8月3日（星期六）,，沃爾瑪首席執(zhí)行官董明倫和妻子正走在共進(jìn)午餐的路上，這時他接到了一個電話,。對沃爾瑪來說,，那本就已經(jīng)是混亂而又令人悲傷的一周了。幾天前,，在密西西比州南海文市的一家沃爾瑪門店,，一名員工開槍打死了店經(jīng)理和一名部門經(jīng)理。而從這個電話中,，董明倫獲知一場新的危機正在上演：埃爾帕索一家沃爾瑪門店里有一名槍手正在四處射擊,。

董明倫立即前往沃爾瑪位于阿肯色州本頓維爾的總部。到那之后,，他留下妻子獨自下車,，徑直向沃爾瑪?shù)膽?yīng)急運營中心走去。那里的安全,、運營和人力資源團(tuán)隊正在追蹤現(xiàn)場情況,。當(dāng)時，南海文市的悲劇在他的腦海里仍然記憶猶新,。董明倫說道：“但在進(jìn)入應(yīng)急運營中心后沒有多久,，我就發(fā)現(xiàn)這次的情況有所不同?！?/p>

這次的槍手是一名21歲男子,，不是沃爾瑪員工，有報道稱此人從達(dá)拉斯附近的家中驅(qū)車約10個小時來到埃爾帕索,，打算槍殺墨西哥裔人,。這名歹徒用一桿AK-47打死了22人，傷24人,。當(dāng)晚,，在代頓又發(fā)生了一次大規(guī)模槍擊事件，這種大屠殺在全美范圍內(nèi)引發(fā)了一場有關(guān)槍支暴力的最新熱議——沃爾瑪則成為了討論的焦點,。

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon was on his way to lunch with his wife when he got the call. It was Saturday, Aug. 3, and it had already been a sad and tumultuous week at the company. A few days earlier, at a Walmart in Southaven, Miss., an associate—as Walmart calls its employees—had shot and killed the store manager and a department manager. Now, McMillon was told, a new crisis was unfolding: There was an active shooter in a Walmart store in El Paso.

McMillon immediately diverted his route to Walmart’s Bentonville, Ark., headquarters, and his wife dropped him off. He went straight to Walmart’s emergency operations center (EOC), where security, operations, and human resources teams were tracking the situation. The Southaven tragedy was still fresh in his mind. “But it didn’t take very long once I got into the EOC,” says McMillon, “to figure out this was a different kind of circumstance.”

This time the shooter was not an employee but a 21-year-old man who had reportedly driven some 10 hours to El Paso from his home near Dallas, intending to gun down people of Mexican descent. Using an AK-47 style assault weapon, the gunman killed 22 people and wounded another 24. Along with a second mass shooting that night in Dayton, the massacre kicked off a new national debate about gun violence—with Walmart in the middle of the conversation.

槍擊事件發(fā)生幾天后,，《紐約時報》的安德魯·羅斯·索爾金給董明倫寫了一封公開信，呼吁他利用沃爾瑪?shù)挠绊懥Γ滦г摴径嗄陙碓诳沙掷m(xù)發(fā)展領(lǐng)域中的做法,，向槍支行業(yè)施加壓力,。加州一名23歲的沃爾瑪員工在線上請愿網(wǎng)站Change.org發(fā)起請愿，要求沃爾瑪停止出售槍支,。截至發(fā)稿時,，這份請愿書已經(jīng)征集7.3萬多個簽名。

迄今為止,，董明倫一直避免卷入更大規(guī)模的政治和政策對話。槍擊事件發(fā)生后的次周周二,，他前往得克薩斯州與門店經(jīng)理和員工會面,，他說那“只是為了擁抱人們，傾聽他們的心聲”,。同日,，董明倫發(fā)表了自己寫給沃爾瑪員工的公開信，反思了槍擊事件,，表示該公司目前將專注于幫助埃爾帕索的員工和客戶,，并與執(zhí)法部門合作。

董明倫在公開信中寫道,，沃爾瑪將“深思熟慮地做出回應(yīng)”,。幾天后，當(dāng)被問及是否已經(jīng)就如何參與政策討論的問題做出任何決定時,，他表示現(xiàn)在還不是合適的時候,。“毫無疑問,，我們公司成為了焦點,。”他說,，“但我今天還沒有準(zhǔn)備好談?wù)撨@個問題,。”

