Walmart CEO John Furner worked his way up from the garden center. After 30 years, he’s sharing the one trait that matters most in his job

John Furner (Credit: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Semafor)

For the past 13 years, Walmart sat atop the Fortune 500 as America’s revenue king. But this year, Amazon pulled off what once seemed unthinkable: overtaking the $930 billion market cap retail giant and ushering in a new phase in the battle for retail supremacy. For Walmart CEO John Furner, however, adapting to change is just another day at work.

“As long as I’ve been in retail—it’s officially 33 years—it’s always been changing,” Furner said in a recent interview with Fast Company. “Getting comfortable with change in a world that continues to change, I think is a really great trait for any leader.”