Last week I was traveling in my vehicle and I was listening to CNBC on my radio when a couple of business analysts began discussing Zappos, the shoe maker\/direct sales company.\u00a0 As they were discussing the company they seemed amazed that the CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, had spent so much time when he\u00a0became CEO focusing on the values and the culture of Zappos first, insuring that they got those right before moving on to anything else.\u00a0 I seem to recall the words \u201cfanatical about values and culture\u201d mentioned by the analysts, and, of course, on the Zappos\u00a0website they also talk about being \u201cfanatical\u201d about their values and culture.<\/p>\n
While the business analysts were amazed, I wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 Early on in our research, as early as 2002, we discovered that the organization\u2019s Vision, comprised of an Aligned Purpose, Values and Goals, was a key Element in driving performance in organizations.\u00a0 Later on we discovered how the other Elements in the Seven Elements of High Performance\u2122 work together to create an organization\u2019s culture.\u00a0 What seems to set Zappos and similar high performance organizations apart from the rest is that they place an extraordinary amount of emphasis on how they interact with each other.<\/p>\n
As we shared in our article about Understanding the Dynamics of Culture<\/a>, there are two components of culture, or \u201chow we do things around here.\u201d\u00a0 There is the process side, or how we do what we do; and the interaction side, or how we treat people as we do what we do.\u00a0 Every organization, whether intentional or not, has a culture that comprises these two components.\u00a0 Most organizations that actively manage their culture seem to focus on the process side, trying to get their processes under control, lean, and working well.\u00a0 And while this is important, it isn\u2019t where the emphasis needs to be at first.<\/p>\n As Hsieh realized early on, if everyone in the organization isn\u2019t treating each other by a set of standards that promotes good relationships, then the process side of the culture will never be optimized.\u00a0 So he set out to insure that how Zappos interacts with people, internally and externally, encouraged good relationships.\u00a0 None of Zappos\u2019 10 Core Values<\/a> mentions anything about money, revenue, or profits, yet, through this focus on Values and Culture, Hsieh took Zappos from virtually no sales to over $1 billion in sales in just 8 years, 2 years ahead of their plans.\u00a0 This led it to eventually be acquired by Amazon for $1.2 billion in 2009.<\/p>\n Hsieh still remains at the helm and still remains fanatical about the company\u2019s values and culture.\u00a0 But it isn\u2019t just the fanatical will of the CEO that leads to Zappos\u2019 success.\u00a0 Everyone else in the organization is just as fanatical about the values and culture at Zappos.\u00a0 This has led Zappos to be named consistently to the Best Companies to Work For list since 2009, and remain a consistent performer financially, as well as having an impact in the community.\u00a0 Most organizations would love to have the kind of success and reputation that Zappos has.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, most organizations aren\u2019t willing to be fanatical about their values and culture.\u00a0 Are you?\u00a0 What about the rest of the people in your organization?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week I was traveling in my vehicle and I was listening to CNBC on my radio when a couple of business analysts began discussing Zappos, the shoe maker\/direct sales company.\u00a0 As they were discussing the company they seemed amazed … Continue reading