How a Best Buy executive learned to think outside the box

amien Harmon didn't always know how to think outside the box.

As Best Buy's executive vice president of omnichannel, Harmon helped the retailer reimagine its stores and interactions with customers during the pandemic. He said it wasn't always easy for him to break away from conventional thinking and allow himself to be innovative.

"I was being drilled that this is the way to think about business or this is the way to think about operations or this is the way to think about retail," said Harmon, talking about the start of his career. "But you actually have to break outside that drill and think outside of the box."

Harmon grew up in Gary, Ind. His mom taught him the importance of dreaming big. She owned several businesses, including a local day care where Harmon would often play with his friends.

Harmon joined Best Buy in 2005 as a sales manager before working his way up in the company and eventually traveling overseas to help open stores in China and Turkey, experiences that profoundly changed the way he looked at business and challenged himself as a leader. There had been earlier times when Harmon "played small in a room" or didn't speak up, he said.

"I think over time going overseas taught me to play big, taught me to think outside of the box, taught me to be innovative and think about the customer in different ways," Harmon said.

Thinking creatively isn't just needed in business, Harmon said. He also encourages young people at Best Buy Teen Tech Centers to think outside the box as well.

Harmon, now 44, is married and has six kids. One of his daughters is studying international business and another daughter is attending college in Shanghai.

In spring 2020, when its stores were closed to foot traffic, Richfield-based Best Buy was able to launch curbside pickup within a couple of days thanks in part to the quick thinking of Harmon's team.

The retail chain has expanded its fulfillment space in stores across the country including several in the Twin Cities metro. It has created more experiential stores for customers to test products.

Best Buy also launched outlet stores that sell discounted items as well as a "virtual store" out of a distribution center so customers can ask questions of experts online. Best Buy recently opened a small-format store where people use their phones to check out.

"Every single week we are talking about ways to solve customer problems that we see exist across our stores," Harmon said. "If you can solve customer problems even before you know that they have a problem, that's even better."