A woman's place is in the electronics store
Best Buy executive says chain should cater to both sexes
As a senior vice president of Best Buy Co., Julie Gilbert is working to redefine the company as more than stores full of boys' toys, but also a place that caters to women. Gilbert created the Women's Leadership Forum, or WOLF, an organization of 30,000 Best Buy employees that oversee the company's strategy to increase its market share of female customers. Gilbert recently spoke with Globe correspondent Angel Jennings.
Why did you develop WOLF? I had an experience in a store in California. When I walked in with my male counterpart, the majority of the store would come up because they knew we were from the corporate office. They walked up to him and started shaking his hand. I would reach out my hand to introduce myself and in many cases, be met with no reaction whatsoever. Then the other thing that would happen - and it happened on this day - was that the women of the store would hug me as I entered the store. Again, I never asked about that either. But on this particular day, I asked one of the female employees why I kept getting hugs. She became very emotional, and told me that even though the women love working at Best Buy, they never see a female executive walk through their doors. And the reason they were hugging me was because they were so excited, and I was actually a glimmer of hope that one day if these ladies kept working hard they would become me. In that conversation I was pretty overwhelmed and also felt a heavy dose of responsibility.
You write a monthly blog for PINK magazine and in your last entry wrote about hugging instead of shaking hands. Do you think women have to change their mannerisms or adapt different skill sets in order to work in a male-dominated business world? Historically, the advice given to women was to morph yourself to become more like the guys. Also, culturally and in most businesses, that was how you would have moved up. But my point of view today is if women started supporting each other and start getting their voices heard and tie it to the business opportunities, you should not have to change your style, your look, your persona, or anything about yourself. You should be proud to be a woman. You should be really excited that you have a unique point of view and you should be extraordinarily happy about the fact that your point of view is very much valued in every meeting, including the board of directors, because if it is not, you need to go find a job somewhere else.
Why has the female market been largely ignored by Best Buy? It hasn't just been ignored by Best Buy. I think women have been ignored by the industry. And I believe it's two factors. One, this industry was started because guys love the products, and the products we were selling when the industry started were not products that women wanted. I think you would be hard-pressed to find a woman who wanted a big conversion van with all the fur inside, tricked out with huge speakers and subwoofers, which is what was happening culturally at the time this industry started in the '60s. So, the products that came up in the industry were not products women wanted. And the other reason, the products have changed dramatically. They are much more about communication, staying linked, entertaining, which is the female domain.
What is Best Buy doing to appeal to women? For 10 years, Best Buy has looked at gift registry. We have hired consultants to evaluate it, but they have done nothing to implement it. It has been deprioritized every year for 10 years. A year ago, we put together a group of manager-level women, and they voted themselves on the project based on their passion for gift registry. And they just would not take "no" for an answer. These women were so passionate about their point of view, and what gift registry can do for the business. So the good news is that next year we're going to be launching gift registry companywide. And it was done by a group of women managers that were on what we call a Delta WOLF pack innovation team.
Does women's involvement in the presidential election change things for women in the business community and elsewhere? I think it is fantastic because we finally have role models in position, on TV, in debates that are competent, that have the backbone and the strength, but yet have not given up their femininity to get there. This is what women have been waiting so long for. However, I would never say vote for anyone because of their gender. 