and served as president of the brand. Bhutani was then the company's head of technology, and reported to Khosrowshahi.

Khosrowshahi gave him a chance to discuss advertising in a senior-level meeting they were both attending. While Bhutani was initially excited about the opportunity, he said that eagerness didn't come through.

"Sitting in this room of leaders, where there were people that had way more experience and expertise than I did, I didn't speak up," Bhutani told Business Insider.

Bhutani said he regularly spoke up in meetings about product, engineering, and other areas where he felt confident about. However, while advertising was a core interest, he hesitated to weigh in. After several meetings, Khosrowshahi pulled Bhutani aside and gave him feedback that the GoDaddy CEO said changed his career.

Khosrowshahi asked why Bhutani didn't share his perspective on functional marketing, since the topic was so critical for the business. Bhutani explained he didn't have "any actual experience" in marketing. Khosrowshahi's response, Bhutani said, was simple.

"'And if you don't talk about it, you never will,'" Bhutani said, recounting Khosrowshahi's reply. "'If you don't talk and make mistakes and say the wrong things and get beat up by the CMO, how are you going to learn?"

Khosrowshahi reminded Bhutani that Bhutani wasn't afraid to be wrong on the product-tech side. He told Bhutani that he should approach marketing the same way, even if he didn't have the same background.

That advice has since taken Bhutani far, he said. Bhutani later took over presidency of the Expedia brand from Khosrowshahi in July 2015, with marketing and advertising teams reporting to him.

Bhutani said that in his last job and current position as CEO of GoDaddy, he's had the chance to learn about every part of the business. That means he can speak with accountants, marketers, and auditors in their language. He said he has grown to enjoy learning about new functions, and seeks out people and situations where he's pushed to do that.

"I enjoy the stress and the discomfort of being in an uncomfortable space," said Bhutani, who has been GoDaddy's CEO for seven years now. "I enjoy the idea that I'm learning something new. It keeps me young. It keeps me happy. It keeps me engaged."

Bhutani learned that it's important to share his perspective, but said there's often a fine line between adding value and speaking just to prove you belong in the room.

Bhutani said another piece of feedback that stuck with him from his last job — positive this time — was from a board member who told him he has a good "tongue-to-ear ratio" and "brain-to-mouth ratio." In other words, he knows when to listen and think, rather than speak just to fill silence.

"I think if we all listened a bit more and thought a bit more, we would all do a bit better," Bhutani said.

• Walmart has more than 2 million workers — 500 of whom are promoted daily.
• Its chief people officer said she observes 2 qualities in those who move up the ladder quickly.
• First, they do the job they have well. They also show they can take more on.

Walmart promotes roughly 500 employees daily — so there's no shortage of opportunities to climb the ladder.

Workers who advance quickly tend to share two qualities, says Walmart chief people officer Donna Morris, who oversees the company's workforce of more than 2 million people worldwide.

The first is staying focused on the job in front of you, she said. Morris said the employees who stand out are motivated to make a difference and excel in their current roles.

"They are focused as much, if not more, on being exceptional at what they're doing today," Morris told Business Insider.

Once you nail the actual job you were given, the next step might be proving you can take on responsibilities for the role above you — before you get the title.

"Be the type of person that takes on over and above what's being expected of you," Morris said. "Be the person that asks or provides volunteerism for new ideas or new initiatives."

That also includes coming up with new ideas or volunteering to help with new initiatives. Morris said those actions show you can take on more responsibility.

In general, when hiring, Morris said she looks for evidence of the "grit that they had to persevere through." At Walmart, where most of its 2.1 million employees begin in frontline roles, she also likes to see that candidates have had some frontline experience. The chief people officer said it doesn't need to be in retail necessarily; it could be babysitting or helping out with a family business.

"If somebody has never really had to identify with what it's like to be a frontline hourly worker, it's going to be very hard for them to lead," said Morris, who started working at 13 at a dry cleaner's before taking a job at a drugstore two years later.

• Melanie Dulbecco has been CEO of the syrup company Torani for 35 years.
• Dulbecco said layoffs are a choice, and that Torani's decision not to do them has helped with retention.
• She said that the company is hiring fewer people than it would be if Torani didn't use automation.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Melanie Dulbecco, the CEO of syrup brand Torani. She's based in San Leandro, California, where the company is headquartered. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

I may sound different than most CEOs.

I grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood, and my parents divorced when I was really young. When I was little, I saw my mom struggle so much, and I noticed that some kids around me didn't have the same opportunities.

