A Day in the Life of Walmart’s Chief People Officer

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Donna Morris, the Chief People Officer at Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I’m the Chief People Officer at Walmart, and my work is one of my biggest passions.

Over time, I have become very intentional about how I structure my time. I’ve navigated busy days for years, so very little truly derails me.

If something unexpected comes up, I try to take a moment and move forward. There is truth to the analogy: “I would rather look like a swan on the surface, even if my feet are flapping under the water.”

Here’s a day in my life:

I wake up to U2’s “Beautiful Day”

My alarm goes off at 6:05 a.m. every day to U2’s “Beautiful Day.” I like U2, and I like to start every day thinking it’s going to be a great one. If I have a meeting, it’s set even earlier.

My problem is, I hit the snooze button once or twice. It is not good if I hit it three times, which means I won’t be up until around 6:30.

I’m online as soon as I get out of bed

The enemy might be that I have two phones. I have a personal device and a work device. By the time I’ve gotten up out of bed, I have already looked at both to see if anything was urgent from the night before.

It can become the enemy when I become distracted and lose focus. I try to be disciplined about setting both aside at times and frankly shutting down all screens, but I am a work in progress.

I plan my outfits in advance

I’m pretty organized. The night before work, sometimes even as early as Sunday night, I’ll figure out what I’m going to wear during the week.

I know there are certain individuals who probably wear the exact same thing, but I’m not one of those people.

If I’m going out to a store or a club, I’m going to wear denim of some sort, probably a T-shirt and a jacket, and always my Walmart badge and running shoes or really comfortable sneakers. That’s different from how I dress when I come into our office, where I’ll probably be a bit more formal.

I listen to CNN’s podcast and the ‘Today’ show while getting ready

Male leaders can probably get ready in 15 minutes. They can probably get up, wash their hair, and away they go. Female leaders take longer to get ready. So, rightly or wrongly, it takes me longer to get ready, and it depends on whether it’s a wash-your-hair day or not.

I do my own hair every other day. I’ve never been the type to not do that. I budget about 45 minutes to an hour to get ready in the morning.

As I get ready, I listen to the “CNN 5 Things” podcast, and I always have the “Today” show on, because I also want to hear about what’s happening there.

It takes me five minutes to get to the office

I’m not sure it even takes me five minutes to get to the office. That was very deliberate. I try to arrive at the office between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m., and then I start my day.

I have back-to-back meetings starting at 8:35 a.m.

My day is typically spent meeting great associates — whether they work for us or might be interested in working for us — as well as leaders.

During a typical day, I have a back-to-back schedule, and my meetings tend to start at five minutes past the half hour. My first meeting of the day is at 8:35 a.m., unless I’m meeting with some of my peers who start earlier.

I’ve never tried coffee or tea — but I drink Diet Coke every day

When I was five years old, I burned my mouth so badly that I was afraid to drink anything hot for years. I’ve just never been a hot drink type of girl, I guess.

I try to limit myself to two Diet Cokes a day, although every once in a while, I sneak in a third. I typically don’t drink it before 10 a.m.

I don’t have big meals during the day

I don’t have big meals in the morning or at lunch, but I am a believer in having something in the morning.

I was on a routine of doing overnight oats in the morning, and then I’d have two hard-boiled eggs every lunch. But I recently received feedback that I should do my protein in the morning and overnight oats at noon.

I stay at the office until 6:30 p.m.

I tend to stay at the office and work until around 6 or 6:30 p.m., when there are fewer people around and I can have some quiet time.

Then I go home, and if I’m really fortunate, my husband is home. He’s a fantastic cook, so I benefit when he’s in Bentonville with me. When he’s not with me, it means I need to be more organized, because I have to cook for myself.

I have fantastic cookbooks because buying cookbooks is something I’m passionate about. However, I’m not as good at cooking, so I end up on the same rinse-and-repeat meal plan.

My evening routine includes work, calling my father, and getting ready for the next day

I call my father almost every night. He lives in Canada.

During the evening, I also go down the social rabbit hole and spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, as well as other social channels.

I travel a lot

My schedule looks largely the same when I’m traveling. If I’m traveling domestically, it usually involves visiting Walmart stores or Sam’s Clubs.

Sometimes we announce them, and sometimes we don’t. Unannounced visits are sometimes the most valuable because you can really see in real time how the facility works and how people interact.

I check out the ability for our associates to learn. I see if there’s a private room where moms can nurse. It really gives us a good sense of our work environment for our associates, and those days are great days.