At Walmart’s annual meeting last year Doug McMillon took the stage and made a cocktail. He poured a can of Coca-Cola into a glass of cumin, black pepper and lemon juice to make an Indian masala coke.去年，在沃尔玛(Walmart)年会上，董明伦(Doug McMillon)上台调制了一杯鸡尾酒。他把一听可口可乐(Coca-Cola)倒进一个放有小茴香、黑胡椒和柠檬汁的玻璃杯中，调制出一杯印度玛莎拉(masala)可乐。

“Can you start to imagine what that tastes like?” he asked. “你们能想象它尝起来是什么样吗？”他问道。

Mr McMillon, head of Walmart’s international business, needed a guinea pig: “Where is Mike Duke?” he asked. “Mike, c’mere.” Mr Duke, his boss and Walmart’s chief executive, came forward, took a long slurp, and declared “fantastic” – unconvincingly. As he returned to his seat, Mr McMillon said: “You know that taste you have in your mouth right now? That taste is gonna be there for about 48 hours.” The audience of Walmart employees burst into laughter. 这位沃尔玛国际业务的主管需要找只“小白鼠”：“麦道克(Mike Duke)在哪儿？”他又问。“老麦，过来。”麦道克是董明伦的上司，时任沃尔玛的首席执行官。麦道克走上前，长嘬了一口，然后郑重其事地说：“棒极了”——尽管台下的人不太相信他说的是真的。等他回到座位上后，董明伦说：“现在你知道你嘴里面有的那股味儿了吧？那味儿两天也散不了。”台下，沃尔玛的员工爆发出一阵笑声。

The moment was typical of Mr McMillon, who is renowned as a soft-spoken southern charmer – but one with a hard edge. That day he came across like a precocious teenager having fun at the expense of his ponderous father. Now it is time for him to take over the family shop. Walmart said this week that Mr McMillon would become its chief executive on February 1. 这一幕展现出了董明伦的特点。众所周知，这位来自美国南方的颇具魅力的人士说起话来温文尔雅——但也不乏锐利。那一天，他给人的印象就像一位老成的少年在拿他稳重的父亲开玩笑。如今，到了他接过这家家族企业掌门职位的时候了。沃尔玛近日宣布，董明伦将在明年2月1日成为公司的首席执行官。

The 47-year-old is very much a child of Walmart, where he has worked for nearly three decades, schooled in the folksy yet ruthless ways of its founder Sam Walton. He grew up in Walmart’s home state of Arkansas and is a favourite of the children of “Mr Sam”. Their near 50 per cent stake in Walmart gives them the final say on big decisions at head office in Bentonville, as well as a $130bn fortune. 47岁的董明伦算是地地道道的沃尔玛子弟，他在这里工作了近三十年，经受过创始人萨姆?沃尔顿(Sam Walton)那种亲切朴实而又不失铁腕的办事风格的磨练。他在沃尔玛总部所处的阿肯色州长大，是“萨姆先生”钟爱的后生之一。沃尔顿家族握有沃尔玛将近一半的股权，这让他们在位于本顿维尔的总部享有重大问题的最终决定权，也让他们坐拥1300亿美元的财富。

Mr McMillon will be taking over a business that, with sales of $469bn last year, ranks as the world’s biggest company, but he will inherit a raft of challenges. Walmart has been too slow to change in the US, where its sales are falling, and too hasty overseas, where he has increased annual revenues by nearly $37bn but made mistakes in a rush to expand in China and Brazil. He is also likely to be in charge at the conclusion of a corruption probe that began with bribery allegations in Mexico but has extended to Brazil, China and India. 董明伦即将接掌的沃尔玛，去年创造了4690亿美元的销售额，是世界最大的企业。不过，他也继承了许多挑战。沃尔玛在美国的转型过于缓慢，销售额不断下滑；在海外又太急于扩张，虽然年销售收入增长了近370亿美元，但在贸然进入中国和巴西市场的过程中，犯下了不少错误。同时，他可能还得承担起一项腐败调查的收尾工作，该调查因针对沃尔玛墨西哥子公司的行贿指控而起，但后来延伸至巴西、中国和印度。

