Leadership of Target and Wal-Mart Ceos

In a world controlled by consumer behavior, it is vital to attack every one of those customer’s wants and needs. With “savings” driving store reputation, Wal-Mart and Target are two all-star picks in the game of keeping consumers happy. A huge part of every corporation is the leadership behind the main guy, we all know as the CEO. Michael Duke, of Wal-Mart, and Gregg Steinhafel, of Target, are two CEO’s that operate in a similar type of corporation, but in a very seemingly different way. A brief history of these two chief executives leads into a quick description of what kind of corporation they are in charge of. Each one of these guys brings their personal traits and styles to their job, some of which are very progressive, and others have led to some questioning throughout the industry. The strategies each one implements is important to notice, and therefore is discussed in brief comparison of each CEO. As business minded people, it is safe to assume who we would want to lead us, and the reasoning behind it. CEO’s are the fuel behind every operation, and since we all are human, every CEO is different.

Michael Duke, CEO of Wal-Mart, was born December 7, 1949 (“Mike Duke”, 1). Michael Duke may have never become the CEO of Wal-Mart, had he not taken the advice of his Fayette County High School Physics teacher who said, “Go to Georgia Tech. Major in industrial engineering. And-most importantly-don’t go work in manufacturing like all the other industrial engineers. Go to work in the service industry. That’s the future of the opportunity in America” (Tharpe, 1). Duke took his teachers advice and graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1971 with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering. After graduating college, Duke spent the first years of his career working for Rich’s Department Store learning to manage stores, then after ten years, he moved from managing to logistics. Michael Duke worked for Rich’s Department Stores, as well as their affiliates Federated...