董明倫很清楚地知道,，此類問題不太可能很快消散,。而努力應(yīng)對復(fù)雜的社會政治問題，是管理全球最大公司的負(fù)擔(dān)和責(zé)任——沃爾瑪?shù)摹白阚E”已然相當(dāng)于一個不小的國家,。憑借5140億美元的營收,，沃爾瑪輕松登上了今年《財富》世界500強排行榜的榜首，公司在全球范圍內(nèi)擁有220萬名員工,，僅在美國就有150萬名員工,，是全球最大的非政府雇主。

現(xiàn)年52歲的董明倫在這家大型零售商度過了整個職業(yè)生涯，但當(dāng)他在五年半以前走上最高領(lǐng)導(dǎo)崗位,，成為繼標(biāo)志性創(chuàng)始人山姆·沃爾頓之后的第四位沃爾瑪首席執(zhí)行官時,，他發(fā)現(xiàn)這家公司有點過時了。那時,，沃爾瑪不僅在網(wǎng)購方面嚴(yán)重落后于亞馬遜,，就連美國連鎖店這一核心業(yè)務(wù)也舉步維艱。董明倫得出的結(jié)論是,，他需要在員工方面進(jìn)行投資,，以吸引質(zhì)量更高的員工，提高留職率,，并借此最終改善店內(nèi)體驗,。

In the days following the shooting, Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times wrote an open letter to McMillon calling on him to use the company’s influence and leverage, as it has in sustainability efforts over the years, to put pressure on the gun industry. And a 23-year-old associate in California launched a petition at Change.org to stop the sale of firearms at Walmart. At press time, the petition had garnered more than 73,000 signatures.

McMillon so far has resisted being drawn into the larger political and policy conversation. On the Tuesday after the shootings, he traveled to Texas to meet with the store’s managers and associates, “just to hug the people and listen to them,” he says. That same day, McMillon published his own open letter to Walmart’s associates, reflecting on the tragic nature of the shootings but saying that the company would focus for the time being on helping associates and customers in El Paso and working with law enforcement.

McMillon wrote that the company would be “thoughtful and deliberate in our responses.” Asked a few days later if he’s made any decisions about how to engage in the policy debate, McMillon says it’s still not the right time. “No doubt, there’s a spotlight on the company,” he says. “But I’m not ready to talk about that today.”

The questions aren’t likely to go away, as McMillon well knows. Grappling with complex sociopolitical issues is part of the burden and the responsibility of running the world’s largest company—one with a footprint the size of a not-so-small country. Walmart easily ranked No. 1 on this year’s Fortune Global 500 thanks to its $514 billion in revenue. And with 2.2 million associates globally—1.5 million in the U.S. alone—the company is the world’s biggest nongovernment employer.

McMillon, 52, has spent his entire career at the massive retailer. But when he stepped into the top job five and a half years ago—becoming just the fourth executive to lead Walmart after iconic founder Sam Walton—he found the company in a bit of a rut. Not only was Walmart trailing Amazon badly online, but also its core U.S. stores were struggling. McMillon concluded that he needed to invest in his workforce—to attract better-quality associates, boost retention, and by doing so ultimately improve the store experience.

這個想法并沒有受到普遍的歡迎。在董明倫向華爾街稱其計劃提高員工工資——他表示,，沃爾瑪已經(jīng)為此投入了45億美元——之后,，公司股價暴跌。在我于2015年給《財富》雜志撰文介紹董明倫時,，他的這種戰(zhàn)略還沒有成果,。當(dāng)時，沃爾瑪剛剛公布業(yè)績稱,，美國同店銷售連續(xù)第六個季度持平或負(fù)增長,。而在8月初，沃爾瑪則公布業(yè)績稱其美國同店銷售連續(xù)第20個季度實現(xiàn)了正增長,。從2015年11月觸及低點到今年8月中旬,，沃爾瑪?shù)墓蓛r飆升了86%，同期標(biāo)普500指數(shù)的累計漲幅為43%,，期間沃爾瑪?shù)氖兄翟黾恿?190億美元,。

