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Walmart’s Chief People Officer Donna Morris has warned HR leaders not to overlook interpersonal and leadership skills as the business world leans more heavily on artificial intelligence and automation.
Speaking to Columbia Business School’s BizCast podcast, she outlined the firm’s approach to culture, the future of work, AI integration and work-life balance, among other things.
“Build your people skills. They cannot be automated,” Morris said. “Forget robots. I know robots. They don't have a personality. So I think there's lots of opportunity in the future for anybody that has strong interpersonal skills.”
She believes two distinct workforce groups will emerge, one leading people, the other leading technology. Both will require paid, future-ready skills, but the ability to manage others and communicate effectively will remain a key differentiator.
AI reshapes work but not core values
Despite Walmart’s investment in automation, Morris said disruption will vary by role. “We actually view that the disruption to our frontline workforce is going to be far lower than our campus workforce,” she explained. “Supply chain automation, other changes and investments has continued to reshape what our front line looks like.”
She said the business is rolling out generative AI tools globally, adapted to each market. Internally, she uses a virtual assistant called My Assistant to streamline performance reviews by prompting it to identify key employee contributions.
“We expect to have a My Assistant-like capability in every market in which we operate,” she added. “This year, we're launching it to many more countries, but it'll be a country by country situation.”
Morris stressed that failing to prepare for a different-looking workforce is a failure of leadership. “It's incumbent upon leaders to reimagine what workforces are going to look like, leveraging technology.”
Local flexibility, global purpose
With operations spanning everything from fashion in New York to digital advertising in Hoboken, the retail giant says it embraces cultural differences while maintaining shared values.
“We're very deliberate in terms of what the organizational structure looks like and then who the leaders are,” she said. “Our leaders look very different.”
Morris says the company has a lot of different cultures operating within it and as a result it has a strategy of ‘ring fencing’ some business units, creating tailored leadership and cultural models for different geographies.
“All of those communities can actually co-exist, provided that they're aligned to the same purpose and values,” she said.
Values like respect for the individual, integrity and service remain at the heart of the Walmart model, according to Morris, while workplace flexibility is also critical. “Every program we have to have is for everyone,” she said, highlighting an inclusive, adaptable approach to work-life integration.
She encouraged employees to “invest in their own wellbeing” and find a balance that suits their individual circumstances. “Different roles and people have different needs,” she said.
“I never loved the term work life balance because I don't think it exists. And that's not to be a downer on this situation. I I've always believed it's work/life integration. Sometimes that your work is going to demand a lot more of your life, and then there's other times that your life is going to demand more than your work.”
“I think at some point in time, everybody has to make the decision of where they want to invest their energies. What is most important for all of you to make sure that you do is really invest in your well being first. And I don't think any of us do that very well, but I think we live in a world where emotional health is super important and physical health is super important, and so put that all into the equation and make sure that you're you're calculating the right equation for what's really important in your life.”
