S2E1: Michael Huseby - Challenges of Digital Transformation

Michael Huseby is a CU alumnus who has been managing the challenges of digital transformation in a number of industries, including retail communications, and now education as Chairman and CEO of Barnes & Noble Education.

In this episode, Michael discusses how he’s managed to lead Barnes and Noble through the pandemic and offers insight on how to foster a strong brand and culture in an increasingly digital world.

EPISODE QUOTES:

On consumer trends

(00:04:03) The generation of students that we serve is digital now. Most of them were born with a cell phone or an iPad in their hands. So we know that that's how they're used to interacting with information and how they're used to learning. Students are used to learning in a mobile way where there's ease of use and lower costs. You don't have a typical supply chain where you have to walk into a brick-and-mortar store to buy something. That all points to digital. So we have a digitally native customer base. The supply chain is electric and electronic and not physical.

On driving change

(00:10:57) What's difficult is when you have a culture that is strong and you're trying to change it to more of a performance-based culture, so to speak, that's really geared towards collaboration with customers in the context of driving change. Because in a service culture, you're generally trying to respond to requests and a model that's been proven for a very long time in a dynamic, digital, uncertain, ambiguous environment, you have to also lead change, which means that you have to build services and products that customers may or may not want, or may not want to change to themselves.

On work/life balance

(00:18:22) In a digital environment, you can really set yourself up for some stress. The barriers are kind of broken down that you usually have in a physical office or physical classroom. So we actually have rules in place where we try and get people to not leave people texts at three o'clock in the morning, even if you're up because people are so used to responding now to screens and notification sounds and that type of thing, you could be on edge all the time. So, respect boundaries. 

SHOW LINKS: 

Guest’s Profile:

Michael Huseby on LinkedIn