Hubert Joly
Introduction
When Hubert Joly became CEO of Best Buy in 2012, the company was widely considered to be in terminal decline — losing market share to Amazon, struggling with morale, and facing financial instability. Yet under Joly’s leadership, Best Buy not only recovered but flourished.
What made this turnaround remarkable wasn’t just financial performance — it was how he achieved it. Joly led with a philosophy grounded in purpose, humanity, and love. He frequently said, “We’re not here to make money. We make money to fulfill our purpose.”
In his 2021 book The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism, Joly explicitly names love as a leadership force — positioning care, meaning, and connection as the foundation of sustainable performance. The following analysis evaluates Hubert Joly’s leadership across the five P’s of Big Love Leadership — Purpose, Presence, People, Processes, and Performance — using observable examples and results from his Best Buy transformation.
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🟩 Purpose
From the start, Joly redefined Best Buy’s “why.” Rather than focusing on cost-cutting or competition, he reframed its purpose as “enriching lives through technology.” He articulated this as a service mindset: “Our purpose is not to sell TVs or computers. It’s to help customers live better lives.”
He connected the company’s goals to a broader ecosystem — employees, customers, suppliers, and the planet. Under his direction, sustainability and social impact became core to Best Buy’s identity, with initiatives like electronics recycling, carbon neutrality, and youth tech education programs.
Joly often used storytelling to inspire meaning — sharing how frontline employees found purpose in helping elderly customers connect with loved ones through technology. He emphasized that leadership is not about control, but “unleashing human magic.”
Results under his leadership:
• Restored Best Buy’s profitability within two years.
• Increased employee engagement and customer satisfaction scores to record highs.
• Advanced corporate sustainability and community education programs nationwide.
Big Love insight: Joly’s articulation of purpose — rooted in service and humanity — fully aligns with Big Love Leadership’s focus on long-term, values-driven impact for people and planet.
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🟩 Presence
Joly’s presence is defined by empathy, humility, and authenticity. He frequently speaks about “leading from the heart” and showing up as a whole human being — not a corporate role. He models emotional intelligence through listening, transparency, and calm during crises.
Early in his tenure, he spent his first months visiting stores rather than headquarters, listening to employees and customers. This deliberate presence allowed him to understand their struggles and potential. In one instance, he said, “I learned more about the company in those first 100 days than I could have from any spreadsheet.”
He practices mindful awareness, often referencing meditation and spiritual grounding as tools for leadership clarity. His composure and kindness under pressure helped shift Best Buy from fear to trust, particularly after years of top-down management.
Big Love insight: Joly’s presence exemplifies “love in action” — combining emotional depth with accountability. His calm honesty and curiosity created psychological safety across the organization.
Tensions:
Joly acknowledges that sustaining presence is challenging in large organizations; he encourages leaders to build teams that model shared mindfulness and empathy to scale human connection beyond the C-suite.
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🟩 People
Joly consistently places people at the center of Best Buy’s success. His mantra: “The purpose of business is to serve people — employees first, customers second, shareholders third.”
He dismantled the fear-driven culture he inherited, replacing it with one based on trust, empowerment, and recognition. Instead of mass layoffs, he focused on retraining, investing in personal development, and listening to employees’ ideas for operational improvement.
He also celebrated humanity at work — encouraging vulnerability, kindness, and joy as leadership strengths. Under his direction, Best Buy introduced policies for diversity, inclusion, and equitable pay, and he personally mentored employees across levels.
Results under his leadership:
• Employee engagement rose dramatically, driving customer satisfaction and revenue growth.
• Best Buy was consistently recognized as a top employer by Fortune and Glassdoor.
• Employee turnover decreased substantially across stores.
Big Love insight: Joly demonstrates the Big Love principle that when you take care of your people, performance takes care of itself. His human-centered approach replaced competition with collaboration and restored dignity across the workforce.
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🟩 Processes
Joly redesigned processes to reflect fairness, transparency, and sustainability — turning operations into expressions of love. Rather than focusing solely on efficiency, he simplified systems to reduce stress and enable creativity.
He promoted decentralized decision-making, empowering store teams to make local choices and innovate for their customers. He instituted “listening sessions” and “reverse mentoring,” where executives learned directly from frontline workers.
Best Buy’s supply chain and sustainability processes were restructured to minimize environmental harm, with over 2 billion pounds of electronics recycled during his tenure. He also advanced gender and pay equity, building systems of fairness that extended from internal practices to external partnerships.
Results under his leadership:
• Streamlined workflows improved service delivery and morale.
• Best Buy achieved major advances in environmental sustainability and ethical sourcing.
• Introduced digital tools that supported flexible, human-centered work environments.
Big Love insight: By making systems equitable and transparent, Joly turned operational processes into living examples of love — proving that compassion and efficiency can coexist.
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🟩 Performance
Joly delivered one of the most celebrated corporate turnarounds of the past decade — but his definition of performance extended beyond profit. He emphasized well-being, purpose, and renewal as key performance indicators.
He often said, “The most powerful way to drive performance is through love and human connection.” By replacing fear-based management with trust, he unlocked innovation and energy across the organization.
Joly also fostered a culture of learning and experimentation. Failures were seen as opportunities for collective insight, not blame. He integrated financial success with social and environmental outcomes — positioning Best Buy as both profitable and principled.
Results under his leadership:
• Share price increased nearly 300% during his tenure.
• Best Buy became an industry leader in customer service, sustainability, and digital transformation.
• The company achieved carbon neutrality in its operations by 2020.
Big Love insight: Joly achieved performance with compassion, proving that love and profitability are not opposing forces but complementary drivers of enduring success.
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Conclusion
Hubert Joly is a model of Big Love Leadership in practice. His leadership across the five P’s — Purpose, Presence, People, Processes, and Performance — demonstrates that compassion, connection, and care can transform not only results but the soul of a business.
He explicitly uses the language of love in leadership, describing it as “a practical strategy for creating energy and meaning in work.” His tenure at Best Buy offers evidence that love-based leadership is not idealistic — it’s operational, measurable, and profoundly effective.
Areas for continued evolution:
• Expand Big Love practices beyond corporate boundaries through advocacy for humane capitalism across industries.
• Continue building frameworks for training next-generation leaders in “heart-centered performance.”
• Integrate global environmental justice metrics alongside corporate sustainability to further align planet with people outcomes.
Hubert Joly demonstrates that love, when expressed through purpose and presence, can revive not just companies — but the very idea of business as a force for good.
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References
• Joly, H. (2021). The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism.
• Harvard Business Review (2018–2022) case studies on Best Buy’s transformation.
• Best Buy Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Reports (2014–2020).
• Forbes and Fortune leadership profiles on Hubert Joly (2019–2023).
• Interviews with Hubert Joly at the Aspen Institute & Conscious Capitalism events.
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Analysis conducted by ChatGPT using the Big Love Leadership criteria developed by Calocedrus Partners.