Corie Barry is CEO of Best Buy, an operation selling consumer technology products. In a highly competitive environment, she believes Best Buy can thrive by creating seamless omnichannel experiences to meet customers’ expectations.
Best Buy employees rely on data to enhance and personalize customer experiences, while learning from innovative experiments that go awry. District managers then share this knowledge among stores so they don’t repeat similar errors.
1. Invest in People
Barry as a leader focuses on employee engagement and building an engaged team. She ensures her employees feel valued, encouraging them to work together on goals to meet goals together – ultimately creating a positive culture in her business and increasing productivity to increase profitability. By investing in people, leaders can improve quality service to clients as well as develop future talent within their organization.
Corie Barry also ensures her employees receive recognition for their hard work and achievements, such as performance-based bonuses or promotions. By creating opportunities for growth within the company, employees will remain more committed to its success.
Investment in employees of an organization can also be done through mentoring. By providing guidance to frontline managers, they can learn how to provide constructive feedback in a timely fashion, which not only increases employee engagement but can help the company maintain competitive advantages in a constantly shifting industry.
Effective leadership requires clear communication with team members. This can be accomplished in many ways, from one-on-one meetings and team huddles to one-on-one chats and listening sessions with employees. Effective leaders listen carefully and quickly adapt strategies based on what their employees want – that way companies can develop new plans quicker.
Establish a culture that appreciates diversity. Businesses that hire employees from diverse backgrounds gain an abundance of new insights and experiences they may otherwise miss out on, while simultaneously improving morale and productivity at their workplace.
Corie Barry is an industry icon and was recently appointed the first woman CEO of Best Buy, an electronics retailer specializing in consumer electronics. At this virtual event, she shares her perspectives on leadership, workplace innovation and life in general.
2. Lead by Example
As CEO, Corie Barry must set an example for all her teams by leading by example. She believes this is best done through setting clear expectations.
She started at Best Buy as a financial analyst and quickly advanced through their ranks. Working alongside senior leaders she was able to learn the “art of the possible.” Her experiences gained from working alongside such senior figures helped broaden her perspective as she moved into more challenging positions like leading Geek Squad offices before being named CFO in 2016.
Barry said what truly sets her apart is her ability to see the big picture, making a strategy come alive while understanding everyone’s roles within an organization. Barry credits her liberal arts education from College of St. Benedict with helping her approach problems differently and think through potential solutions more creatively.
Barry describes herself as an outgoing “mom on the go,” not afraid to show her personal side when on the job, using these opportunities to demonstrate she cares for each employee individually.
During the pandemic, she encouraged Best Buy’s team to offer customers a tailored one-on-one approach; this included calling them prior to their visit so as to better understand their needs and prepare them for what to expect.
Barry is also an ardent proponent of diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I). During the pandemic she witnessed how her team’s purpose of “enriching lives through technology” became even more essential; and believes their DE&I practices – including four inclusive leadership behaviors-empathy, courage, vulnerability and grace-along with three guiding principles-be human, make it real, think about tomorrow-helped them navigate uncharted waters more effectively.
At NRF 2022: Retail’s Big Show, Barry discussed how her team adjusted its business models to better meet customer needs during the pandemic and spoke of its role in driving innovation and growth at Best Buy. View the full video here.
3. Embrace Change
Best Buy has always relied on innovation as its cornerstone mission, according to Barry. It constantly adapts its products and services to meet customer demands – which Barry sees as essential in maintaining its lead in an industry with so many moving parts.
As part of its efforts during the pandemic, this retailer is testing new ways of serving its customers such as opening stores with smaller sales floors and increased space for online fulfillment. Furthermore, employees have been let go while others were retrained for roles in digital operations.
Barry also relies on data to enhance and personalize customer experiences. Her company analyzes customer behavior to gain a better understanding of how people use their products – this enables Barry and her team to plan for the future; for instance, they anticipate more people turning towards wearable technology and telemedicine services to adapt their lives in light of pandemic.
Barry has come to recognize that her leadership journey involves listening as much as driving change. Since becoming CEO, she has made listening a priority – not only listening to employees and customers but taking time to learn from every experience possible and listening carefully. According to Barry, success has come as a result of taking this time for reflection as well as hearing what others have to say.
Corie Barry has focused her leadership during this challenging period on expanding Best Buy’s growth by using technology to enrich lives. To that end, she plans on increasing Teen Tech Centers – locations where teens from underprivileged communities are introduced and trained on technology they can use to find success both academically and in the workforce.
Barry was among the keynote speakers at NRF 2022: Retail’s Big Show. Click here to review content from this event, register for next year, or gain more insights by subscribing to our C-suite newsletter – so you’ll always stay up-to-date on news, analysis, and advice from top leaders across corporate America delivered right to your inbox.
4. Be Innovative
Popular wisdom often assumes that innovation is something only some individuals possess; however, research demonstrates otherwise; innovation can actually be learned as part of an integrated process and therefore by practicing innovative behaviors and skills, anyone can become an innovator. Key components include idea generation and decision making processes.
Barry is an advocate of personal and self-development. She regularly attends virtual and in-person events geared toward this end, sharing experiences, insights, and lessons learned both professionally and personally. Furthermore, Barry actively seeks mentorship of various types to assist her career progression and development – helping her find new approaches for approaching issues and challenges, which in turn may benefit others too.
She encourages all employees of Best Buy to bring their individual perspectives and experiences every day, which she says will make the company more innovative and successful. She urges employees to take risks by trying something different – even if it seems unsafe or risky – because doing the same old thing over and over won’t get anyone anywhere. She suggests starting small projects that do not have too much of an impact on your organization as a starting point; seeking alternative ways of accomplishing tasks will build innovation muscles in your brain so it becomes easier to tackle larger scale projects down the road.
As a leader, she has learned the most essential lesson: it isn’t always those with superior intellect who win; those who take risks tend to come out on top. Additionally, she frequently reminds her team that customer relationship management and understanding the needs and wants of customers in today’s ever-evolving environment is the cornerstone of success.
Barry believes Best Buy will remain successful for many years to come by continuing its mission of enriching lives through technology. By constantly innovating products and service delivery methods, she sees Best Buy continuing its success into the future.
