Ep. 11 - People-Led Growth: The Invisible Magic of Tech with Vinod Bidarkoppa

Retail doesn’t just use technology anymore, it runs on it, and that changes what leadership looks like at the highest level. We sit down with Vinod Bidarkoppa, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Walmart International, to get a clear view of how modern omnichannel retail, supply chain systems, marketplace growth, and in-store operations connect through a single tech strategy.

We dig into the idea behind Walmart’s “people-led, tech-powered” purpose and what it means day to day: using technology to remove friction for customers and members while making associates’ work simpler. Vinod shares how he thinks about “invisible” tech, where the best systems fade into the background and give frontline teams the tools and confidence to serve people better.

From there, we get practical about global platform design. Vinod explains the “vehicle chassis” metaphor for building common global platforms once, then layering on what each country needs, from regulation and compliance to local customer behaviors like cash on delivery. We also talk about cross-cultural leadership, why the “what” can stay consistent while the “how” must adapt, and how Team of Teams principles like shared consciousness and empowered execution help distributed teams stay aligned across time zones.

Finally, we look at the speed of change in retail digital transformation, why transformation is intentional, and how AI in retail raises the bar on upscaling, curiosity, and learnability. If you lead teams, build products, or work anywhere in the retail value chain, you’ll walk away with frameworks you can actually use. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review, then tell us: what’s the biggest friction point you want technology to remove next?

Transcript

Purpose Of The Podcast

SPEAKER_01 0:08

I want to clarify that this podcast is distinct from my responsibilities as a professor in the Sam M. Walton College of Business. Nonetheless, it aligns with my aspiration to provide practical insights to professionals and business by showcasing companies and people that can enhance your ability to manage, lead, and strategize and market effectively in the retail value chain. And now without further ado, let's get into the exciting episode. I have with me today Vinod Bitterkoppa, and he is Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Walmart International. Thank you so much for joining me today, Vinod. Really appreciate it. Thank you, Matt. Thank you. I'm excited to be here with you today. Well, Vinod, uh I know you've been at Walmart for quite a while. You've had a number of experiences, but your current role, I just can't imagine it. I mean, you're dealing with Africa, India, China, Latin America. That seems really complex. But I know you've had a lot of really um challenging roles at other companies. When you you started your career with American Airlines and Sabre, the consulting group, you have experience, lots of experience at Hewlett-Packard and Tesco and other companies. But I I would think this must be the most complex setting of your career based on what I can see. Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 1:41

You could say that. And in in many ways, I feel the experience that this current role puts you through is like a capstone course in an MBA. I mean, which you relate to. Like as students go through all of the different courses at the end of the curriculum, yeah, this one course which kind of pulls, brings together all of these things. So if I go back and think about, hey, how did American Airlines shape me in the learnings around the digital space? How did Tesco shape me around building once and deploying a lot of our products in multiple markets? Because they operated in about 12 plus countries as well, right? How did HP shape me as a technology leader, leading PLs for large large geographies, whether it's Asia Pacific or India and so on? So coming into Walmart and really experiencing the scale and the breadth of it, um, I think it those opportunities, those experiences really prepared me well to step into this role and be the best I could be.

People-Led Tech-Powered Retail

SPEAKER_01 2:48

So, Vinod, you know, when I think about um your role as CTO and executive vice president, um, I mean, very few people that work for Walmart ever rise to the level of executive vice president. That's a that's a big achievement, not just with Walmart, but I would say in global business. Um so clearly you've been an outstanding manager and leader, both, but you're also a technologist. That's a that's a lot to manage, but you're doing it in multiple markets. So um how do you deal with the diversity of markets that you're you're in?

SPEAKER_00 3:37

No, good question. So so what I tell my team is look, you gotta be every business is a technology business today, if you think about it, right? Um take Uber as an example. Um if you didn't have the ability to for the customers to order, you know, using the app, or for the drivers to pick up the right, that's the platform on which the business uh is based on. Similarly, I think most of our businesses in Walmart, the underlying um enabler is technology, whether it's e-commerce, whether it's marketplace, advertisements, you know, our uh data products in the store, the supply chain. Think about every aspect of our business. There's technology embedded in it. But then equally more important is understanding the business. Understanding, hey, how do we need to serve our customers and members well? What is it that we're what's our purpose, right? So trying to connect those dots from our purpose and to enable, help our customers serve our customers better, there is technology underlying each of, I mean, enabling each aspect of it. So if as a leader, if we can appreciate and understand both the aspects, our business aspect, uh, the dimension and the technology dimension, and bring them together in a way that we can make the sum greater than the parts, uh, is how I think about my current role in international, which is really building out the technology pieces that enable our customers and members in multiple markets. So being bilingual in that sense, right? So understand your business, understand the technology, bring them together to really help you know create those delightful experiences for the customers, irrespective of the market.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

