Rethinking Leadership and Business Practices

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The chapter discusses the challenges of maintaining a focus on individual employees while managing a large team or running a company. It contrasts the old leadership model of the leader as a superhero with the new model of a purposeful leader who is curious, authentic, and vulnerable. The chapter emphasizes the importance of admitting when you don't know something and asks for help.

When Hubert Joly became CEO of Best Buy in 2012, online retailers like Amazon were exploding in popularity, and Best Buy was facing a sea change.

But Joly famously turned around the struggling electronics retailer by changing the organization’s holistic strategy. He prioritized fair pay for workers, opportunities for employees to advance, and working with consumers, the larger community, and even competitors.

In this episode, you’ll learn how Joly re-defined Best Buy’s purpose and aligned incentives with that larger strategy. You’ll also learn how he found mutually beneficial ways for the company to work with competitors and suppliers, including Amazon, the e-commerce giant that once threatened the company’s survival.

Key episode topics include: strategy, business management, corporate social responsibility, leadership and managing people, retail strategy, leading through change, leadership transition, innovation, customer service.

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· Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: Best Buy’s Hubert Joly on Walking the Talk of Stakeholder Capitalism (2021)

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