Heather Baker: What Bentonville Can Teach America

I have traveled all over Arkansas, and after nearly three decades in the media business, I have had the privilege of meeting some of the most successful, interesting and influential people in our state. I have watched communities reinvent themselves, businesses grow from ideas into institutions and leaders change the trajectory of entire cities.

There is plenty to be proud of, to be sure, but every time I go to Bentonville, I leave asking myself the same question: What in the world are they doing differently?

Is it Walmart? Is it the Walton family? Is it the money? Is it Crystal Bridges, the trails, the restaurants, the art, the architecture, the entrepreneurs and the seemingly endless investment? Or is there something happening beneath all of that, something you cannot necessarily put on a balance sheet but can absolutely feel when you walk down the street?

On my most recent trip, I joked that Bentonville almost needed its own flag and, maybe on certain days, its own state. I was kidding, obviously, but there was truth behind the joke.

Bentonville feels like its own world. There is an energy and a confidence about the place that is difficult to explain until you have experienced it. People do not walk around wondering whether something great might happen next; there is an expectation that something great will happen next.

That fascinated me because Bentonville is not located near an ocean. It does not have mountains towering over downtown. It was not handed some natural geographic advantage that destined it to become one of America’s most talked-about small cities. This happened in Arkansas, and if it happened here, I wanted to understand why. The bigger question is not what Bentonville has accomplished; the bigger question is what the rest of Arkansas can learn from it.

Heather Baker and her goldendoodle Charlie Brown. (Photo by Ryan Parker)

Of course, we have to begin with Walmart and the Walton family because trying to explain modern northwest Arkansas and all that has happened there without mentioning them would be impossible. Walmart created extraordinary economic opportunities, attracted talent and businesses from around the world, and helped establish an economic engine with an influence that reaches far beyond Arkansas.

As the family behind the remarkable company, the Waltons’ investments and philanthropy have helped transform the region through art, trails, outdoor recreation, education and quality-of-life initiatives that would be remarkable in a city many times Bentonville’s size.

Yet even after giving that element its due — and make no mistake, investment is key — I kept coming back to one central thought: Money cannot possibly be the entire answer.

There are wealthy families all over America. There are wealthy people throughout Arkansas. There are cities with major corporations, foundations and significant resources that have not experienced anything resembling Bentonville’s
transformation. Money can purchase land and construct buildings, but it cannot manufacture pride. It can fund a museum, but it cannot guarantee people will feel connected to it. It can build a trail, but it cannot create a culture. At some point, somebody has to take resources and turn them into a shared vision.

That is how my conversation with Kalene Griffith, president and CEO of Visit Bentonville, changed the way I looked at the story. Griffith told me that 20 years ago, people outside northwest Arkansas often reduced Bentonville’s success to one word: Walmart. While there is no question Walmart and the investments of the Walton family and Walton Family Foundation fundamentally changed the region, she said what outsiders sometimes miss is the growth of the past two decades was not passive. It was intentional.

The Walmart Museum on the downtown square. (Photo provided by Visit Bentonville)

Investments were deliberately made in trails, art, outdoor recreation and quality-of-life experiences because there was a belief that the people working there deserved an extraordinary hometown to come home to. That is a fundamentally different philosophy than simply saying, “We created jobs.” It is saying instead, “We are going to create a place where people want to build their lives.”

Think about the difference: A paycheck can bring someone to a city. Quality of life can make them stay.

That idea may explain more about northwest Arkansas than any economic development statistic ever could. Young professionals began seeing the region not simply as somewhere they could find a job but somewhere they could imagine a future. Success started attracting success, and investment started attracting investment. Eventually, momentum became part of the culture itself.

When you widen the lens beyond Bentonville, you begin to see an entire ecosystem. Walmart transformed retail. J.B. Hunt helped transform transportation and logistics. Tyson Foods grew from Arkansas roots into a global food company. Suppliers came, entrepreneurs followed, restaurants opened, artists arrived, startups launched, and families relocated.

Coler Mountain Bike Preserve. (Photo provided by Visit Bentonville)

Another resource, aptly applied by Bentonville, also cannot simply be purchased: people who know how to work together. Griffith described it in a way I have not stopped thinking about: Bentonville’s organizations — the city, Visit Bentonville, the chamber, schools, private investors, corporations, nonprofits and foundations — are essentially riding on the same bus, where everyone has a seat. Sometimes one organization drives; sometimes another does. The seats change depending on the initiative, but the important thing is that the bus keeps moving in the same direction.

For more than 20 years, community leaders have gathered regularly, weekly for much of that time and now twice a month, to discuss what is happening, what is coming and where support is needed. Bentonville’s strategy even became the framework for regional success as other communities followed suit internally and with each other. A win for one became a win for all,

That sounds simple until you consider how uncommon it can be. How many communities have talented people doing great work while everyone operates independently? How many opportunities are lost because organizations compete for recognition instead of collaborating for results? How many transformative ideas never happen because someone is more interested in whose name appears at the top than what actually gets accomplished?