I remember when Walmart rewrote their purpose statement to say Walmart is a people-led, tech-powered omnichannel retailer dedicated to helping people save money and live better. What really caught me, my attention when I first saw it, um, was the way it talked about um being a people-led tech-powered. That's a neat combination. But I think as CTO, you're kind of really at the the core of you have to live that every day.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

You have to live that every day. And I'm so thankful that you know Doug and the EC came up with this concept of people-led tech powered, because we have two million people. We have two million, two million associates across the globe. And then we have the the industry's industry best technology. But how do we put the technology in the hands of our associates who serve our customers? Right? That's where the magic happens. If we kind of if I can let this technology remove the friction from how our customers interact with us, if I can put this technology in the hands of our associates in the stores, in the in the DCs, and the FCs, and in our clubs, in a way that it makes our associates' life easier and simpler, and then takes the mundane out of the way uh from their daily tasks and life. And really, what's left is the opportunity for them to engage with their customers and members, make it easy for our customers and members. So uh technology can make things very difficult. We can also make things very, very easy. And our goal and purpose is really to make technology as invisible, really, and give the superpowers to the associates so they can serve our customers and members better.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Well, you know, I I think about you've been involved in technology and leadership really your whole career. And when I look at your your resume and what you did in American Island Airlines, but also Hewlett-Packard and other uh companies, so that's very U.S. focused technology and leadership. But now you're looking at multiple markets. Is it um I guess what I'm wondering is how much of a homogeneous strategy do you use in terms of rolling out technology in those markets, or is it highly customized by market?

SPEAKER_00 8:08

A couple of years ago, Matt, we had to come up. Uh I was trying to come up with an analogy to help the broader audience understand how is it that we should be thinking about the platforms? Um, because we were on this, our strategy was to really build common global platforms. Um, and there were questions asked, like how do we, what do you mean? What does it, what does the common platform mean, so on and so forth. And one of the things I've always learned in my um career is communication is key, and and how you help explain and simplify things is key. And the knowledge I came up with was this concept of um the chassis, the vehicle chassis. So many years ago, when some of the automobile companies had a similar challenge, you know, their cost line was going up, there are, you know, there are too many variants of these vehicles in multiple markets. So they went back to the drawing board and said, hey, there's a common core chassis on which we will build, which will be built once, and then we're going to overlay the different versions of um, you know, uh the vehicle as the customer sees it, depending on what segment of the customer we need to be serving. I'll give you an example of that. So Toyota had this um uh common core chassis on which today, if you look at the Camry, which is a sedan, um uh a Siena, which is a minivan, a tundra, which is a truck, and um they're all built off the same common core chassis. But guess what? One is for a soccer mom, one is for a daily use sedan, a Camry, and so on and so forth. So what they essentially did was really the core components of it, the transmission, the the engine, they are built just once, right? But then if they have to put the steering wheel on the left side in the UK, or the right side, sorry, the right side in the UK or the left side in the US, that was a change that they had to do, which is just specific to that market, right? So, what are the equivalent things for us in retail when we build those products with a similar philosophy of build a common core chassis once, right? Because everybody needs it, and we can innovate on it, and then we'll drive our cost line down and we can drive more innovation up and bring the products faster to the market. And then what we do specifically in each market is then what is required by regulation, what is required uh from a compliance perspective, and maybe there's 10 or 15 percent that are usually specific to the customer in that market. So, for example, um in Mexico, we do cash on delivery, right? And you'll see that in a lot of um you know emerging countries. People don't trust digital, they want to see the product, you know, arrive at the home, footstep the the doorstep, and they'll say, okay, here you go, right? Um, we don't do that in in mature markets, or then the the in the in the in the US and Canada and so on. So there are things that you have to um think about, which is very unique and special in those markets from a customer perspective or even from an associate perspective, and then incorporate those customizations. But I would say by and large, retail is based there are only fundamentally, you know, there's planning, there's buying, there's moving, and there's selling. The four core processes. Then, you know, and I would say 80% of them are consistent across markets. So build the common core chassis, which about 80% of it is common, and then look at what is it that 10% is regulatory and compliance related, because that's specific to that, you know, the market itself, based on government regulations and so on. And another 10% could be like how is the customer uniquely interacting, and what are the specific customer needs in that market? So um that's kind of how I think about it.

