Founder & Chairman Emeritus, Best Buy
Search every verified Richard Schulze interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Richard M. Schulze, founder and chairman emeritus of Best Buy, has focused his recent public appearances on the 10th anniversary of Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange (EIX.org) and FamilyBusiness.org, two online publications funded by his family foundation. In an April 2024 interview, Schulze discussed the growth of the platforms from 2,000 to 12 million users, describing them as vetted resources for entrepreneurs and family businesses. He stated that his mission is to help more entrepreneurs succeed, which he said creates jobs and benefits communities. Schulze also highlighted e-Fest, an entrepreneurship competition, as a celebration of entrepreneurs from across the country. In a December 2024 discussion on family business, Schulze argued that family businesses are important because they have already overcome initial challenges and have a reputation and place in the community. He emphasized that change is constant and that businesses must evolve with the next generation of customers. He credited Best Buy's on-the-floor employees for helping him understand customer needs and noted that during Best Buy's expansion, 576 competitors in the industry failed because they would not change to stay in tune with their customers. In earlier media appearances, Schulze commented on the supply chain and inflation, stating in 2021 that the average American worker had been underpaid and that workers need to be paid more, while also noting that Best Buy had gotten ahead of the curve on holiday inventory.
“Change is a constant — it's critical for businesses to change in lock step with the next generation of customers, the products and services they offer, and the employees who carry out the real work.”
“If you're not deeply engaged in innovation, re-engineering and reinvigorating your business all the time, you become vulnerable — vulnerable to competition and to changes in customers' buying or consumption habits.”
“Empowering your employees is the most proficient way to stay close to the customer — our on-the-floor personnel, blue shirts, customer service agents and cashiers helped me understand what the customer really wanted in the shopping or buying experience.”
“Family business is important — in some ways more important than startups — because they've already gone through the rough spots, they have employees, a reputation and a place in the community to build on.”
“One of the biggest challenges for the next generation is convincing the last generation about the importance of making changes from practices they relied upon — what was great for the last decade may not be great for the next.”
“When we eliminated directed selling and moved toward customer-controlled sales, the customer was much more comfortable, made better decisions, and the experience became richer, stronger and more satisfactory.”
“As we grew across the United States there were 576 business fatalities in our industry — the installed base of competitors that would not change to stay in tune with their customers.”
“At age 11 I told my parents I wanted a paper route — I would accept the responsibility of morning and evening and Sunday distribution — I had a high level of interest in attempting to earn my own money and control much of what I wanted to do.”
“Between Thanksgiving and Christmas I put every newspaper inside the door every day — the generosity showed itself and I was able to triple my income and at that point in time actually able to buy a car when I was 15.”
“I told the assistant manager, 'If what you're telling me is you don't want to try it then I guess maybe I'm in the wrong job,' and with that as a background I handed in my apron and I'm moving on.”
“We started Sound of Music focused on component audio products to young customers — that niche blossomed into what is today Best Buy because we listened carefully to customers and weren't afraid to make changes.”
“When we lost our Roseville store to a tornado we turned disaster into a huge tornado sale — people streamed in and I said 'let's get the customer in control... stack it high and let it fly' — and that idea led directly to Best Buy's big‑box concept.”
“To launch the new format I literally bet the ranch — I put my house up, asked suppliers for extended support and credit, and convinced them to partner with us; they moved us from 60‑day pay to six‑month pay so we could buy the right product and grow.”
“Don't worry about profitability to begin with — get what the customer wants on the floor, integrate it into your sales policies and procedures, and make the customer the sole purpose around which you make your decisions.”
“We had a culture of inclusion and empowerment — employees knew their input was respected, and when the cry went out after the tornado we had our people out in force protecting product and running the sale.”
Join us as Best Buy founder Richard Schulze and Ritch Sorenson from the University of St. Thomas discuss the pivotal role of the ...
Dick Schulze, the founder of Best Buy and @EIX, shares his experiences as an entrepreneur and innovator, including how he ...
Richard M. Schulze, the Founder and retired Chairman of Best Buy, discusses his mission of helping more entrepreneurs succeed ...... philanthropic initiative provid Ed by dick Schultz founder of Best Buy and the Schultz foundation so first of all dick I'd like to thank ...
00:00 – Introductions: Jim Wetherbe interviews Richard Schulze, founder of Best Buy. 01:39 – Reflecting on EIX's success and ...
Richard M. Schulze, Founder and retired CEO of Best Buy, sat down on April 19 with EIX Founding Editor Jim Wetherbe (at left) to discuss the 10th anniversary of the first EIX home page. EIX was launched on April 14, 2014, and FamilyBusiness.org, which shares the EIX platform, followed four years later. The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation funds both EIX and FamilyBusiness.org. Dick has always believed that successful entrepreneur-led businesses fuel prosperity for everyone, and has made it his mission to help more startups and family businesses thrive. This mission motivated him to launc…
Richard M. “Dick” Schulze, the founder of The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation, is also founder and chairman emeritus of Best Buy Co., Inc., the world’s largest multi-channel, consumer-electronic retailer. We discuss the mindset of a good leader, wellness habits and how do deal with stress.
Best Buy founder Richard M. Schulze comments on the growing supply chain crisis facing the United States, the current holiday surge, and more - via Newsmax's American Agenda Watch Newsmax on Directv 349, Xfinity 1115, Dish 216, Spectrum (see channels), Cox, Optimum, U-Verse 1120, FiOS 615, Suddenlink, CenturyLink 1209, Mediacom 277, Fubo, Sling, WOW!, Armstrong, or the Newsmax smartphone APP. Find your Newsmax cable/streaming provider here: https://newsmaxtv.com/findus Stay up-to-date with the latest headlines at https://newsmax.com Like Newsmax on Facebook: / newsmax Follow Newsmax on…
Richard Schulze acknowledges there will be 'spot outages,' but remains optimistic about the holiday shopping season and notes customers will remain 'healthy, strong and accepting' into next year. Subscribe to Fox Business! https://bit.ly/2D9Cdse Watch more Fox Business Video: https://video.foxbusiness.com Watch Fox Business Network Live: http://www.foxnewsgo.com/ FOX Business Network (FBN) is a financial news channel delivering real-time information across all platforms that impact both Main Street and Wall Street. Headquartered in New York — the business capital of the world — FBN launched…
Presented by: Dick Schulze and Grace Northamer on 9.17.20 Join Dick Schulze, Founder of Best Buy, and Grace Northamer, University of St. Thomas Schulze Innovation Scholar, for a conversation about Dick Schulze's journey in building today's Best Buy.
TheStreet's Scott Gamm speaks with Best Buy founder Richard Schulze about the state of retail and how the sector may respond ...
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