Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
  • Faculty
    • Faculty
    • Positions
Hubert Joly

Hubert Joly

Senior Lecturer of Business Administration

Senior Lecturer of Business Administration

Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Best Buy
Author of The Heart of Business– Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism

Hubert Joly is Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School. He is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Best Buy Co., Inc., and the author of The Heart of Business – Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism, which is slated to be published in the Spring of 2021 by Harvard Business Review Press.
Read more

Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Best Buy
Author of The Heart of Business– Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism

Hubert Joly is Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School. He is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Best Buy Co., Inc., and the author of The Heart of Business – Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism, which is slated to be published in the Spring of 2021 by Harvard Business Review Press.

Hubert is also a member of the Board of Directors of Johnson & Johnson and Ralph Lauren Corporation, a Vice Chairman of the Business Council, an Executive Advisor at World50, a member of the International Advisory Board of HEC Paris, and a Trustee of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Through his foundation, he has endowed the Joly Family chair in Purposeful Leadership at HEC Paris where he actively collaborates with the faculty.

Prior to Best Buy, he was the CEO of Carlson Companies, a global leader in the hospitality and travel industry, the CEO of Carlson Wagonlit Travel, a Senior Executive at Vivendi S.A., the President of EDS France and a partner at McKinsey & Company. He is a graduate of HEC Paris and Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.

Hubert has been recognized as one of the top 100 CEOs in the world by the Harvard Business Review, one of the top 30 CEOs in the world by Barron’s and one of the top 10 CEOs in the U.S. by Glassdoor. He is a knight in the French Legion of Honor and the French National Order of Merit.


Less
Marketing
+1 (617) 496-1924
→Send Email
 
Hubert Joly
Unit
Marketing
Contact Information
(617) 496-1924
Send Email
Featured Work Publications Awards & Honors
The Heart of Business—Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism

For a refoundation of business and capitalism around purpose and humanity.

Having recently stepped down as Chairman and CEO of Best Buy, Joly shares the leadership principles – illustrated by multiple vivid and concrete stories -- that underpinned the remarkable resurgence of Best Buy and that he believes are at the heart of business: pursue a noble purpose, put people at the center, embrace all stakeholders, and treat profit as an outcome.

There was a time when many would call this a soft philosophy. But times have changed. The world and business are facing unprecedented challenges. Business can be, in fact needs to be a force for good. In 2019, Best Buy and 180 other companies signed the momentous Business Roundtable statement in support of stakeholder capitalism, highlighting that you can do well by doing good. The Covid-19 pandemic further pushed many businesses to lead from a place of purpose and with humanity.

Joly himself transformed from a hard-charging, deeply analytical McKinsey consultant to a leader who believes in what he calls human magic—or how to mobilize people to give their best, which translates into extraordinary performance.

Joly shares how so much of what he initially learned about management is either dated, incomplete, or simply wrong. Drawing from multiple sources of inspiration as well as his rich experience, he offers a set of essential leadership principles and provides concrete advice on how to turn them into action — including how to turn around a business without everyone hating you, how to develop and implement a strategy in a way that truly inspires and mobilizes, how to concretely embrace and align all stakeholders around a noble purpose, how to unleash human magic and create outcomes that defy logic, and how to become a great leader by pursuing a noble purpose and embracing your humanity.

This is not a revolt, but a revolution. Joly’s principles helped transformed Best Buy and other companies he led. Even more importantly, they are a major contribution to the necessary re-foundation of business and capitalism around purpose and humanity.

 

Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Best Buy
Author of The Heart of Business– Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism

Hubert Joly is Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School. He is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Best Buy Co., Inc., and the author of The Heart of Business – Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism, which is slated to be published in the Spring of 2021 by Harvard Business Review Press.

Hubert is also a member of the Board of Directors of Johnson & Johnson and Ralph Lauren Corporation, a Vice Chairman of the Business Council, an Executive Advisor at World50, a member of the International Advisory Board of HEC Paris, and a Trustee of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Through his foundation, he has endowed the Joly Family chair in Purposeful Leadership at HEC Paris where he actively collaborates with the faculty.

