I often feel that incentives for businesses don’t align with doing good business, such as Microsoft showing ads in the Window’s 11 Start Menu, but on the occasion where rejecting typical business practices to put the customer first actually results in the business being more successful it’s a great reminder that you can improve profitability by doing the right thing for customers.

Barnes and Nobles recent move away from race-to-the-bottom prices and pushing publisher’s books of choice to prioritize the discovery experience within their stores brings a smile to my face. Their CEO truly loves books, having grown up in the industry selling books since the 80's, and cares about providing a great bookstore experience, shown by delegating book selection to employees, which has resulted in their business around and Barns & Noble becoming a very different case study in business textbooks to come.

What Can We Learn from Barnes & Noble's Surprising Turnaround? 

We need more of this in the world.