Hubert Joly‘s “The Heart of Business”

But instead of closing stores and firing people, Joly took a different approach — one he describes in his fascinating new book, “The Heart of Business.” Joly’s personal and business journey transitioned from prioritizing numbers and results to leading with a more human first approach.

This is not just another business book. It describes a personal journey — the transformation of Joly, Best Buy and the business community from a shareholder value model to a larger model focusing on empowerment and societal change. It includes research bolstering why engaged employees, a diverse workforce and a mission are more important than focusing only on revenue and profitability. 

We learn about Best Buy's strategic changes, but the main message is Joly's belief that every business needs a noble purpose to inspire employees.

Joly writes how each employee is an individual with hopes, dreams and aspirations. He describes expanding Best Buy's health care benefits policy to include transgender needs based on listening to the concerns of one employee. He talks about the importance of creating trust and a team environment necessary for success. He also changed performance evaluations to focus on human metrics first, followed by business metrics such as customer satisfaction and lastly, financial performance.

Joly describes five key ingredients to shift to an employee-focused environment:

• Connecting the individual's search for meaning with the companies noble purpose;
• Developing authentic human connections;
• Fostering autonomy;
• Growing mastery; and
• Nurturing a growth environment.

Each gets a chapter and Joly easily weaves in examples, stories, research and results to make his case that motivation comes from purpose and relationships.

By the end of his tenure at Best Buy, Joly had pushed the frontiers of business leadership rooted in ethical principles that transcend standard financial metrics to motivate, engage and excite employees. This book will give every leader practical takeaways useful for motivating people, developing teams and dealing with human challenges.