In an episode of Fixable, the podcast from TED and Pushkin Industries, Harvard Business School professors Anne Morriss and Frances Frei hosted Hubert Joly as part of their “Unlocking Your Power at Work” series. Joly is the former chairman and CEO of Best Buy, where he led one of the most celebrated corporate turnarounds of the past decade, and the author of The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism.
“People can admire a perfect person. They cannot connect with one.”
Joly says he grew up professionally with the model of “the leader as the superhero who had all of the answers,” and suffered for years from what he calls “the quest for perfection.” His coach, Marshall Goldsmith, helped him break the pattern by teaching him to stand in front of his team, name three things he wanted to improve, and ask for their advice.
“If you lead a team, you cannot build connection if you’re trying to be the perfect person. People can admire a perfect person, they cannot connect with a perfect person. As human beings, we connect through our imperfections and our vulnerabilities.”
A turnaround that started on the shop floor
When Joly became CEO of Best Buy in 2012, he says his greatest advantage was that he knew nothing about retail. He spent his first week working in a store in St. Cloud, Minnesota, wearing a badge that read “CEO in training,” and asking employees three questions: What’s working? What’s not working? What do you need?
“The front liners, they tend to have all of the answers. My job as the CEO was super easy. Show up in one of the stores, ask these questions, listen intensively, make notes, and do as I was told.”
His definition of leadership will sound familiar to anyone who follows MAX ENERGY:
“One of the things I believe is that CEO stands for chief energizing officer. My job was not to be the smartest person in the room, but to create energy. How do you create energy? Co-create the diagnosis, co-create the plan, get going, celebrate the wins.”
By Joly’s own account, the share price rose from around 11 to roughly 55 over the course of the turnaround.
The mechanics of sharing power
Once the turnaround was over and the company moved into a growth phase, Joly deliberately changed his role: fewer decisions, more focus on creating an environment where the organization could grow and thrive. He gave his officers a literal “get out of jail free” card so they could experiment. He also narrowed the decisions he kept for himself to four: who is on the team, strategy, culture and major capital allocation.
“As a senior leader, if you’re going to provide input, make sure you underscore it: input, not directive. And provide that input early rather than late. And then once you’ve given that input, let go.”
“Human magic” in the age of AI
Joly criticizes companies that treat AI mainly as a way to cut headcount, and gives leaders a clear warning:
“To unlock the power of AI, you have to unleash human magic.”
“There are so many reasons to be concerned about the future, but as a leader, don’t convey your anxiety to your organization. You need to work on yourself. Be centered.”
He also rejects the idea that leaders must choose between performance and humanity:
“Ninety-eight percent of the questions that are asked as either-or are better answered as ands.”
Culture lives at the level of the team
Asked what a manager can do in an organization where mistakes are remembered for a long time, Joly is direct:
“As a manager, as a leader, you actually set the culture for your part of the organization. Be the leader that fosters psychological safety in your part of the organization, create that mindset that failures can be a source of learning, and role model this: admit your own failures.”
One thing to start tomorrow
Asked for the one thing listeners can do tomorrow, Joly’s answer sums up the conversation:
“Spend time with yourself and decide what kind of leader you want to be. Decide this every day, and then at the end of the day, or maybe at the end of the week, reflect on what kind of leader you’ve truly been. Self-assess, ask people for feedback. Give yourself grace. If you’ve not been the amazing leader you’re aspiring to be, there’s always tomorrow. The inner journey of leadership is foundational to the outer journey of leadership.”
Source: Fixable, “Unlocking Your Power at Work: What kind of leader do you want to be? with Hubert Joly,” TED & Pushkin Industries (youtube.com/watch?v=gaVzDe-r10A).