在這五年時間里，只有沃爾瑪每年都入選《財富》雜志“改變世界的公司” 排行榜,。在過去,，沃爾瑪之所以能夠上榜，主要是因為無論是在公司自己的運營中,，還是在整個供應(yīng)商網(wǎng)絡(luò)里,，沃爾瑪都在推動可持續(xù)商業(yè)實踐方面發(fā)揮了領(lǐng)導(dǎo)作用。但在今年,，沃爾瑪則憑借其對員工的長期投資而取得了成功,。這種投資遠(yuǎn)不只加薪那么簡單：公司通過其“學(xué)院”計劃為數(shù)十萬名員工提供培訓(xùn)課程。

It wasn’t a universally popular idea. After McMillon told Wall Street that he planned to increase wages for his legions of associates—McMillon says the company has invested $4.5 billion in the effort—Walmart’s stock tumbled. When I profiled McMillon for Fortune in 2015, his strategy hadn’t yet yielded results. The company had just reported its sixth straight quarter of negative or flat U.S. same-store sales. At the beginning of August, Walmart reported its 20th straight quarter of positive U.S. same-store sales growth. From its low point in November 2015 through mid-August, Walmart’s stock has soared 86%, vs. 43% for the S&P 500—a gain of $119 billion in market value.

Walmart is the only company to have been named to Fortune’s Change the World list in each of its five years. In the past, Walmart has earned its way onto the roster primarily for its leadership in driving sustainable business practices, in its own operations and throughout its supplier network. But this year Walmart makes it on the strength of the long-term investment in its people. That investment goes well beyond simple pay increases: The company has offered training courses to hundreds of thousands of associates through its Academies program.

現(xiàn)在,，沃爾瑪正在此基礎(chǔ)之上發(fā)展其Live Better U計劃。去年,，該公司與職業(yè)培訓(xùn)初創(chuàng)公司Guild Education合作推出了這個項目,。項目名稱來自于沃爾瑪“省錢，讓生活更美好”的口號,。允許員工以每天1美元的價格,，無債務(wù)地獲得大學(xué)學(xué)位和技能證書。約有6000名沃爾瑪員工已經(jīng)通過這個項目注冊入學(xué),，另有4000名員已經(jīng)簽約,，將從今年秋季開始參加該項目。沃爾瑪推出這個項目的一部分想法是,，參與者將可擁有適應(yīng)經(jīng)濟發(fā)展的技能和韌性,?！澳惚仨氁心芰芾碜兓仨氁心芰W(xué)做新的任務(wù),?！倍鱾愓f道,，“有些人在接受培訓(xùn)后會離開公司，但我們并不介意,?！?/p>

從董明倫的角度來看，Live Better U是一個連續(xù)體的一部分,，這是一種長期的努力,，目的是確保沃爾瑪繼續(xù)保持 “學(xué)習(xí)型”組織的身份。這種學(xué)習(xí)能夠在經(jīng)濟和情感上打造韌性,，讓員工為將來可能發(fā)生的任何事情做好準(zhǔn)備,。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

本文另一版本登載于《財富》雜志2019年9月刊的《改變世界》系列文章中。

譯者：艾倫

審校：夏林

Now Walmart is building on that foundation with its Live Better U initiative. Last year the company partnered with Guild Education to launch the program—the name comes from Walmart’s “Save Money, Live Better” slogan—allowing workers to pursue college degrees and skills certificates, debt-free, for $1 per day. Some 6,000 Walmart employees are already active and enrolled in school through the program, and another 4,000 are signed up to start this fall. Part of the idea is that they’ll have the skills and resilience to adapt as the economy evolves. “You’ve got to be able to manage change. You’ve got to be able to learn new tasks,” McMillon says. “Some people will go outside the company after receiving that training, and that’s okay with us.”

From McMillon’s perspective, Live Better U is part of a continuum—a long-term effort to make sure that Walmart continues to be a “l(fā)earning” organization. That kind of learning builds resilience, both economic and emotional, that can prepare his workforce for whatever comes next.

A version of this article appears as part of the Change the World package in the September 2019 issue of Fortune.