Ron Kirby Leadership Articles

What separates a successful company from one that is having a problem surviving? I guarantee you the answer is the Leadership. Hourly associates aren’t the ones who make decisions and policies; the leadership team does.

Let’s use a true story of how leadership can make a tremendous difference in a company that is thriving.

In 2005 I was recruited and hired by Best Buy. I had minimal retail experience but tons of leadership experience, after serving almost 32 years in the Marine Corps. Best Buy’s Corporate Leaders are brilliant people. They understood that a past proven winner can also be a winner in a new field, with proper support. I was hired as a manager and excelled in every area of the store to which I was assigned.

Due to our success we were selected to be a Laboratory store, whose objective was to provide insight concerning innovation for the future of the company. Being selected to be the Lab/Innovation Manager was an honor and a definite challenge. In the following 18 months my team provided over 600 innovative ideas to Corporate Management. We recommended changes we needed to make to ensure frequency and retention of our current customer base and to inspire new customers.

We did this as a Team; no one individual could accomplish this although there are some who would like people to believe they can. Every week we talked with our customers while building relationships and trust, obtaining their ideas of what they desired.

Weekly we had Corporate Management in the store for an 8 hour meeting, during which I had to provide the weekly insight and innovative ideas. Quickly realizing this was a gold mine to allow part time and full time associates to speak with the Corporate Team on our discoveries, I involved them in the meetings. This was amazing as we now had associates interacting with the highest level of leadership in the company. The reward was immediate as associates’ confidence soared and their buy-in that their work was being recognized and appreciated was evident.

 I resigned from Best Buy in 2007 but was tremendously proud of the incredible job the team did for the future of the company. The majority of the associates were promoted and had a great career in front of them. To say I was beaming with pride would be a gross understatement, as development and training are my fortes.

Associates are only as good as we allow them to be. My team was given a lot of freedom with supervision and they responded admirably, just like yours will with proper leadership, training, and supervision and above all respect.

You may ask why I left. Well I had another opportunity to provide leadership and training in building another empire with my son.