Sam Walton understood the power of teams when he built Walmart, and the principle is just as powerful when applied to communities. Individuals can accomplish extraordinary things, but aligned people can transform places.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. (Photo provided by Visit Bentonville)

That alignment is evident in the way Bentonville tells its story too. Griffith and her teammate Alison Nation, who helps lead that storytelling and marketing effort, are not simply selling hotel rooms or promoting attractions; they are communicating an identity. When I asked Griffith what she wants visitors to feel before they leave Bentonville, she did not give me a tourism statistic. She said she wants them to feel genuinely welcome, to recognize the pride residents have in what they built, and to leave with an experience they still talk about months later.

Apparently, people are talking. Mayors, city leaders and delegations from across the country are coming there specifically to study what is happening. Griffith told me Bentonville has hosted representatives from six cities already this year and more than 30 visiting communities over the past several years. They study development, programming, placemaking and storytelling, trying to understand what pieces they can take home.

That might be one of the greatest compliments any city could receive. People are not simply visiting Bentonville anymore; they are studying it.

Griffith told me something else that struck me: A glowing visitor review is wonderful, but that is not necessarily the ultimate measure of success. The real victory comes when leaders leave Bentonville inspired enough to return home and attempt something bold in their own communities. Bentonville did not set out simply to become a great destination; it became a place capable of making other communities believe they can do it too.

As I listened to Griffith speak, the narrative stopped being a Bentonville story. I realized it was an Arkansas story.

Arkansas has wealth. Arkansas has corporations. Arkansas has foundations. Arkansas has successful entrepreneurs, family businesses and individuals who have accumulated tremendous resources. We also have communities desperate for investment, young people searching for reasons to stay, downtowns waiting for another chapter and entrepreneurs waiting for somebody to believe in them.

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That makes me wonder what could happen if more successful Arkansans began asking a different question. Instead of asking, “What can I get from the community where I live?” what if we all asked, “What can I leave behind?”

What could you build today that would still matter 50 years from now? Could you help revitalize a downtown block? Invest in entrepreneurs? Create a park? Support public art? Help build trails? Preserve a historic building? Mentor a young business owner? Invest in education?

More holistically, what if each of us worked to create something so compelling that talented 25-year-olds decide they do not have to leave Arkansas to build the life they want? That is the part of Bentonville’s story I want every leader in Arkansas to think about.

I am not suggesting Helena-West Helena should become Bentonville or that Little Rock, Jonesboro, El Dorado, Fort Smith, Pine Bluff or Hot Springs should try to mimic everything that exists in northwest Arkansas. They should not. Every Arkansas community has its own history, assets, personality and opportunity.

Oven and Tap. (Photo provided by Visit Bentonville)

Arkansas does not need another Bentonville. Arkansas needs every community to become the very best version of itself.

Every community in this great state can absolutely borrow Bentonville’s belief system: Think bigger than the next quarter; invest in quality of life as aggressively as economic development; collaborate instead of competing for credit; and understand that sometimes your organization drives the bus, and sometimes your job is to sit in another seat and help while someone else drives.

That is leadership.

Perhaps the most important thing Bentonville taught me is that transformation does not begin when the money arrives. Transformation begins when enough people agree that something better is possible and then decide they are willing to build it together.

The money matters. The companies matter. The philanthropy matters. The foundations matter. The civic leaders matter. The entrepreneurs matter. Yet for all that, what makes those ingredients most powerful is alignment: People investing in the same place, believing in the same possibilities and understanding that someone else’s success does not diminish their own.

I left Bentonville inspired but also a little challenged. Once you have seen what is possible, it is difficult to accept the argument that things simply have to remain the way they have always been.

Somewhere in Arkansas right now is a community with incredible potential. Somewhere is an entrepreneur with an idea that could change a downtown. Somewhere is a business leader capable of making an investment that could affect generations. Somewhere is a mayor trying to convince people to believe bigger. Most importantly, somewhere there is a young Arkansan deciding whether his or her future lies here or somewhere else.

Maybe that is why Bentonville matters far beyond northwest Arkansas. It gives us proof: proof that investment matters, proof that quality of life matters, proof that collaboration matters, proof that leadership matters, and proof that when enough people believe in a place and are willing to put their time, talent, resources and reputations behind that belief, a community can change its trajectory.

Arkansas does not need 100 Bentonvilles; it needs 100 communities willing to believe they can become extraordinary in their own way. It starts with something as simple — and as difficult — as getting everybody on the same bus.

That is why I no longer ask why Bentonville is different. I am asking a much bigger question: Who is next?