Culture Context And How Leaders Adapt

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Well, you know, several first of all, that's an excellent metaphor. Um but also I've heard you say several things so far, just in 15 minutes, that remind me of key parts of Sam Walton's Ten Rules for Building a Business. Um one, you said that we should communicate you should communicate with your partners as much as you can. And that's one of his 10 rules for building a business. Um but listening and communication, because Sam Walton said, you know, listen to your associates and figure out how to get them talking. Um I've heard you say these things several times as we've just even over the in the past when we've talked. And I'm I'm wondering how much of that is just your way of doing business, or how much of it is what you've picked up in the Walmart culture?

Shared Consciousness Across Time Zones

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Yeah, I think it's some and some. Um I came to this country when I was 22 or 23. I was born in India. And I'm fortunate enough to have had global roles sent me back into Asia, and into Europe. Um and what I've learned in my career is that there are countries which are low context, there are countries and cultures which are high context. Um and they're very nuanced. And you and unless you actually live and work in those environments, and again, I was fortunate enough to live and work in Singapore, live and work in China, live and work in India, live and work in the UK. So when you do that every day and you see the behaviors and the cultural aspects of the people who live and work with you, that's very different from sitting in the headquarters and saying, or taking a 60-minute course and saying, Well, I know how the Germans work, right? So understanding the context of the culture, how people live and work is very important. Um, how do you actually tailor the messages to people who live in China and work in Mexico versus how we live and work in the US or a mature market like either the US or Canada is very different. So I think it's a lived experience in some ways that that you bring to the table. And um, but you still have the overarching um construct of where we want to go, what's our common purpose? You know, what's the you know, helping people live better, save money and live better? Those things don't change, right? Um your goals for the the year don't change, right? How do you want to get things done? Um but how the how piece, the what doesn't change, the how it as a leader, you know, you can uh you know improvise on the how pieces of it. How do you communicate, how do you share your the information? Um the the the the the values the values stay the same, right? So it's it's more of the interaction and knowing the environment in which you live and they live and and work and making sure that um we provide them the psychological safety to be their best, to motivate them to you know uh be empowered uh associates. Um the other thing, I mean you haven't you haven't asked me, but I'll I'll I'll answer this. I'll I'll say this. Um I um have you read this book? It's called uh Team Um, it's by General uh Stanley McChrystal, a team of teams. Oh, yes, of course, yeah. Yeah. It's my favorite book. That's a great book. It's a favorite book. I tell you why. Because I think in the book he talks about how traditionally US would go to war, what happened in the Iraq war, right? Um and then when we had our you know um army on the on the uh uh on the on the edges, how do you communicate? You can't see them every day. You you know, you don't interact every day. But that's where I go back to um the core philosophy of shared consciousness and empowered execution. You asked me, like, how do 18 countries work in you know in synergy, right? So that's the only way. You go back to the team of teams and say, hey, what's our shared consciousness? What are the core common things that we want to achieve together as a team? But then you guys are in a different time zone than I am. You are awake when I am asleep. I'm awake when you are asleep. There's not a whole lot of overlap in sitting together and drawing on the board for four hours. So trust is very important. Having those shared goals is very important, right? What is it that the teams need to accomplish is isn't identifying and clarifying and driving that clarity. And, you know, this is the one thing that comes to my mind is around it's the the head, the heart, and the hands. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Right. So driving clarity, exciting them about the opportunity, driving the optimism, and then lastly, really just the task and the execution aspect of it, and creating a closed loop of measuring those outcomes, you know, at a certain interval so they feel good about their accomplishment, and then you, you know, you share the feedback with the team. So um it's a bit of an art and a science, isn't it, to be to be very honest.

Rapid Change AI And Upskilling

SPEAKER_01 17:41

That is a great book. Anyone listening, I would really encourage you to read that, especially if you're a leader. Um and I can see why it would be particularly helpful in a global kind of uh an environment. Um So, Vinod, uh, you know, when I think about um all leadership uh involves dealing with change or driving change. But we've l you during the time you've been at Walmart, we've uh I think retail may have changed more in that time than it had in the previous years before, uh decades before. And it's also been very tumultuous and challenging for a lot of reasons. I mean, certainly COVID was challenging, but of course Walmart was also rolling out new omnichannel processes, um automation, and so things are coming really fast. AI now is changing things faster than I think anyone could have imagined, I think. Um What is your perspective on dealing that with that rapid change? And people can get worn out. I I remember um Sam Walt, there's there's a uh video I had the uh pleasure of seeing. It's a small video. When when when Walmart was moving to the new offices, they found a lot of artifacts from days gone by. And the the the the uh Walmart archives are collecting them, you know. One of them was a video of Sam Walton, I think it was in maybe 68 or 69, and he says, retail is change. It's always a whether it's because of competition, uh, consumer demands, uh laws and regulations, supply, et cetera, et cetera. And we saw a lot of change of that uh just in the past 10 years. Um But he he said in that video, he said, a lot of people complain that I change things too much. And that's when he said retailing is change. But this rate of change has never been seen before. And being uh the CTO, you're kind of at the cusp of that. How do you deal with that and and getting people on board with the change?