Prior to Best Buy, he was the CEO of Carlson Companies, a global leader in the hospitality and travel industry, the CEO of Carlson Wagonlit Travel, a Senior Executive at Vivendi S.A., the President of EDS France and a partner at McKinsey & Company. He is a graduate of HEC Paris and Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.

Hubert has been recognized as one of the top 100 CEOs in the world by the Harvard Business Review, one of the top 30 CEOs in the world by Barron’s and one of the top 10 CEOs in the U.S. by Glassdoor. He is a knight in the French Legion of Honor and the French National Order of Merit.


Featured Work
The Heart of Business—Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism

For a refoundation of business and capitalism around purpose and humanity.

Having recently stepped down as Chairman and CEO of Best Buy, Joly shares the leadership principles – illustrated by multiple vivid and concrete stories -- that underpinned the remarkable resurgence of Best Buy and that he believes are at the heart of business: pursue a noble purpose, put people at the center, embrace all stakeholders, and treat profit as an outcome.

There was a time when many would call this a soft philosophy. But times have changed. The world and business are facing unprecedented challenges. Business can be, in fact needs to be a force for good. In 2019, Best Buy and 180 other companies signed the momentous Business Roundtable statement in support of stakeholder capitalism, highlighting that you can do well by doing good. The Covid-19 pandemic further pushed many businesses to lead from a place of purpose and with humanity.

Joly himself transformed from a hard-charging, deeply analytical McKinsey consultant to a leader who believes in what he calls human magic—or how to mobilize people to give their best, which translates into extraordinary performance.

Joly shares how so much of what he initially learned about management is either dated, incomplete, or simply wrong. Drawing from multiple sources of inspiration as well as his rich experience, he offers a set of essential leadership principles and provides concrete advice on how to turn them into action — including how to turn around a business without everyone hating you, how to develop and implement a strategy in a way that truly inspires and mobilizes, how to concretely embrace and align all stakeholders around a noble purpose, how to unleash human magic and create outcomes that defy logic, and how to become a great leader by pursuing a noble purpose and embracing your humanity.

This is not a revolt, but a revolution. Joly’s principles helped transformed Best Buy and other companies he led. Even more importantly, they are a major contribution to the necessary re-foundation of business and capitalism around purpose and humanity.

 

Books
  • Joly, Hubert, and Caroline Lambert. The Heart of Business—Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, forthcoming. View Details
Book Chapters
  • Joly, Hubert. "The Power of Accepting Feedback." Chap. 15 in Work Is Love Made Visible: A Collection of Essays About the Power of Finding Your Purpose From the World’s Greatest Thought Leaders, edited by Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, and Sarah McArthur, 109–114. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2018. View Details
Journal Articles
  • Joly, Hubert. "How to 'Re-engineer' Your Business for Safety." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (June 2, 2020). View Details
  • Joly, Hubert. "Lead Your Team Into a Post-Pandemic World." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (May 8, 2020). View Details
  • Joly, Hubert. "A Time to Lead with Purpose and Humanity." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (March 24, 2020). View Details
Awards & Honors
Named HEC Paris Person of the Year in 2020.
Awarded the Deming Cup for Operational Excellence in 2019.
Named one of the Top 10 CEOs in the United States by Glassdoor in 2019.
Named one of the Top 100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World by Harvard Business Review in 2018.
Named one of the Top 30 CEOs in the World by Barron’s in 2018.
Inducted into the Junior Achievement of the Upper-Midwest Business Hall of Fame in 2018.
Named Person of the Year by Twin Cities Business Magazine in 2018.
Appointed a Knight in the French Legion of Honor in 2016.
Named Retailer of the Year by Forbes in 2016.
Recipient of the 2015 US Sciences Po American Foundation Alumni Award.
Awarded the French National Order of Merit in 2009.
Selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum, 1997–1999.
Additional Information
LinkedIn
  • Hubert Joly | LinkedIn
Areas of Interest
  • business transformation
  • corporate culture
  • corporate governance
  • diversity
  • leadership
  • Additional Topics
  • general management
  • leadership development
  • succession
In The News

