On Thursday, November 14th, I had the privilege of attending the Walton MBA Leadership Summit. Through multiple thought-provoking fireside chats, I gained invaluable insights from some of the most influential leaders in the USA, including Doug McMillon, President & CEO of Walmart, John Calipari, Head Coach of the University of Arkansas Men's Basketball Team, Shelley Simpson, President & CEO of J.B. Hunt, Bill Dillard III, Senior Vice President of Dillard's, and Aaron Saint, Senior Managing Director at Accenture. These leaders highlighted their deep connection to Northwest Arkansas and shared their expertise across diverse industries.
Despite their varied backgrounds, the ideas they shared revealed that some tenets of successful leadership transcend industries. Three major themes from these conversations on team building and leadership stood out to me: psychological safety, transformational leadership, and maintaining a growth mindset.
Empowering Teams through Psychological Safety
Psychological safety plays a pivotal role in cultivating resilient teams. Psychological safety—the degree to which team members feel safe in taking interpersonal risks—was repeatedly highlighted as essential for innovation and adaptability. Creating a space within a team where everyone has the freedom to speak up and take risks without fear of being shut down, ridiculed, or otherwise embarrassed, was mentioned as a critical foundational step in team building.
As John Calipari, Head Coach of Arkansas Men's Basketball Team, emphasized, “No system stays the same every year since the team changes every year. Fail fast, give room to fail.” Calipari underscored the value of experimentation, which team members only feel comfortable doing if the team culture is undergirded by psychological safety.
In my “Leadership and Ethics” class with Dr. Adam Stoverink, I learned that psychological safety allows team members to speak up and coalesce, and that team conflict only leads to higher performance when high levels of psychological safety exist. It is also evident that all teams will eventually face difficult situations, making the importance of psychological safety paramount.
Praising effort even when the outcome isn’t perfect, as Coach Calipari suggested, “creates psychological safety” and fosters resilience because it teaches members that results do not always come in the beginning, but staying dedicated to the collective team cause will inevitably bring success.
Aaron Saint, Senior Managing Director at Accenture, reinforced this idea of trust and alignment, stating, “When we leave this room, we all agree.” This ensures everyone feels heard and respected, and that the entire team always functions as one. These insights highlight the transformative power of psychological safety and align seamlessly with what we’ve studied in Dr. Stoverink’s “Business Leadership and Ethics” class.
Servant Leaders Invest in Others
True leadership means putting others first, investing in their growth, their ideas, and their success. This captures the crux of servant leadership, which Doug McMillon, President & CEO of Walmart, emphasized as being about "investing in someone else and seeing what it does for you. Lose yourself in the team."
Shelley Simpson, President & CEO of J.B. Hunt, echoed this sentiment with her focus on “empowering people to change by listening.” Leaders who listen more than they speak create an environment where team members feel empowered to prioritize the group’s needs over their own, ultimately building stronger, more cohesive teams.
Many of the leaders also added their thoughts on this topic. As Aaron Saint highlighted, "Culture matters: Assume positive intent," because this assumption fosters trust and collaboration. Finally, Coach Calipari grounded the idea of servant leadership with a simple but profound statement: "If you genuinely care about people, you’ll always have a job."
Servant leadership isn’t just a style: it’s a commitment to fostering a culture where the collective thrives because the individual feels valued and supported. This concept of selfless leadership ties directly into what we’ve learned in “Business Leadership and Ethics.” We have analyzed how leaders enable their teams to make their own decisions by equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and resources necessary to succeed.
Learning to Love Change
Driving change requires conviction, a clear vision, and a willingness to challenge mediocrity.
For example, I plan on taking Aaron Saint’s bold advice: “Slap the table: When you believe in the vision, show conviction.”
So many of the leaders at the summit talked about navigating and championing change. Doug McMillon added the importance of values in navigating change, stating, “Learn to love change—commit to values and find your north star.”
Bill Dillard III, Senior Vice President of Dillard’s, tied transformation to purpose, saying, “Connect efforts with something meaningful and bigger than yourself,” motivating teams to strive for more. Coach Calipari also emphasized setting high expectations as a driver of change, noting, “If you demand mediocrity, you’ll get it. Demand more and get more.”
Together, these examples highlight that meaningful change happens when leaders inspire their teams with both passion and purpose, but only after a clear vision of success has been set and agreed upon. These comments complement what the MBA program has taught me: the need to “lead with a growth mindset" because embracing change requires aligning team goals with a shared purpose while fostering adaptability and perseverance.
Connecting Lessons to Practice
The lessons shared at the Leadership Summit directly connect to the principles we’ve explored in our “Business Leadership and Ethics” class as well as so many other classes and workshops in the MBA program. The emphasis on psychological safety—creating an environment where people feel secure to take risks—echoes the importance of trust as a cornerstone of ethical leadership. Similarly, the servant leadership insights from Doug McMillon and Shelley Simpson show that putting others first will build stronger, more cohesive teams. Finally, Aaron Saint’s call to lead change with conviction ties reminds me that great leaders are authentic leaders who anchor their decisions in a core set of values.
This summit brought so many leadership theories from the classroom to life, providing practical examples of how the leaders of the world today actively approach ethical leadership that we learn about in class. What struck me the most, though, was how all of these leaders placed the impetus on us to do the same, as we will become the leaders of the future.