Career Lessons Curiosity And Risk

SPEAKER_00 20:12

No, great question. So I would say um I first interviewed for my the CTO role at Samson somewhere in the late 2019 timeframe. Um we were Walmart's market cap was about 300 billion, and the adjusted share price was somewhere around 36. We just crossed a trillion dollars. I know. Congratulations. Right, thank you. And and and and our share prices, I haven't looked at it, but it's somewhere in uh north of 120. So look at the change that has happened in six years. It's phenomenal, right? Um and I would say a lot of things, um, you know, we have a new flywheel that operates, it helps us drive a lot of income streams, which is you know, in it beyond the core Omni retail itself. Um this this is change to then why this is change to the company, this is change in which we how we operate. Um and there will be more changes. So change is inevitable. Transformation is intentional. Right. And I think the path that uh Doug has set for us, and now John, um, we will be doing more and more of that. And now we are embracing AI, gener traditional AI, generative AI, and increasingly agent tech AI, um, and excited about you know how we can incorporate all of that technology in the way we our customers shop, how we can uh, you know, make the the uh the associates' lives easier, again, to the extent that we take the mundane away, right? Um, and let the magic happen. Um So John, I'll go back and and and and and and send the same thing. I mean, the only constant is is our values and the and the purpose, and everything else can change. And that's what Sam had always said. And true to that, um, you know, there will be more of it. Um now, the impact of that on our associates, I think we'll, you know, we are helping our associates to train and upskill them uh in this space in the AI as well, so that they can bring and use those tools to incorporate them in making their tasks easier and better. Um, learnability is so important, man. I think uh curious curiosity and learnability are the two things that um you know everybody has to imbibe and incorporate. And I tell that to my two kids. I've got a 26-year-old and a 22-year-old. Um we were all lucky. I probably worked for three or four companies. My dad was a professor in the university. He worked for 40 years in the same university, right? I don't know how many companies or will my kids even work. There'll be something called, you know, I work for a company anymore with all these geek things that are happening. We just need to be able to adapt and adopt. Um, and change is the only constant. And if you're looking if you're able to learn and be adaptable, I think that'll, you know, open doors.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

So I'd like you to reflect for a moment. Um, you know, you started out, uh, you got your undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, you got a master's of science in IT, you have an MBA from SMU, Cox School, um, which is a great MBA program. Yeah. Um but you've also had a lot of uh really interesting roles um in leadership and technology. But you know, a couple questions. One, um, if you could think of maybe an experience or experiences that really shaped your leadership, what might they be?

SPEAKER_00 24:05

It'll be hard to just point to one or two. I think it would be more of a compendium of experiences and examples. Um I've really never had, like, what do you want to become in five years of a person? Um my motto has always been do a good job of what's been given to you, excel at it, and then you know, greater things happen. Right? So um, and and as part of that, I've transitioned from, like you said, from an engineer on a shop floor, working from you know a German manufacturing company to working in you know as in in the airline business, going out and running a P ⁇ L for a technology company, coming back as a CIO for a large company, you know, European retailer, come back. So I I would say the the the the the core aspects of that has always been taking some risk as an individual, um being curious and learning all the time. Um so if you start, if you just incorporate some of those things and and be open and and be open to diversity. Uh enjoy the process, and though enjoy the journey is what I would say. I think that's true. Enjoy the journey. And then you become richer as a person because my team will tell you, Matt, that I have a lot of exam, lateral examples from the other industries that I worked in. And that helps me. That helps people, it helps uh anchor people. Because sometimes real examples bring it home, right? I always tell them when there's turbulence, what happens? A pilot, you see the engines revving and you go, the plane moves faster. So don't sit there wobbling, you can't even have a glass of wine. Just power through that turbulence, you get to a state, you know, a nicer place, and you can enjoy your libation of choice. So I think it would be hard to pinpoint one or two experiences. I would say it's the opportunity to work in an environment that is um is different. Um I always say there is no comfort in growth, and there's no growth in comfort.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Boy, that's true.

Final Thanks And Closing

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Yeah. So putting yourself out there, raise your hand. Um because at the end of the day, I want my career to be a book of interesting chapters, not one long chapter. That works too.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

I love the yeah. Well, Vinod. Yeah. Thank you for taking time to visit with me. And um again, congratulations. Your career is remarkable, and your current level at Walmart and in global business is truly remarkable. Well done. Thank you, man. I enjoyed talking to you today. Appreciate it.