That one took three years to make happen.
And honestly, it was worth the wait.
At the World Retail Congress 2026 in Berlin, I finally sat down with Judith McKenna, the former International CEO of Walmart and current board member at Unilever and Delta Air Lines.
And fittingly, the conversation centered on something retail keeps coming back to, no matter how much technology changes around it.
People.
Frontline employees.
Store managers.
Leadership teams.
Customers.
Culture.
All of it is connected.
Why World Retail Congress Still Matters
One of the first things Judith talked about was the energy of the conference itself.
Not because of the size.
Not because of the production.
Because of the diversity.
Global retailers.
Digital-native startups.
Legacy operators.
Executives from every corner of the industry.
“There’s an energy at this conference.”
What stood out most was her emphasis on perspective.
The ability to sit beside someone facing the exact same challenges you are… and then five minutes later meet someone operating in a completely different environment altogether.
That cross-pollination matters.
Especially right now, when retail is evolving so quickly that no company has all the answers.
Investing in the Next Generation
One of the more interesting moments came when Judith described the Retail Accelerator Program attached to the conference.
A mentorship-focused initiative designed for rising leaders who have not yet reached the C-suite.
But what made it compelling was not just the mentoring.
It was the structure.
Executives rotate through “speed mentoring” sessions with participants, answering massive leadership questions in ten-minute windows.
Judith’s assignment?
“How do you lead and develop global teams in an era of uncertainty?”
Small question.
But her takeaway was important.
The learning goes both ways.
The next generation of retail leaders is bringing new perspectives, new concerns, and new expectations into the industry, and the smartest executives are listening just as much as they are advising.
How Frontline Employees Feel Matters More Than Ever
Judith’s panel at WRC focused on elevating the frontline worker, and the conversation quickly moved beyond wages and scheduling.
The core message was simpler and more foundational than that.
How employees feel while working for your company directly shapes how customers experience your brand.
“You should treat your employees… the same way you want them to treat your customer.”
That philosophy sounds obvious.
But operationally, it is hard.
Because culture is not built through slogans.
It is built through daily interactions.
Training.
Support.
Management.
Communication.
Trust.
And increasingly, technology plays a role in that equation too.
Judith talked about how automation and AI are helping remove repetitive tasks from store employees so they can spend more time serving customers instead of managing operational friction.
That distinction matters.
The best use of technology in retail is not replacing people.
It is freeing people up to do more valuable work.
The Store Manager Might Be the Most Important Role in Retail
One of the strongest insights from the discussion came from another panelist Judith referenced during the interview.
Store managers.
Or as Judith framed it, the “linchpin to everything.”
It is a role that often gets overlooked in transformation conversations dominated by AI, automation, and enterprise technology.
But execution still happens at the store level.
Culture happens at the store level.
Customer experience happens at the store level.
Associate engagement happens at the store level.
And one small example from the panel perfectly captured that mindset shift.
A retailer had changed the title of “shelf stocker” to “customer assistant.”
A subtle change.
But a meaningful one.
Because titles communicate value.
“You’ve made me feel that I have a job that has true value in it.”
That line stuck with me.
Retail transformation is often discussed through systems and platforms.
But sometimes transformation starts with how people are seen.
From Operator to Board Member
The conversation also shifted into Judith’s current work serving on corporate boards, including Unilever and Delta.
And honestly, some of the best leadership insights of the interview came here.
Judith described the transition from executive operator to board member as a significant mental shift.
When you are an operator, you are trained to solve.
When you are on a board, your role changes.
“You’re there to ask good questions.”
Not to run the business.
Not to micromanage execution.
Not to insert yourself into every decision.
Just enough involvement to challenge assumptions, pressure test strategy, and ensure the right systems and leadership are in place.
Then she shared one piece of advice that perfectly summarized the role of an effective board member:
“Nose in, hands out.”
That may have been my favorite line of the entire conversation.
Because it captures the balance great boards have to maintain.
Engaged.
Curious.
Strategic.
Without becoming disruptive.
Why Delta Feels Different
One of the more fascinating parts of the discussion centered on why Judith joined Delta’s board in the first place.
Her answer had almost nothing to do with aviation.
It had to do with culture.
Specifically, how closely Delta’s values reminded her of Walmart’s approach to people and customer service.
“How you take care of your people will matter hugely in how they take care of customers.”
That mindset shows up in the way Delta communicates internally, including large-scale employee sessions where leadership openly shares company strategy and direction with frontline teams across the organization.
And honestly, it helps explain something many consumers already feel intuitively.
Delta operates differently because culturally, it thinks differently.
AI Is Everywhere, But The Vision Still Feels Fragmented
Of course, no retail conference conversation in 2026 avoids AI for very long.
And Judith had one of the more balanced takes I heard all week.
Yes, AI is real.
Yes, adoption is accelerating.
Yes, agentic commerce is coming.
But we are still early.
“There’s lots of experiments going on.”
Her biggest observation was not about the technology itself.
It was about the lack of connected vision.
Retailers are talking about isolated capabilities.
Disconnected use cases.
Point solutions.
What is still missing is the bigger picture.
What happens when all of these systems actually work together?
Supply chain.
Store operations.
Associate enablement.
Customer experience.
Commerce.
That is the real transformation opportunity.
And right now, very few companies are articulating what that fully integrated future actually looks like.
The Bigger Takeaway
This conversation covered a lot of ground.
Frontline workers.
Leadership.
Boards.
Culture.
AI.
Store operations.
But underneath all of it was one consistent theme.
Retail is still a people business.
Technology matters.
Strategy matters.
Automation matters.
But how companies make employees feel still shapes everything downstream from it.
The customer experience.
The culture.
The brand.
The execution.
And the companies that understand that connection are the ones most likely to stand out over the next decade.
The Bottom Line
Retail’s future is not just about deploying more technology.
It is about using technology to strengthen people.
Empower associates.
Support store managers.
Build trust.
Create alignment.
And most importantly, make work feel meaningful again.
Because the retailers that win will not just have smarter systems.
They will have stronger cultures.
To catch more conversations from the World Retail Congress 2026 in Berlin, follow Omni Talk Retail on LinkedIn or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Thank you to Vusion for supporting Omni Talk Retail’s live coverage throughout the event, and thank you to our listeners for following along all week.
Be careful out there,
Chris Walton and the Omni Talk team
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Omni Talk® is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton founded Omni Talk® in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail.