Living and leading with a sense of purpose.

“Why am I doing this?”

Jolted out of our normal routines by the global pandemic, a lot of people have had to face that uncomfortable question. Many are asking—some for the first time—if they are on the right career or life path. It takes a lot of courage to ask these types of questions as doing so can be very unsettling.

I recently interviewed Hubert Joly, on our Disrupt Yourself podcast. Hubert, the former CEO of Best Buy, has done a lot of work to focus on what is important to him. Throughout his career, Hubert has continually focused less on profit and more on purpose -- the purpose of an organization, the purpose of work, the meaning we find when we are engaged in work, and the importance of putting people first as a leader.

When Hubert was named CEO of Best Buy he was put to the test. The year was 2012, Best Buy was in shambles, but Hubert stayed true to his vision. He focused on people first, then the business model and then the financials. The result? Hubert was able to lead a turnaround that quadrupled the stock price and gave Best Buy a solid foundation for the future – even as he stepped down as CEO in 2019.

My purpose is to try to make a positive difference on people around me and use the platform I have to make a positive difference in the world."

Hubert believes that the purpose of a business isn’t to generate revenue or increase the bottom line. Rather, “The purpose of a corporation is to contribute to the common good."

That clarity of purpose, of understanding what drives him, helps him focus on what is important to him. 

His vision of leading with a sense of purpose and humanity developed for him early on in his career. When Hubert was a consultant for McKinsey & Company, one of his clients shared a framework for how to lead well and how to structure reviews. First, talk about how the people in the organization are doing. Then, take a look at the clients and how they are being served. Then, focus on financials. If you start with finances, you’ll never get to people and clients, and at the end of the day, it’s those two things that truly drive the business. 

Hubert’s value of people first, helped guide him when he became CEO of Best Buy. “The traditional manual for a turnaround is cut, cut, cut. In fact, a lot of analysts and well-intentioned people were telling me you're going to need to close a number of stores and fire people, like people were the problem. We did the opposite, we started with people.”

Hubert worked in some of the Best Buy stores in Minneapolis as he started at the company. This allowed him to hear directly from those who were actually working with customers, to truly understand what the problems were. Instead of closing stores and laying off those employees who were interfacing with customers, he made changes at the management level.

Hubert used Guardrail #4 on the S Curve: Battle Entitlement. He leaned into his team to help him get the results needed.

“The image of the leader as the smartest person in the room - who knows everything may have been okay in the 20th century, but that's not the approach today. We worked together with the team to co-create the plan, didn't try to go for a perfect plan, because in the turnaround, I think the key thing is to get going and get some energy going.”

Hubert is a great example of a leader focused on his principals, on what is important. As you re-consider your life and career path, start with your purpose, start with what is important to you.

What did you do today that reflected your values and purpose?

*****

If you enjoyed this article, here are two ways to stay in touch.

1. Sign Up for our Growth Through Disruption emails–––a weekly dose of personal disruption read by tens of thousands of people across the globe. No spam. Just a newsletter meant to help you grow faster. Sign up here.
2. Download this free resource on the seven guardrails of personal disruption. Visit whitneyjohnson.com/calm

*****

Whitney Johnson is the CEO of human capital consultancy WLJ Advisors, an Inc. 5000 2020 fastest-growing private company in America. One of the 50 leading business thinkers in the world as named by Thinkers50, Whitney and her team are experts at helping high-growth organizations develop high-growth individuals. She is an award-winning author, world-class keynote speaker, frequent lecturer for Harvard Business School's Corporate Learning and an executive coach and advisor to CEOs. She is a popular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, has 1.8 million followers on LinkedIn, where she was selected as a Top Voice in 2018, and her course on Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship has been viewed more than 1 million times. In 2017, she was selected from more than 16,000 candidates as a “Top 15 Coach” by Dr. Marshall Goldsmith.