Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh on ChangingBusiness as Usual
By Jabez LeBret and Edited by: David Wolinsky Apr 18, 2012
Happiness.
That's a major driving force in how Zappos became one of the mostsuccessful online shoe retail stores. Happy workers make customershappy.
“If I am going into an office to work, then I am going to build a placethat I want to work [in],” CEO Tony Hsieh, who took Zappos from
startup to $1 billion in annual sales, said during a sit-down interviewwith Inc. Well.
Hsieh outlines why the happiness attribute, combined with crowdsourcing techniques and empowered employees, will push his companyinto the future in his book,
.He elaborated onsome of the concepts with me during my visit to the Zappos campus.The science of happiness is not achieved by accident. Setting up anenvironment that fosters happiness is crucial. Happy employees aremore creative, provide better service and work more efficiently. Onemajor component to creating happiness is a sense of purpose. Being partof something that is bigger than you as an individual. As a leader it isyour responsibility to provide the opportunity for the people around youto create their own purpose.For 90 minutes I sat by myself in the café on the Zappos grounds,observing the employees as they came and went. With smiles on theirfaces, I watched as employee after employee gave each other
compliments ranging from “great job on finishing that report early” to“that was a rough crowd for your presentation, but you nailed it.” That's
rare at most companies.I finally turned and spoke with two ladies that were sitting next to mehaving a meeting. They are both buyers for the company, one a seniorbuyer with over five years experience, the other a junior buyer that hasbeen with Zappos for eight months. Both shared common thoughts abouttheir company: this is an extension of their family, they love helpingeach other succeed, and this is their company.That feeling of ownership only happens when companies and leadersempower those around them. From the moment you are hired at Zappos,you are empowered.
After completing your new employee training (all employees go throughthe same training including answering the phones) you are given theoption to stay or take $2,000 and be on your way. The choice is yours.You are empowered to make the best decision for you and for thecompany. From then on you are expected to take control of your actions,your team, and to take ownership of the decision making process.
Tony explained “I want to feel like I can make decisions for what I am
doing and other people want that as well. When people are empowered
they feel a sense of ownership.”
Tony and his team built a company where people make decisions in ahighly decentralized environment. Does every idea work out? Of coursenot, but there are plenty that do. The end result is a company of leadersthat believe they can build this company to be successful. One major actof empowerment is allowing your employees, vendors, and customers tohave a say in what and how you operate.Crowdsourcing has led Zappos to where is it today. The employeeshelped create Zappos' core values, its employee handbook, and theenvironment in which employees work. The company is about to make amajor move into a new location in Las Vegas and instead of just makingall the decisions Tony reached out to the employees and asked them tohelp guide the process.
When I asked Tony about why he crowd sources so much he replied, “It
scales better. If I have to make every decision at some point I becomethe bottleneck. [Crowdsourcing] is the only way you can be successful.Everyone in the company benefits from decentralizing the decision
making process.”
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