I’d first heard about Zappos when an acquaintance I admired very much told me he was moving to Vegas to work for them. He was heading up a project to share their company culture with other companies. I learned that Zappos was becoming famous for its out-of-the-box work environment paired with its strong company growth.
Over time, I heard more and more inspiring stories coming from Zappos. Like the employee who got permission from her boss to send flowers to a customer whose mom had died. Or the story about the call that lasted for six hours because the customer “really needed a friend.” This is the company that has a multiple week orientation where everyone from computer programmer to senior manager learns to work in the call center. And at one point during that orientation, new hires are offered over a thousand dollars to quit. Just to make sure they really want to be there.
I found myself telling Zappos stories all the time. I listened to the audio book by Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh, called Delivering Happiness. That gave me even more stories to tell. Enough talk; I had to visit the Mecca of business culture and see it for myself.
I drove to Vegas. On the eve of my tour, I watched a video from their latest “all hands” meeting. Ready for crazy costumes, song and dance? How about executives in jeans answering challenging questions from their staff? It’s all here:
Click the photo to see the blog and video.