Company culture is something that many corporations take for granted, not realising how important it actually is to employee morale, work quality, and overall profits. In order to build a great company culture, the leaders of the organisation need to infuse it into all areas of the company. In other words, culture is not just a sign on the wall or a bullet-point list on the company website telling us what they stand for. Zappos.com, led by CEO Tony Hsieh, has a unique company culture, one that nurtures its workers and motivates them to provide the best customer service in the industry. Being very interested in his ideas on how he cultivated Zappos' company culture, I decided to read Hsieh's latest book, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose.
Now, I almost never finish business books; a chapter or two is usually all I can take. But I eagerly read Hsieh's book from cover to cover.
He provides advice and insight we rarely receive from our most successful business leaders.
Hsieh's account of his transformation from a Harvard student entrepreneur through his years as a dot.com wunderkind to the creator of a formidable brand is not unique. But he deserves a lot of credit for building his first internet company LinkExchange in just over two and a half years and then selling it to Yahoo! in 1999 for $265m.
Then, as the tech boom burst and Hsieh confronted the dwindling pile of cash left over from the sale of LinkExchange, his story began to come alive.
One of his most promising startup investments was Zappos.com, a shoe retailer. Just as disaster struck the company, Hsieh stepped in. Recounting the stress of operating in survival mode, we get the inside story of how he revived the company, from the deliberations behind liquidating his assets to fund the company in its darkest days to the risky decision to seek out an 11th-hour loan.
By the time Zappos was acquired a decade later by Amazon for more than $1.2bn, Hsieh and his team had built a unique corporate culture dedicated to employee empowerment and the promise of delivering happiness though satisfied customers and a valued workforce.
Hsieh focuses on three critical areas that businesses typically fail even to consider in their strategic plan: culture, training and development, and customer service are at the heart of his success.
Most business advice books focus on issues like maximising profitability, ROI, product innovation, operational efficiency, and beating the competition, so it is a breath of fresh air that Hsieh barely even acknowledges these topics.
Over time, Zappos' number-one priority, culture, became even more important than their commitment to customer service. The heart of their success story lies in the commitment the business made to consciously and intentionally build a culture that embraces the business's key values. Culture is a tough topic. There are no road maps, and the path for one business is by definition unique to that particular company. Culture is a long-term investment. It cannot be regulated by a board of directors.
Zappos annually produces a "Culture Book" that's shared with anyone interested in its content – from employees to vendors and customers.
If you were to visit the Zappos office, you're likely to find a nap room, a petting zoo, a makeshift bowling alley, employees doing karaoke, or a popcorn machine dressed up as a robot. If you happen to visit on "Bald & Blue Day" you'd find employees shaving each others heads.
Zappos has what's called a "Face Game". When you log into the computer system, after you enter your password, a face pops up of a fellow employee and you're asked to enter the person's name. Whether you answer correctly or not, you see a bio and profile – another way of getting to know your fellow workers and building culture.
Positive office culture assures you of passionate employees, outstanding performance and the ability to attract the best talent.
At Zappos, customer service is how they market the brand. Zappos takes most of the money it could spend on advertising and invests it in customer service. Treat people amazingly well and they'll tell their friends. Zappos lets it customers do the marketing. Hsieh writes: "The telephone is one of the best branding devices out there." Rather than urging customer service staff to take as many calls as quickly as possible, there are no quotas and the longer the call the better.
All new Zappos employees are greeted with a four-week training programme. At the end of the first week everyone is offered $2,000 to quit. The offer stands until the end of the fourth week. Zappos wants employees who really want to work for them and no one else.
Everyone is challenged to make at least one improvement, every week, that makes Zappos better reflect its core values. Both personal and professional growth is expected. Core values include: be humble, do more with less, be passionate and determined, and create fun and a little weirdness.
Zappos doesn't hire very experienced workers. They bring almost everyone in at an entry level and grow their talent from within. All employees can access 30 different courses created by Zappos exclusively for their staff. The courses range from how to answer the phone to tribal leadership, public speaking, stress management and introduction to finance.
Of particular interest to me was the conflict that developed between Hsieh and his board that ultimately forced the sale of the company to Amazon. Despite Hsieh's amazing success, the board wasn't happy. They didn't understand and could never get comfortable with much of what had made the company successful.
Hsieh, concerned that the board might fire him and destroy the culture, in the end promoted the sale of company as a way to fall into the arms of a different owner who would allow him to remain at the helm and keep running the company his own unique way.
Jeffrey Hollender and author and an activist for corporate responsibility, sustainability & social equity. He was the co-founder and former CEO at Seventh Generation.
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