Q. You left Home Depot — where you had worked for more than 13 years on the Mainland and in Hawai'i — to open the first Best Buy outlet in the Islands in July. What motivated you to make the switch?

A. Best Buy had been recruiting me for some time to open the Hawai'i market for them, and eventually I accepted. Home Depot is a great company and they were very good to me. But Home Depot is driven more by compliance and execution, and Best Buy gives me a chance to be more entrepreneurial.

When I heard Best Buy's values, I said, wow, that's me. Best Buy listens to its general managers and allows them to tailor things to their own market. They say, "You know your market and you know your people better than anybody else, so we're going to listen to you."

Q. Best Buy entered a market already crowded with stores that compete with it at various levels, such as Home Depot, CompUSA, Circuit City and Costco. Are you concerned about the competition?

A. We're not worried about it. Competition is good for the customer, and it's good for the business. Home Depot is right across the street, but I know what they've got because I ran that store.

Q. What are Best Buy's expansion plans in the Islands?

A. Our Pearl City store is set to open in November. We're also looking at other locations at other islands right now. There are tentative dates, but I can't talk too much about that.

Q. You have more than 15 years of management experience with Home Depot and Best Buy. What have you learned about leadership and employee motivation in the retail industry?

A. It's about understanding your people and letting go. Its empowering your people, trusting them and giving them the tools. And then teaching them about business acumen.

What we're trying to do is grow future leaders. That's what my job is. That's what I do. I give you the terminology, and the math behind it, so now you have a process. Then you take that process and mix it with your behavior on the floor and you get the results.

Q. When you left Home Depot, about a dozen assistant managers followed you to Best Buy. Have you always enjoyed a good relationship with the people who work for you?

A. There is a typical haole manager that comes over from the Mainland, and I used to be that guy. I came to Home Depot with a lot of management experience. And when I got here, in my heart, I thought I was giving out the right information.

But what it was coming across as was, "I know everything and I'm going to show you everything." It wasn't palatable or digestible. The intent was to help, but there were several managers at Home Depot that, if we were going on a fishing trip, they would have thrown me off that boat. They couldn't stand me.

Q. What did you do to change that?

A. I sat down with them and asked, "How do you feel about working for me?" I said, "I want you to be honest." Boy, I got lambasted. It hurt, but I sat there and I took it. When I got home, I looked in the mirror and said, it's not what you're saying, it's how you're saying it. They don't trust you, Shawn. They think that I'm doing the typical Mainland thing — trying to push people down and trying to make myself look better and trying to elevate my own status and get myself ahead and not caring about them.

I could have said, "I'm the boss, it's my way or the highway." But I listened to them. Those guys who used to hate me — we're best friends now. I had to show them I had their best interest in my heart. You can't just say that. You have to prove it.

Q. What's the difference between a manager and a leader, in your view?

A. Managers manage things, and processes and systems. Leaders impact people's lives in a positive way. I know that what motivates me is that I can walk around on any island in Hawai'i (and) there are hundreds of people that know me and say, "You see that guy there, he's a good guy. That guy helped me and my family out. I got in a better place, I got better things, and my career is a lot better off from working with Shawn."

And I always say: "I didn't do anything for you guys. I just gave you some honest feedback, I enabled you to do your job and I let you do things." They did all the work, I just gave them direction. It's about helping them grow and keeping them motivated, then watching them pass it on to somebody else.

Q. You had quite a diverse career before joining Home Depot. What were some of the jobs you worked?

A. I was at Club Med for a while and managed Club Meds in Bora Bora, Cancun, St. Lucia and Bermuda. I owned five of my own companies, including an international sunglass company. I owned a couple of ski shops and taught skiing to the disabled. I also had a car-detailing business.