#2 How Best Buy Doubled Online Revenue and Delivered a 263% Shareholder Return

In 2012, Best Buy was widely viewed as a company in decline.

Amazon was growing rapidly. Consumers were increasingly comfortable buying electronics online. Best Buy's stores had become victims of "showrooming", customers would visit stores, test products, seek advice from staff and then purchase the same products online, often at lower prices.

Revenue growth had stalled. Margins were shrinking. Investors were losing confidence. Many analysts believed the company was headed for irrelevance.

When Hubert Joly became CEO, most observers expected a familiar turnaround playbook: cost cuts, layoffs, restructuring and store closures.

Instead, Joly put on a blue polo shirt, attached a "CEO in Training" badge to his chest and spent time working in a Best Buy store. That instinct would become the foundation of one of the most remarkable retail turnarounds of the last decade and a powerful example of human-centricity in action.

Renew Blue

Joly started a programme called Renew Blue.

The plan included a series of strategic moves: price matching to counter showrooming, turning stores into local fulfilment centres, expanding services through Geek Squad, partnering with brands such as Apple and Samsung to create in-store experiences and improving operational efficiency across the business.

These decisions helped restore growth. But what made Renew Blue distinctive was how the company arrived at those decisions.

Listening

By spending time in stores and listening to employees, customers and suppliers, Joly gained a clearer understanding of the challenges facing the business. Customers wanted the convenience and pricing of online shopping without losing the ability to see, test and understand products before buying. Employees often had first-hand knowledge of broken processes, customer frustrations and operational inefficiencies. Suppliers understood emerging technology trends and changing consumer expectations.

Instead of imposing solutions from the top, Joly used insights from the people closest to the work to shape decisions.

Meaning: Give People a Reason to Care

Joly believed that work is more than a transaction where people exchange time for money. People want to feel that what they do matters.

This belief led Best Buy to rethink how it defined itself. Rather than describing itself as a retailer of consumer electronics, the company adopted a broader mission: enriching lives through technology.

At first glance, this may seem like a change in messaging. In reality, it changed how employees understood their role.

A laptop was no longer simply a product. It might help a student prepare for university. A smartphone was not merely a device. It could help grandparents stay connected with family. Technology became a means to solving human problems rather than an end in itself.

Purpose gave employees something that processes and policies alone cannot provide: a clear understanding of why their work mattered.

Human Connection: See People, Not Headcount

Instead of treating employees as costs to be reduced, Joly treated them as people with unique strengths, aspirations and potential. Benefits that had previously been cut were restored. Employee discounts returned. Frontline teams received better tools and support.

When people feel valued, trusted and respected, they are more likely to care about customers, solve problems proactively and stay committed during periods of uncertainty.

In a business environment often dominated by spreadsheets and efficiency metrics, Joly's approach was remarkably simple: treat people like people.

Autonomy: Trust the People Closest to the Customer

Joly believed that the people closest to customers often possess the best information.

Yet many organisations continue to centralise decision-making and expect frontline employees to simply execute instructions.

Best Buy worked to reverse this dynamic. Store leaders were given greater flexibility to respond to local conditions and employees were encouraged to exercise judgement rather than blindly follow rules.

One story illustrates this particularly well.

A child arrived at a Best Buy store carrying a broken toy dinosaur. Rather than simply apologising or offering a replacement, two employees decided to do something unexpected. They took the dinosaur behind the counter, pretended to run tests, performed a mock surgery and returned it with great ceremony, explaining that it had been successfully repaired and was ready to go home.

No policy instructed them to do this. No manager scripted the interaction. The employees recognised that the real issue was not a broken toy but a disappointed child. More importantly, they felt empowered to act on that understanding.

Many organisations talk about empowerment. Far fewer create the conditions where it becomes possible.

Mastery: Invest in Growth

Trust alone is not enough. People also need the skills and confidence to make good decisions.

At a time when Best Buy was under significant financial pressure, conventional wisdom would have suggested cutting training budgets. Joly did the opposite.

Product knowledge programmes were strengthened. Employees received better tools. Internal systems that frustrated frontline workers were improved.

This investment reflected an important insight. Customers could compare prices online within seconds. What they could not easily find online was expertise, confidence and trusted advice. Best Buy's employees became one of its most important competitive advantages.

Empowerment without capability creates frustration. Joly understood that if employees were expected to exercise judgement, they also needed the competence to do so well.

Creating the Right Environment

The final ingredient of Human Magic is what Joly calls an activating environment.

He often contrasted two kinds of organisations.

The first resembles a jungle, where people operate through fear, internal competition and self-preservation. The second resembles a garden, where leaders create the conditions for growth.

In the garden model, leadership is not about having all the answers. It is about creating an environment where others can succeed. It requires trust, learning, accountability and psychological safety.

It also requires humility. Joly frequently speaks about the importance of leaders being willing to say, "I don't know."

For many leaders, this feels uncomfortable. For employees, it creates trust.

The Simpliwise Lens

Viewed through the Simpliwise A-Cube Model, Best Buy's turnaround offers a useful example of how organisations unlock human potential.

Alignment came from purpose.

Employees could connect their daily work to a larger mission. They understood not just what they were doing, but why they were doing it.

Autonomy came from trust.

Store leaders and frontline employees were given the freedom to make decisions closer to customers. The dinosaur story is ultimately a story about autonomy in action.

Accountability came from ownership.

Employees were not merely completing tasks. They were responsible for creating value for customers and contributing to business outcomes. Accountability transformed autonomy from freedom without direction into ownership with purpose.

When alignment, autonomy and accountability work together, organisations unlock something difficult to replicate: the collective intelligence, judgement and commitment of their people.

The Takeaway

By the time Joly stepped down as CEO in 2019, Best Buy had achieved five consecutive years of sales growth, doubled its online revenue and delivered a 263% increase in total shareholder return.

The lesson extends far beyond retail. As businesses become increasingly complex, competitive advantage may depend less on finding better processes and more on creating the conditions for people to do their best work.