Mr McMillon first worked for Walmart as a teenage warehouse hand in the summer of 1984. He met his wife Shelley at another summer job at the Bank of Bentonville. In 1990, while he was studying for his MBA at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, he rejoined Walmart as a trainee buyer at store 894. 1984年夏，十几岁的董明伦在沃尔玛的仓库打杂，这是他的第一份工作。他在本顿维尔银行(Bank of Bentonville)做另一份暑期工作时，遇到了后来成为他妻子的谢利(Shelley)。1990年，他在俄克拉何马州塔尔萨大学(University of Tulsa)读MBA期间，再次加入沃尔玛，担任894号卖场的实习买手。

Robert Morris, a friend at the time, recalls winning a church basketball tournament with Mr McMillon. “He was literally one of those guys everyone liked. He had it all. He was good looking, good at sports, he was smart, he had great work ethic,” he says. “All the guys loved him and all the girls loved him too.” 罗伯特?莫里斯(Robert Morris)那时是董明伦的朋友，他回忆起与董明伦共同赢得一场教堂篮球比赛的经历。“他确实是那种人见人爱的小伙子，各类优点都被他占全了：长相帅气、擅长体育、聪明机智，有极强的职业道德。”莫里斯说，“无论是小伙子们还是姑娘们，都非常喜欢他。”

Mr McMillon moved to Walmart headquarters in 1991. Arriving then, the year before Mr Walton died when he was still chairman, gave him first-hand Mr Sam stories that Mr Duke, a later arrival, never had. On his first day, Mr McMillon found a note on his desk complaining that fishing line at Kmart was cheaper than Walmart’s. He handed it to his boss, who reacted with horror: “This is from Sam Walton. Have you fixed it?” The lesson, according to Mr McMillon, was to pay attention to detail and act with urgency. 1991年，董明伦调到沃尔玛总部工作。他到总部的时间是沃尔顿去世的前一年，当时后者仍担任着沃尔玛的董事长，这给了董明伦亲身体验沃尔顿办事风格的机会——这种经历是在那之后才来到总部的麦道克从未有过的。上班第一天，董明伦发现他办公桌上有张便条，内容是抱怨凯马特公司(Kmart)的钓鱼线比沃尔玛的便宜。他把便条递给了上司，后者大惊失色道：“这是萨姆?沃尔顿写的。你解决这个问题了吗？”董明伦说，这件事告诉他要注重细节、行动时要有紧迫感。

He rose through the ranks mostly as a merchant picking Walmart products. Then in 2006 he took charge of Sam’s Club, Walmart’s buy-in-bulk warehouse store, before becoming chief of its international business in 2009. 董明伦在沃尔玛层层晋升，基本上负责的都是公司的商品采购业务。2006年，他开始掌管山姆会员商店(Sam's Club)，这是沃尔玛的仓储式大卖场。随后，他于2009年成为沃尔玛国际业务的主管。

Mike Cockrell, a former executive who worked for him in India, says that Mr McMillon set about visiting the most important markets – and brought his wife and two sons. “It sort of humanised him in all of the countries. And it gave his family a good understanding of what his job was. The reason he’s going to be gone a lot.” 前沃尔玛高管迈克?科克雷尔(Mike Cockrell)曾在印度作董明伦的下属。他说，董明伦带着妻子和两个儿子，去几个最重要的市场转了转。“这让他在这些国家的员工眼里变得更有人情味了，也让家人更好地了解了他的工作，了解了为什么他将来会频繁出差。”

On the job Mr McMillon is deliberate and decisive, Mr Cockrell adds. “He’s got high standards for people that work with him or around him. He’s got a very low tolerance for people who make errors – and that is a Walmart thing. He’ll allow you to fail once. You don’t want to make the same mistake twice.” 科克雷尔还说，对待工作，董明伦既审慎又果断。“他以高标准来要求与他共事或身边的人。他对犯错者的忍耐度很低——而这也是沃尔玛的特色。他允许你失误一次，但你别想再犯同样的错误。”

