#242: Gui Loureiro, CEO of Walmart in Canada, Chile, Mexico & Central America – To transform your business, transform yourself first

How Leaders Lead with David Novak

David Novak Leadership

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management

4.8 • 596 Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you’re wanting to see big change in your company, here’s a question: are you willing to change, too? Gui Loureiro, regional CEO of Walmart for Canada, Chile, Mexico, and Central America, shares what it took to lead a digital and cultural overhaul at Walmart Mexico—and why he had to evolve as a leader to make it happen. This episode is a powerful reminder that the big transformations you want for your team and company will also mean some transformation for you personally. You’ll also learn: A powerful question to ask in meetings that’ll keep your work customer focused Specific strategies that help your team feel valued How to shift to a more agile process for implementing ideas An insight you need to hear before your next career talk with your boss Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The How Leaders Lead App⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daily Insight Emails⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I called Carlos, who became my part in the book as a coach. I said, Carlos, I need your help. We need to start to change. Walmart can lead it. And Carlos looked at me and he knew me for one and said, yeah, Guy, I can do that. I just have one question. Who's going to be the CEO of this new company? He said, what will mean? I am the CEO. Yeah, but who's going to be the CEO when we transform the company? It's me, Carlos.
0:23.9	No, no, you can't. You can't. Because you grew up in command and control. When you think you're right, you don't listen. And it says, so you cannot be the, in a much more agile company, much more digital. You're not the right guy.
0:38.3	Yeah, but I want it.
0:39.2	The fact you want doesn't matter.
0:41.2	You cannot be.
0:42.0	Unless you want to change.
0:43.6	If you want to change, if I're willing to, and it's going to be tough,
0:46.5	now I had to change to deserve the job that I already have.
0:50.2	I have. If you're wanting to see big changes in your company, here's a question for you. Are you
1:03.5	willing to change too? Welcome to How Leaders Lead. I'm David Novak, and every week I have
1:09.0	conversations with the very best leaders in the world to help you become the best leader you can be. My guest today is Guy
1:16.1	Lureiro, the chairman of Walmart Mexico, also known as Walmex. It's the leading retailer in Mexico
1:23.7	with more than 200,000 associates and a current market cap of $60 billion.
1:30.2	Gia has led a massive digital and cultural transformation there, and you're going to love
1:34.5	all the stories he has to tell about it. But you're also going to see that Ghee didn't just
1:39.2	ask the company to change. He was willing to change himself too. I see a lot of leaders make big company plans, but they don't stop to think about how they
1:48.3	personally need to change in order to lead him.
1:51.1	But Gee does, and after this episode, you're going to be inspired to do the exact same
1:56.2	thing if it's required.
1:58.0	So here's my conversation with my good friend and soon to be yours,
2:01.6	Gee Lou Ray Eero.
2:08.1	You know, Gee, whenever I used to have meetings at Young Brands, I would start by doing a
	...

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