In The News

    • 10 Dec 2020
    • Harvard Business School

    Managing Diversity: A Conversation with Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO & President of Ariel Investments, and Hubert Joly

    • 03 Dec 2020
    • Harvard Business School

    Managing Diversity: A Conversation Between Roger Ferguson, CEO of TIAA, and Hubert Joly, HBS Senior Lecturer

    • 28 Sep 2020
    • The Future of Work

    How the Former CEO & Chairman of Best Buy, Hubert Joly, Transformed the Company

    • 21 Jun 2020
    • McKinsey

    Leading with purpose and humanity: A conversation with Hubert Joly

    • 05 May 2020
    • Methods

    Leadership in Action | Hubert Joly & Hortense Le Gentil | 100 Coaches LIVE

→More News for Hubert Joly

Hubert Joly In the News

In The News

10 Dec 2020
Harvard Business School
Managing Diversity: A Conversation with Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO & President of Ariel Investments, and Hubert Joly

03 Dec 2020
Harvard Business School
Managing Diversity: A Conversation Between Roger Ferguson, CEO of TIAA, and Hubert Joly, HBS Senior Lecturer

28 Sep 2020
The Future of Work
How the Former CEO & Chairman of Best Buy, Hubert Joly, Transformed the Company

21 Jun 2020
McKinsey
Leading with purpose and humanity: A conversation with Hubert Joly

05 May 2020
Methods
Leadership in Action | Hubert Joly & Hortense Le Gentil | 100 Coaches LIVE

13 Mar 2020
Yahoo! Finance
Former Best Buy CEO: Companies should 'pursue a noble purpose and good things'

20 Nov 2019
Inc.
The CEO Who Saved Best Buy From Ruin Says Creating Meaning at Work Was Key to His Success

14 Nov 2019
BSR
Hubert Joly, Executive Chairman, Best Buy Co., Inc. | BSR19

06 Nov 2019
HEC Paris
Purposeful Leadership - Hubert Joly (H.81)

24 Oct 2019
2019 JAUM Business Hall of Fame Laureate — Hubert Joly

22 Oct 2019
Columbia Business School
2019 Deming Cup for Operational Excellence

20 Jun 2019
CNBC: Evolve
Best Buy Chairman and Fmr. CEO Hubert Joly with Courtney Reagan at CNBC Evolve Summit

19 Jun 2019
CNBC: Evolve
People thought Hubert Joly was ‘crazy or suicidal’ for taking the job as Best Buy CEO. Then he ushered in its turnaround

11 Jun 2019
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Joly bids adieu to CEO role at Best Buy; Barry takes helm

13 May 2019
Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Industrialist's Dilemma: Hubert Joly, Chairman and CEO of Best Buy

16 Apr 2019
CNN Business
How Best Buy's outgoing CEO, Hubert Joly, rescued the company

07 Mar 2019
Stanford Graduate School of Business
It’s All About Mindset — Hubert Joly, CEO Best Buy

04 Mar 2019
Inc.
A Founder's Key to Perseverance: Embracing Struggle

12 Jan 2019
Minneapolis Star Tribune
How Hubert Joly aims to turn Best Buy into a 'happiness' company

24 Dec 2018
CNN Business
Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly has nothing to sell you

01 Dec 2018
Twin Cities Business
2018 Person Of The Year: Hubert Joly

10 Oct 2018
Twin Cities Business
Best Buy Chairman, CEO Hubert Joly Is TCB’s 2018 Person Of The Year

08 Sep 2018
Money Inc
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly

13 Aug 2018
Chief Executive
Under CEO Hubert Joly, Best Buy Moving Forward In The Age Of Amazon

20 Sep 2017
CNBC
Exclusive Interview: Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly Talks Strategy Ahead Of Its Investor Day (Full) | CNBC

29 Oct 2015
Fortune
Best Buy CEO on how to lead a corporate turnaround (without making employees hate you)

Additional Information

LinkedIn

Hubert Joly | LinkedIn

Areas of Interest

business transformation
corporate culture
corporate governance
diversity
leadership
 More

