Knowing and working from essence is the first step in bringing soul to work and finding your flow. To view the flow model click here.
The Essence of Tony Hsieh
Tony makes me think about otters. Otters play and so does Tony Hsieh. He defies conventional wisdom. He succeeds by creating a different set of rules, and he has fun. He talks about Zappos not as a place to work but as a lifestyle. But how does a work/lifestyle of play and happiness benefit the company? Hsieh’s experiences have taught him that the best and most innovative business ideas emerge when people are just “hangin’ out” together. So he is creating a company where people really want to be with each other during work and non-work hours. And his unconventional formula for success is working.
When I asked Tony Hsieh “What is your essence?” he replied, “I build things creatively.” Digging deeper into his stories, I learned this means playfully defying conventional wisdom while building something of value. Value, however, is not measured by money, but by happiness and community. The money follows in a-bun-dance.
One of my favorite essential Tony stories involves his creative solution to parental demands that he practice music four hours each day during summer vacation. Tony recorded practices sessions throughout the school year then played them during his summer “practice” sessions, while holding up in his room reading Boy’s Life. One of the magazine’s ads led to Tony’s his first venture – worm farmer and salesman. The young Mr. Hsieh failed to reach his goal of becoming #1 in U.S. worm sales when all his inventory died from a diet of raw egg yolks. Turns out young Tony was more entrepreneur than farmer.
Building a community and sharing the goodies is also part of Tony’s essence. If it isn’t shared it isn’t fun. He learned how important this was when it got lost at LinkExchange, his first post worm company, founded with a college roommate. At the beginning it was hard working fun. As the company grew more friends joined. They ate together, slept in closets and under desks in Tony’s loft, a space designed for living, working, and playing. But when the company grew to 100 employees, Tony began to dread going to work. It wasn’t fun anymore. He didn’t know everyone. The sense of a community building something together was lost. Some newer employees were motivated by the desire to fill their own pockets. So after some deliberation, the founders sold to Microsoft. No fun? No problem. Sell to Microsoft for $265 million. It was after this experience that Tony committed to building culture as job 1. And for the Otter the desired culture includes being creative and playful, defying conventional wisdom and creating a community. Zappos is this culture.
What is Essence and Why Is It Important?
Essence is what makes each of us unique. It is what we are here to express. It is the itch that does not go away no matter how often we vow to ignore it. Essence is what the soul yearns to express.
Yehudi Menuhin’s essence made itself heard in the music of the violin. At the age of four, the now renowned concert master, asked his parents for a violin. When he received one as a gift, he opened the package and promptly threw it on the floor refusing to touch it. Why? It was a toy and young Yehudi meant a real one. His essence knew itself even then.
Robbed of the opportunity to express our essence, most adults will not behave like four year old Yehudi. Instead, Important parts of the Self – essence and passion – split the scene. Engagement, on the other hand, requires our essence to be fully present.
A company’s essence can be seen in its founder. Is she an explorer, a seeker of wisdom, an inventor, a purveyor of beauty? The founder infuses the company with her essence. At Zappos, Hsieh intentionally designs and nurtures a culture based in essence and attracts like-minded others to play, defy conventional wisdom and create abundance with him. To weed out any mismatches who find their way through the hiring process, in which people are asked about their weirdness, Zappos offers all new employees a $2000 payout to leave after the initial training period.
Hsieh’s Essence at the Core of Zappos
This essence of Zappos keeps customers coming back for more, and it is why employees like Rebecca Ratner, HR Director, who is many years from retirement, hopes that Zappos is the last company she ever works for. At the transactional level, Zappos sells shoes and accessories, but according to Hsieh they “Deliver Happiness” also the title of his forthcoming book. They do so by defying conventional wisdom. They delight customers by upgrading to next day shipping at no extra cost. Products simply arrive early. They also realize some customers want to talk as much as they want to order shoes. Their longest record for phone time with a customer is six hours. This is certainly not in line with “conventional wisdom” practiced by the many call centers that measure and reward productivity.
To read about talent management at Zappos click here.
Delive
ring Happiness has the potential to be a game changer for the world of business. Tony Hsieh,The Sole of Corporate Soul, is on a mission to deliver much more than shoes.
The essence of Zappos at work and at play can be viewed in the following short video.
If you share our passion for bringing soul to work please be part of the solution by joining us at the Corporate Soul Movement.
1The Wall Street Journal recently ranked Gary Hamel as the world’s most influential business thinker, and Fortune magazine has called him “the world’s leading expert on business strategy.” For the last three years, Hamel has also topped Executive Excellencemagazine’s annual ranking of the most sought after management speakers.