Women Leading Change – Julie Gilbert, leader of the WOLF pack at Best Buy

Julie Gilbert comes as a “two-in-one”: There’s the Senior Vice President of Best Buy, who leads retail training, leadership development, and the company’s innovation engine for 140,000+ employees worldwide. And there is the founder of WOLF (Women’s Leadership Forum), through which Best Buy increased its female market share by more than USD 3.6 billion and the number of female general managers by 40 percent.

The amazing thing is how Julie seemingly effortless blends the two, driven by her firm belief that there’s a leader in all of us. The leitmotif that seems to run through her life is “Don’t underestimate the leadership potential of any given person”.

Painful but eye-opening experiences throughout her career have proven that women are often being ignored or patronised – be that as a senior executive of a company or as a potential customer in a store. But Julie wouldn’t be Julie if she simply lamented this fact. True to her credo that leaders identify opportunities, develop creative solutions and build support networks in order to succeed, she founded WOLF: A movement that empowers women, gives them a voice and, most importantly, an inspiring environment to share best practice approaches www.wolfinspires.com

What has started as an internal initiative for female employees of Best Buy in 2004 has now become a powerful global movement well beyond Best Buy. What has remained is Julie’s vision that if women in business unite, their voices can no longer be ignored. In addition, WOLF provides a safe and motivating haven for countless women “to believe in themselves and become someone they never dreamed possible.”

These are the facts. What is more difficult to capture is the verve and passion with which Julie delivered her presentation at the EuropeanPWN meeting 23 October in Amsterdam. Peppered with a twinkle in the eye and many anecdotes (not all of them funny) from her impressive career, she says that creating a network like WOLF was her true calling in life. Like a wolf, she looks you straight in the eye, frequently using words like “authentic” and “loyal”. At the end of the day, no leader is an island either and we all – like wolves in a pack – need a supportive environment to be the best we can be.

What made her presentation ever more compelling is the mix of personal and professional experiences that have shaped her merged into one inspiring life story. A phenomenon often displayed by women speakers – see also the talk Angel Gambino, former Global VP, Music & Content at Bebo, gave to EuropeanPWN Amsterdam members in September. No impressive P&L statistics, no animated PPT slides, no tough sales talk and thus all the more relevant, Julie touches something deep within you because she is – here you have it again – authentic and warm. So what started as one lone wolf howling into the night four years ago has become an empowering network – because women all over the world pricked up their ears and howled back. Their voices surely will be heard!

The event was graciously sponsored by Deloitte.

Bettina Duske
Member of EuropeanPWN Amsterdam