The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism

A Wall Street Journal Bestseller
Named a Financial Times top title
Published in 19 languages

How to unleash "human magic" and achieve extraordinary results.

When Hubert Joly became CEO of Best Buy in 2012, many believed the company was headed for collapse. The electronics retailer was losing ground to online competitors, and industry analysts predicted its demise.

Eight years later, Best Buy had engineered one of the most remarkable turnarounds in modern business. Under Joly's leadership, the company became one of the nation's most admired employers, dramatically improved customer satisfaction, and delivered exceptional shareholder returns.

In The Heart of Business, Joly reveals the leadership philosophy behind that transformation and offers a powerful model for modern management:

• Pursue a noble purpose
• Put people at the center of business
• Create an environment where every employee can blossom
• Treat profit as an outcome, not the goal

In this book, Joly shares memorable stories, lessons, and practical advice, all drawn from his own transformation—from a hard-charging McKinsey consultant to a leader who believes deeply in the power of human magic.

The Heart of Business is a timely guide for leaders who want to rethink traditional management, lead with purpose and humanity, and achieve extraordinary results.

Hubert Joly is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Best Buy Co., Inc. where he led the company's turnaround and transformed it into an industry leader, consistently rated one of the best places to work for. He is now a senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School.

He is also a member of the board of directors of Johnson & Johnson and Ralph Lauren Corporation, and a vice chairman of the Business Council. 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, 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 Harvard Business Review, one of the top 30 CEOs in the world by Barron's, and one of the top 10 CEOs in the US by Glassdoor. He is a knight in the French Legion of Honor and the French National Order or Merit.

Writer Caroline Lambert has collaborated on books with a wide range of change makers and thought leaders, including the former President of Malawi, anti-corruption crusaders, and entrepreneurs and government officials. Most recently, she cowrote the bestseller Aligned with Hortense le Gentil.

As a journalist and Deputy Asia Editor for The Economist, Caroline wrote about business, economics, and politics, earning the Diageo Africa Business Reporting Award and the Sanlam Award for Excellence in Financial Journalism. Caroline holds an MBA from INSEAD and an MA in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, where she was awarded the Groove Haines Award in International Policy. She is a former Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development.

You can find Hubert Joly at linkedin.com/in/hubertjoly/.