Richard Schulze
Don’t do it Dick. The retail world is changing in ways yet to be defined. Even if it works out that you are somewhat successful, what is the point?
It is not even a question of whether I think you are capable. It is a question of why you would want to spend the next few years of your life trying to reinvent what you started in the first place. You are 71, worth $2 billion, happily married to your second wife, have 10 kids between the two of you and an ever-increasing number of grandchildren.
If you are looking for something really exciting to do, I can introduce you to some of the greatest young minds in the digital world that are inventing new technologies that none of us ever thought possible. They need your business acumen, your marketing prowess and your ability to build a business slow and steady. You have everything they do not. They have the kinds of minds that you need to know better. They will fascinate you about ways they are going to change the world in all types of fields, from everyday technology to transportation to outer space. You are one of a few who can help these young geniuses reach their goals. It will be far more rewarding to be the power behind the cure for hideous diseases, than the developer of a new way Americans buy their electronics.
I have researched all the good work you are doing in philanthropy, education and medicine. I congratulate you, but I am not talking about writing checks. I am talking about becoming a full time counselor to the future Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Jack Dorsey’s, and Mark Zuckerberg’s. There are a few dozen out there that will never make their mark without you.
You have a chance to regain the most rewarding and fruitful years of your life if you just take the time to explore what I am suggesting.
I was there when you and your late wife started Best Buy in 1966. At that time it was called the “Sound of Music Store,” in St. Paul, Minnesota. I was 18 and lucky enough to be working alongside two of the industry’s most devoted editors, Aaron Neretin and Manning Greenberg. We wrote about the growth of your company in the pages of Home Furnishings Daily, day after day, year after year. I saw and felt your sweat. I remember when your wife got sick, how you met wife number two, and how you devoted yourself to an industry that has had nothing but pleasure because of your efforts.
It is time for you to get reinvigorated. You are not going to experience the same euphoria you had the first time by trying to turn Best Buy into the next Apple retail chain. Even Apple is trying to figure out the next steps to maintain their own retail phenomena. I am not going to get too deep into it now, but the guys you are surrounding yourself with to rebuild your baby, are not the new thinkers of tomorrow. If you ever read this blog post, please call me and I will tell you why.
I know too many seasoned professionals who tried to go home again. When they got there, they slowly discovered why they left in the first place. Please open up those big baby blues that make you so distinguishable, and see the opportunity to have a much more important second chapter.
DigiDame 
What a lovely letter! I hope Mr. Schulze reads it and takes it to heart. Too many of us, as we get old, cling to sinking ships because we wish to return our earlier glory days. We forget the important responsibility that we have to mentor the next generation that has new visions of possibilities we haven’t even thought of yet. But they lack the perspective and insight that we older folks have gleaned through all of our experiences, both positive and negative. There is much to be said for combining the best gifts of that both young and old have to offer through mutually respectful yet passionate collaborations on the creating a new and different future.
So well put. I will share with others.
Thank you
Lois
Lois — I couldn’t agree with you more. Maybe you send this as a letter to the Editor of the New York Times or some other place where he might read it. Thank you for your continued insights. B.
Lois, love your post. And you’re so right. You cannot go back and ever feel as satisfied as the first time around. I just told someone yesterday that the retail climate has changed so radically because of the Apple Store, Amazon.com and WalMart’s forays into consumer electronics, the video games and music CDs moving to online playing and sales, stronger and more nimble regional/more local CE retailers, a slowing of the HDTV upgrade cycle, slower turn white goods inventory and display that takes up too much space, Best Buy stores that have way more square footage than needed in the new CE retail landscape, and there’s more. And on top of it, Best Buy’s board decides to bring in a Frenchman as its new CEO whose has some excellent turnaround experience on his resume for French and European companies. The US consumer retail markets particularly in the CE category is so very different. Please show me an example where this has worked . Sony is the poster child for those type of senior executive experiments. And look where it’s got them in the US and globally. That’s my take. BL
Lois,
A beautifully written letter. I agree with Barbara that you should send it to the Times, The Huffington Post or some high profile website. Well done!!!
Hi Lois
Wonderfully said. The greatness gift we can give a younger generation is the gift of character, mentoring and hope how to make the next generation be happy and successful in their work and home.
Go for it Dick… and thanks to Lois for giving the inspiration to bringing this to his attention.
Robert Ain
I agree, too !!!
Lois Whitman,I have known you throughout my career, and you’re quite the deal-maker. This is a great letter, I look forward to see what comes of it! JM