Brad Anderson, Former CEO and Vice Chairman of Best Buy, Episode 179
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Brad Anderson is the former CEO and Vice Chairman of Best Buy, a leading consumer electronics retailer. He joined Sound of Music, the precursor to Best Buy in 1973 as a commissioned salesperson and quickly rose through the ranks, ultimately becoming CEO in 2002. Under his leadership, Best Buy experienced significant growth and expanded internationally. Brad is widely credited with turning Best Buy into one of the world's largest and most successful consumer electronics retailers. Brad has also served on the boards of the American Film Institute, American Public Media, Waste Management, Carlson Companies, General Mills, and Mayo Clinic.
Brad joins me on The Wow Factor this week to discuss the importance of finding meaning and purpose in your life as a leader and how it can lead to great things. Brad shares with us the key lesson he learned about providing exceptional customer service and how it helped him turn a tiny store into a retail giant. We follow the steps Brad and his team took to transform their small chain of stores into the phenomenally successful Best Buy we know today. We also learn more about the innovator’s dilemma and why desperation and scarcity can lead to creative thinking and innovation in business.
"If you're not up against it, you're in the process of dying." - Brad Anderson
"If you're going to try to share something with somebody, it has to have something authentic." - Brad Anderson
"If you're going to be a unique leader, you need a unique premise." - Brad Anderson
This Week on The Wow Factor:
● Why Brad went to a Lutheran Seminary in St. Paul, and what made him leave without finishing
● The importance of having a sense of meaning and purpose in your life
● How Brad found his niche in sales
● The critical lesson that Brad learned about the value of providing customer service that goes above and beyond
● How the tiny company that Brad worked for developed into Best Buy
● Best Buy’s journey from 67 employees to 170,000 and the part that Brad played in that expansion
● Why great leaders need to look through a different lens to discover their true purpose
● The steps that Brad’s tiny store had to take to transform into a sustainable and scalable business
● Why desperation and scarcity led to creative thinking and Innovation in business
● Some of the inspirational leaders that Brad has learned from throughout his career
● Why Best Buy ended up becoming so successful as a first-generation superstore
Brad Anderson’s Word of Wisdom:
Everybody is a unique, beloved child of God. You cannot find a human being who does not have some value, who doesn't have an interesting story, and if your role is to lead in that ecosystem, you’ve got to be genuinely open to that concept.
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