Company: GWW
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: PRE 14A
Source: 0001104659-25-015730
Chunk: 5

Company: W.W. GRAINGER, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: PRE 14A
Chunk 5
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 sustainable competitive advantage. Building on the Company’s strong foundation while evolving a framework to address future challenges is critical to Grainger’s continued success.

| ​ | CORPORATEGOVERNANCE | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 1:ELECTION OFDIRECTORS | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 2:RATIFY THEINDEPENDENTAUDITOR | ​ | ​ | EXECUTIVECOMPENSATION | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 3:SAY ON PAY | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 4: APPROVALAND ADOPTION | ​ | ​ | QUESTIONS ANDANSWERS | ​ | ​ | APPENDICES | ​ |

TABLE OF CONTENTS

| ​ | ● | ​ | ​ | 2 | ​ | ​ | 2025proxy statement | ​ |

In 2019, the Company introduced the Grainger Edge, a strategic framework that defines the Grainger culture, including the Company’s purpose, aspiration and how team members work together to achieve Grainger’s strategy. The Grainger Edge includes a set of principles that defines the behaviors expected from team members as they work with each other, customers and suppliers. As highlighted on the inside of this proxy statement’s cover page, the Grainger Edge principles are:

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 Start with the customer 
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 Act with intent         
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 Win as one team         
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 Embrace curiosity       
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 Complete with urgency 
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 Invest in our success 
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 Do the right thing    
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The Grainger Edge principles support the Company’s commitment to building a culture where all team members operate under the highest ethical standards both inside and outside of the Company. The Board fully endorses these principles and believes that alignment to them creates value for shareholders. The Grainger Edge also is foundational to the Company’s customer-focused business strategy. This strategy aims to consistently gain share through two distinct business models, positioning Grainger to leverage its scale and supply chain to support customers with a variety of needs. The Company aligns its pay for performance compensation philosophy with the Grainger Edge to help further the Company’s strategy and long-term value creation. Since 2023, the Company has been providing its Pay Versus Performance Disclosure reflecting compensation paid to its principal executive officers. See Pay Versus Performance Disclosure beginning on page 69. The Board is actively engaged in making the Grainger Edge a successful