In the interview with John List, an esteemed Professor of Economics and Chief Economist at Walmart, the discussion revolves around the challenges of scaling innovations and the need to approach it scientifically rather than relying solely on intuition or subjective judgments.
We live in a society that highly values and rewards innovation. If you go to Amazon and type in innovation, you will find over 60,000 books. But the work of scaling those innovations can almost be an afterthought. A similar search will yield only 4,000 results. My next guest thinks there is something wrong with that picture and has written a book to address it.
It was 30 years ago that Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, and his wife Helen, started the Walton Family Foundation. It has gone on to be one of the most highly regarded and thoughtful family foundations in the country, with three major areas of focus, and a never-ending commitment to learn and get better. And it is a pleasure to have here with us tonight, Kyle Peterson, the Executive Director of the Walton Family Foundation.