About Author/s:

Hubert Joly is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Best Buy Co Inc, the giant US electronics retailer, where he led the company's turnaround and transformed it into an industry leader. He is now a senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School and a member of the board at Johnson & Johnson and Ralph Lauren Corporation, as well as of the advisory board of the top French business school, HEC Paris.

Listen to Hubert speak with Roddy Millar in this Ideas for Leaders podcast

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Context

Joly took on the CEO role at Best Buy Co in 2012, when everyone believed the business was destined for bankruptcy and the job a poisoned chalice. Best Buy was seen to be at the wrong-end of the online battle, with large bricks-and-mortar retail  stores and a management that was showing no nimbleness or agility. As a consequence the employee morale and general innovation and energy capacity of the business were at rock bottom. Joly had followed a successful career path from his early days as a McKinsey consultant in Paris, trained on the numbers and traditional commercial strategy approach. He followed this with a stint at Vivendi, followed by senior leadership roles at Carlson Wagonlit Travel, the owner of Radisson Hotels, TGI Fridays and other hospitality – and importantly – people-centred businesses. 

It was here he started to see the power that running a People First strategy unleashes in a business – and what he immediately put to work at Best Buy Co with his Renew Blue initiative. He reinstated the employee perks that recent cost-cutting had removed, and started to build the business back-up from the frontline people first. There followed a long, hard road to recovery but it was led by the employees' energy and initiatives – and the power of the 'human magic' that they brought when they had space to act and trust placed in them.

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Core Idea

Joly is one of those business people who has more depth than we tend to expect in corporate leaders these days. His shift from hard, accounting-led corporate strategy to a more holistic, purpose-led approach started quite early on in his career, through conversations with the French businessman, Jean-Marie Descarpentries who held leadership roles at Danone and Saint-Gobain, that initiated his journey. It was supported by spending time with some Jesuit monks who opened his eyes to the motivating force of having noble purpose. 

The book starts with an exploration of the meaning of work, tracing its demonisation as a curse from Adam through to Sisyphus and medieval traders. The Aristotlean ideal of a life dedicated to contemplation and the pursuit of knowledge was long-seen as the counter to labour, hard or otherwise. But he points out, quoting Khalil Gibran that '..in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life'; and that work has meaning in itself. In order to build enthusiasm and engagement it is necessary that everyone can experience that meaning. This is the core concept of the book – people will give of themselves if they feel they are being purposeful. It is therefore the leader's responsibility to ensure that that purpose is embraced and understood. He recites the story of the two medieval masons who were asked what they were doing: one answers 'I'm cutting stones' while the other says 'I'm building a cathedral', it is clear which has more energy and passion for his work. 

Joly is clear that the singular focus on profit is wildly insufficient for instilling that noble purpose – and unleashing the consequent 'human magic'. Profit is a necessary part of a successful business, and without it nothing can happen, but it is not a sufficient end in itself to motivate and enthuse people. Indeed an obsessive focus on profit above all else, inevitably leads to the wrong metrics being measured, and unsustainable behaviours ensuing. 

Joly distils the recipe for successful Purposeful Leadership down to five ingredients for Human Magic:

1. Connecting Dreams – linking the, possibly mundane, work of everyday jobs to something that inspires the worker . This involves identifying what drives each person as an individual and connecting that outcome with the inputs they deliver at work.
2. Developing Human Connections – ensuring that everyone at work feels they are appreciated and part of a caring and supportive sense of 'belonging'. Nothing undermines enthusiasm as the sense of not being part of the group. Within this is the safety that allows people to show vulnerability.
3. Fostering Autonomy – no-one likes to be managed, so pushing decision-making as far down the hierarchy as possible, both builds responsibility and a sense of value as well as freeing space for leaders to do other tasks.
4. Achieving Mastery – this again focuses on the individuals: coaching over training, effort over results – all as part of having lifelong learning woven into careers, and allowing room for honest failure to occur without penalty
5. Putting the Wind at Your Back – if you are facing headwinds while others have the wind behind them, then it suggests that the wind is not the problem, just your direction – so be prepared to change course. This 'Growth Mindset' of turning challenges to your advantage, and learning from your failures, is a necessary part of the Purposeful approach. Not changing the objective but adapting the route to get there.

 

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Conclusion

This book is a mixture of autobiography and case study, but predominantly it is an allegory to and pleas for better leadership – the cause that the author has pledged to promote for the rest of his working life. 

There is a notable movement towards this style of people-centric leadership. Gary Hamel's Humanocracy is an academic's take on the approach; Talent Wins is the consultants', very senior ones, paean to focussing on your people before anything else; Everybody Matters by Bob Chapman is a very similar story and approach to Joly's, but with the difference that Chapman owned his business while Joly is 'just' an employee, albeit the most important one, but it was not his company to reposition in this way, he needed to carry everyone with him on the journey even more than Chapman had. 

The transformation of Best Buy was an extraordinary feat, but as Joly positions it, one that was perfectly achievable with his Purposeful Leadership & Human Magic approach. The lesson for everyone else is that you do not have to own the business to do this, you do not even have to be the CEO – by focusing on your team and empowering them, while giving great clarity is a tried and tested way to get remarkable returns. No-one says it is easy but it is possible – if you put your heart into the business. 

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BUY THIS BOOK

• Title: The Heart of Business

  Author/s Name/s: Hubert Joly, with Caroline Lambert

  Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press

  ISBN: 978-1-647-82038-1

  Publishing Date: May, 2021

  Number of Pages: 252