I felt this sense of inequity, and that became a motivating and driving force for me. I tried working in politics, then nonprofits, and eventually went into business. I wanted to build an opportunity company. When I met the family from Torani, they liked that idea.

I was the ninth hire at Torani in 1991 and became the first CEO in 1995. We now have over 500 employees.

When I started, we made $700,000 a year in annual revenue. We've grown 20% a year on average, and this year, we plan to hit over $800 million in revenue.

But to us, growth is not a financial endeavor. The trailing indicator of success may be the financials, but we think our work together creates the momentum and value in the marketplace that drives our growth.

It's very easy for us to say layoffs are not our approach. I think layoffs are a choice. I get it if a company is going through bankruptcy and has to make extremely challenging choices. Otherwise, I think it's a financial exercise that doesn't consider how you're going to be resilient or regain momentum — because you do that with a team.

Our workers aren't concerned about being replaced by AI

Torani is currently hiring fewer people than it would be if the company didn't use automation. We use automation to deprioritize manual, rote jobs with limited career mobility. We also use AI for consumer and market research, sales forecasting, and demand planning.

However, our team doesn't get worried about things like AI because they trust that we will both automate and elevate the work, that we will never do anything that squashes opportunities for people, and that we are looking out for everybody's success.

We're often in hyper-growth mode, which means we need people to know how to work together. The ability to work together, to collaborate, to address challenges, to be resilient in tough times, is critical. This strategy has also helped with retention.

We were faced with a choice during the pandemic

We had been planning a move to our new location in San Leandro in March 2020. That happened to coincide with the stay-at-home order. It was one of those moments where, as a leader, you feel like you have to breathe into a paper bag.

We had borrowed a lot of money from the bank to build our new flavor factory. The loans were going to start coming due in April, so the executive team came together to look at what we needed to do to be OK.

Before we did that, though, we asked: What will make us proud when we get to the other side of this? We had a long discussion about it and decided that making it as one team — without any layoffs or furloughs — would make us proud.

So we we scaled back marketing and advertising expenses and paused all company travel. All departments had to review their budgets. They got scrappy to identify and eliminate non-essential costs.

During the early months of the pandemic, Torani prepared for a 50% decline in sales. Thankfully, there was only a 20% decline in April of 2020, and revenue was back up in May. We quickly pivoted to online retail and grocery to fill the gaps left by cafés and drink shops closing their doors. Torani ended 2020 with a 15% year-over-year revenue increase.

We moved to our new location in six months instead of six weeks, but we got there. We couldn't have done that if we laid off our team. We needed to come together at that moment.

• "The world of generalists is long gone," said IBM's chief talent, leadership, and culture officer.
• Aparna Nair said IBM's clients aren't expecting general advice; they're looking for deep expertise.
• She said even if workers wear many hats, they still need extensive knowledge about their specialty.

It's a hotly debated question: Is it better to be an expert or a generalist in the AI era?

For Aparna Nair, IBM's chief talent, leadership, and culture officer, there's no debate. She said she doesn't think generalists alone "will cut it" in the workforce in the AI era.

"The world of generalists is long gone," Nair said.

Nair said that generalists may be able to rely on AI to learn a lot, but at IBM, for example, the company's clients aren't expecting general advice from its workforce. IBM is hired for its deep technological expertise, she said.

Nair said the same is true for entry-level hires. IBM, which has committed to doubling down on junior talent, expects new workers to arrive with the skills — and domain expertise — to take on more complex work earlier in their careers, Nair said.

She said workers should identify an area that aligns with their employer's needs, become an expert in it, and "go deep."

That expectation remains even as engineering roles are starting to blur with AI. In the past, a software engineer might have spent 20% of their time coding and another 20% testing, Nair said. Now, AI can handle much of the coding work, and engineers need the critical-thinking and judgment skills to evaluate what the technology produces, Nair said.

They also have more opportunities to work across the business, such as speaking with clients and marketing teams and bringing what they learn back into the products they're building.

While today's engineers may wear many hats and work closely with different teams, they still need deep expertise in their field — and an understanding of how their work shapes the experience of clients and colleagues.

Without that added knowledge, Nair said, it would be difficult for them "to do anything meaningful."

While domain expertise may be valuable, workers should also remain flexible. Nair said that there's "nothing more powerful" than when workers combine deep expertise with the right behaviors, and also use AI to their advantage.

"That's a lethal combination," Nair said.