Leadership Summit 8: Brad Anderson – An Uncompromising Focus on People

Vice-chairman and CEO of Best Buy, Brad Anderson leads by creating a culture of accountability and unleashing the power of people. In 1973, after leaving seminary without a degree, Anderson joined a local stereo store as an entry-level sales person. Impressed by his customer-focused success, his supervisor partnered with Anderson to grow the chain into Best Buy, a $19.2 billion retailer of technology and entertainment. Today, Anderson oversees 140,000 employees throughout North America and China and was recently named one of “The Best CEOs in America” by Institutional Investor Magazine.

Notes from this session follow.

• Father was a pastor and it was his dream, not mine.
• Started as a floor clerk in an electronics store.  Worked in that store for 7 years.
• Worked in a bankrupt environment.  Had to lead or go hungry.
• Employee engagement – How do we let the uniqueness of the employee connect with the uniqueness of the customer.
• Measure employee engagement.  They poll their workers with 11-12 questions twice a year.
• A highly engaged staff is the best predictor of store performance.
• What do you do about a store with low employee engagement?  It takes a leader who genuinely cares about their employees.
• People are drawn to leadership because they are looking for affirmation of themself.
• True leaders get a higher satisfaction level from seeing other people empowered than from personal achievement.
• Marcus Buckingham held him accountable for plateaued employee engagement scores. 
• Geek squad.  Always had customer service, but it was poor and was managed as an expense.  A guy in Mineapolis saw this as an opportunity… accentuated the stereotype… Best Buy realized they needed that and bought them.
• His day is filled with dealing with people in crisis.
• Can’t separate problems that people have with company problems.  People problems eventually lead to company problems.
• 85% leading down, 15% leading up.
• CEO of Motorola once said without financial incentives could not motivate senior leaders.
• Financial incentives are powerful but thin.
• The fact that pastors can’t use financial incentives makes leadership harder.
• ROWE – Results-oriented work environment.  First value is family, before work.  As long as you got your results, nobody was going to monitor what you were doing at any given time.  Environment with more freedom has performed better.
• Goal is for each individual to envision their own story.
• Wealth has its temptations and responsibilities.
• Toughest situations have been when he sees a person struggling, knows the answer, but can’t say anything about his faith.
• Must get permission – other person must ask - to engage in a spiritual dialog in the work place.
• Hybels: part of your magic as CEO is the way you connect with hourly employees.