I also have a program that searches the Internet anytime somebody mentions Best Buy out there. Sometimes it’s really great things, sometimes it’s obscenity-laden, but I have a huge appetite for it. If I see customers have problems with things, I will contact the appropriate person in our company and have them contact that customer. Sometimes I contact the customer.

Q. Hearing from you probably scares the heck out of them.

A. It does freak them out a little bit. But I do think that the social media we have out there create interesting platforms for people to make those connections. I think it’s just fascinating.

Q. What goals have you set for yourself as a leader and a manager?

A. I’ve set a couple. One, I have spent my career working in the United States, and I am going to be spending a lot of time visiting our operations in China and Europe and around the globe to get very connected to those businesses. Personally, I want to make sure I keep learning. I think the C.E.O. job is designed to insulate people from things that really happen. I want to make sure that I’m sort of out there in the white noise and the messiness of it all. If you don’t, you run the risk of becoming insulated and ineffective.

Q. You said the job is set up to insulate the C.E.O. What do you mean?

A. Most people don’t run in and tell you, “Hey, we’ve got a problem here,” or “I think I messed this thing up.” It’s human nature; everybody wants to look good. Everybody wants the optics to all line up. I think that the truth of the matter is that if you’re really going to look at it with clear eyes, there are things we do really well. There are things we’re O.K. at.

There are things that we’re not great at. I think I’ve got a classic bell curve. I think 20 percent of my stores are great, 60 percent are good, and I’ve got 20 percent where I’ve got some serious work to do.

Q. Let’s talk about hiring. Walk me through what you’re looking for in the interview process, your key questions.

A. By the time these individuals get to me, we’ve had a thorough sort of scan of their technical capabilities and all that. So my discussion with them is very little about technical capability and competence and very much about cultural fit. And the thing I really focus in on is: “What are you passionate about? What do you really care about and what do you do with that?” And I don’t care if it’s coaching a basketball team or something else. I want to understand how they think about their passion.