Walmart’s critics say it underpays its staff, a charge the retailer rejects. John Marshall of the United Food and Commercial Workers union says: “The jury is out on Doug McMillon.” The optimistic view is that he will do things differently. “The cynical view is that the choice of McMillon, who has been the heir apparent for many years, represents a continuation of Bentonville’s rigidly anti-worker philosophy.” 沃尔玛的批评者说，这家企业给员工的薪酬过低，但沃尔玛拒绝承认这一点。美国联合食品和商业工人工会(UFCW)的约翰?马歇尔(John Marshall)说：“陪审团是站在董明伦这头的。”乐观的看法是，董明伦会调整公司的做法。“悲观的看法则是，选择董明伦出任首席执行官（多年来，他一直被当作这一职位的当然继承人）意味着，本顿维尔顽固的反工人理念将得到延续。”

Cameron Smith, a Bentonville headhunter who works with Walmart and its suppliers, says Mr McMillon is one of the few genuine “keepers of the culture”. That moniker is often applied to Don Soderquist, an executive who became Mr Walton’s standard bearer (and wrote that he founded the company on “principles found in the Bible”). When Mr Smith shared a table with both men this year, he says, “I reached over and snapped a picture because I thought, wow, this is past and future”. 卡梅伦?史密斯(Cameron Smith)是本顿维尔的一名猎头，与沃尔玛及其供应商合作。他表示，董明伦是少数几个真正称得上“企业文化守护者”的人。这个称号常被用在唐?索德奎斯(Don Soderquist)身上，这位沃尔玛高管是沃尔顿的“旗手”（而且索德奎斯曾经写过，沃尔顿是基于“从《圣经》中找到的原则”创立了沃尔玛）。史密斯说，今年当自己与索德奎斯和董明伦一起吃饭的时候，“我伸出胳臂拍了张照片，因为我心想，哇，他们代表了沃尔玛的过去与未来啊”。

Leslie Dach, who stepped down this year as a Walmart executive, says you can believe in the culture and also push for modernisation. He stresses that Mr McMillon has done both. Analysts say Walmart needs to change in the US because its giant Supercenters are getting old as shoppers turn to convenience stores and ecommerce. In several emerging markets, Walmart is yet to crack the right combination of pricing, products, store design and location. 今年已卸任沃尔玛高管职务的戴思理(Leslie Dach)说，你可以在信仰沃尔玛文化的同时，推动公司的现代化。他强调称，董明伦把这两件事都做了。分析师表示，沃尔玛在美国需要转型，因为随着顾客转向便利店和网络购物，沃尔玛巨大的超级购物中心正逐渐过时。在几个新兴市场，沃尔玛还没有找到定价、产品、卖场设计和地理位置之间的恰当结合点。

At this year’s annual meeting, Mr McMillon had his boss performing again. Calling Mr Duke on stage, he said: “We’ve never seen him demonstrate his athletic ability.” He had brought a set of football goalposts guarded by a Brazilian keeper and wanted Mr Duke to take a penalty kick. Mr Duke had other ideas, bringing in a ringer to take the shot. “That’s not right,” Mr McMillon complained. Mr Duke’s stand-in missed the goal, blazing the ball high over the bar (he was English). Sam Walton’s children need Mr McMillon to be a surer shot. 在今年的年会上，董明伦又叫他的上司上台表现一番。他在招呼麦道克上台时说：“我们从来没见他展示过运动能力。”他设了个足球球门，找了名巴西守门员，想让麦道克罚个点球。麦道克灵机一动，找了个人来替他射门。“这就不对了嘛，”董明伦抱怨道。代替麦道克罚球的那位没射进去，球高高地飞出了门梁（那人是个英国人）。对萨姆?沃尔顿的子弟们来说，董明伦需要成为一名更有准头的射手。