Additional Topics

general management
leadership development
succession
 Less

In The News

    • 10 Dec 2020
    • Harvard Business School

    Managing Diversity: A Conversation with Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO & President of Ariel Investments, and Hubert Joly

    • 03 Dec 2020
    • Harvard Business School

    Managing Diversity: A Conversation Between Roger Ferguson, CEO of TIAA, and Hubert Joly, HBS Senior Lecturer

    • 28 Sep 2020
    • The Future of Work

    How the Former CEO & Chairman of Best Buy, Hubert Joly, Transformed the Company

    • 21 Jun 2020
    • McKinsey

    Leading with purpose and humanity: A conversation with Hubert Joly

    • 05 May 2020
    • Methods

    Leadership in Action | Hubert Joly & Hortense Le Gentil | 100 Coaches LIVE

→More News for Hubert Joly

Hubert Joly In the News

In The News

10 Dec 2020
Harvard Business School
Managing Diversity: A Conversation with Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO & President of Ariel Investments, and Hubert Joly

03 Dec 2020
Harvard Business School
Managing Diversity: A Conversation Between Roger Ferguson, CEO of TIAA, and Hubert Joly, HBS Senior Lecturer

28 Sep 2020
The Future of Work
How the Former CEO & Chairman of Best Buy, Hubert Joly, Transformed the Company

21 Jun 2020
McKinsey
Leading with purpose and humanity: A conversation with Hubert Joly

05 May 2020
Methods
Leadership in Action | Hubert Joly & Hortense Le Gentil | 100 Coaches LIVE

13 Mar 2020
Yahoo! Finance
Former Best Buy CEO: Companies should 'pursue a noble purpose and good things'

20 Nov 2019
Inc.
The CEO Who Saved Best Buy From Ruin Says Creating Meaning at Work Was Key to His Success

14 Nov 2019
BSR
Hubert Joly, Executive Chairman, Best Buy Co., Inc. | BSR19

06 Nov 2019
HEC Paris
Purposeful Leadership - Hubert Joly (H.81)

24 Oct 2019
2019 JAUM Business Hall of Fame Laureate — Hubert Joly

22 Oct 2019
Columbia Business School
2019 Deming Cup for Operational Excellence

20 Jun 2019
CNBC: Evolve
Best Buy Chairman and Fmr. CEO Hubert Joly with Courtney Reagan at CNBC Evolve Summit

19 Jun 2019
CNBC: Evolve
People thought Hubert Joly was ‘crazy or suicidal’ for taking the job as Best Buy CEO. Then he ushered in its turnaround

11 Jun 2019
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Joly bids adieu to CEO role at Best Buy; Barry takes helm

13 May 2019
Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Industrialist's Dilemma: Hubert Joly, Chairman and CEO of Best Buy

16 Apr 2019
CNN Business
How Best Buy's outgoing CEO, Hubert Joly, rescued the company

07 Mar 2019
Stanford Graduate School of Business
It’s All About Mindset — Hubert Joly, CEO Best Buy

04 Mar 2019
Inc.
A Founder's Key to Perseverance: Embracing Struggle

12 Jan 2019
Minneapolis Star Tribune
How Hubert Joly aims to turn Best Buy into a 'happiness' company

24 Dec 2018
CNN Business
Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly has nothing to sell you

01 Dec 2018
Twin Cities Business
2018 Person Of The Year: Hubert Joly

10 Oct 2018
Twin Cities Business
Best Buy Chairman, CEO Hubert Joly Is TCB’s 2018 Person Of The Year

08 Sep 2018
Money Inc
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly

13 Aug 2018
Chief Executive
Under CEO Hubert Joly, Best Buy Moving Forward In The Age Of Amazon

20 Sep 2017
CNBC
Exclusive Interview: Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly Talks Strategy Ahead Of Its Investor Day (Full) | CNBC

29 Oct 2015
Fortune
Best Buy CEO on how to lead a corporate turnaround (without making employees hate you)

ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College