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The Best Buy Turnaround: Purpose-Driven Leadership With Hubert Joly

Source | www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org | Lisa Earle McLeod

When Hubert Joly took over as CEO of Best Buy, the situation was grim. The previous CEO had been fired after a scandal, share value was plummeting, and the investment community was predicting Best Buy’s demise.

As the incoming CEO, Joly was new to Best Buy and also new to the retail space.  On Joly’s first day of work, he donned a blue Best Buy polo shirt, with a “CEO in Training” tag and spent time walking the St. Cloud Minnesota store, listening to what front liners and customers had to say.

After a week of walking the stores, Joly reached a crucial conclusion, “I realized” he says, “the world needs Best Buy.” Customers needed a place to see, touch and feel technology. Customers wanted a place for expert advice, and many vendors needed a place to showcase their products. The idea that the world needed Best Buy, and that the company could have a higher purpose set the wheels in motion.

In what has been characterized as one of the most stunning turnarounds of the last decade, Joly took Best Buy from a flailing retailer that was losing money, with disengaged frustrated employees and a brand bordering on being irrelevant, to a thriving organization. Joly drove five consecutive years of sales growth, a 263% increase in shareholder return, and doubled online sales What’s most notable is that Joy achieved outsized financial results by focusing on a purpose bigger than money.

Unlike most turnarounds which tend to focus on finance and “cut, cut, cut,” Joly looked at the people and the impact they could have on customers. He shifted the company from thinking of themselves as a retailer who sold products to becoming an organization company focused on enriching the lives of our customers through technology. 

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Source
www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org
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