Tony Hsieh has a dream to fix the world’s cities one by one, starting with Las Vegas, and he believes it can be accomplished via culture, just as it is at Zappos.

Two Q&A responses in the interview caught my eye, because they get to the crux of great culture.

Q. What is Zappos’ greatest threat?

HSIEH. Probably ourselves. The fundamental premise behind Zappos is culture. The belief is that if we get the culture right then most of the other stuff like doing great service, building a long-term, enduring brand or business will just be a natural byproduct of that. Most companies, as they get bigger, the culture goes downhill. Not only do we want to prevent that, but we actually want it to scale and get stronger and stronger which, generally, I think has never been done before. That is a challenge. The only way we have been able to think of to achieve that is if every employee views living in and inspiring the culture as part of their job description.

Great cultures are envisioned in the broadest strokes from the top—Hsieh wanted a happy place to work—with the visionary enabling people at all levels to contribute to and protect the resulting culture.

Q. If you are not there to do that, will there be someone there to do that?

HSIEH. It kind of goes back to it is everyone’s job to protect our values and to grow the culture. I guess we don’t really have an explicit succession plan. But I can also tell you that the only compensation I’m getting from Amazon is $36,000 a year with no chance of bonuses or stock options or anything. So, in theory, I could walk away at any moment but I haven’t. In a weird way, that only gives me more leverage over Amazon, because they know the only thing keeping me at Zappos is my happiness, and what makes me happy is us being run independently and maintaining our culture.

The bolding is mine and every boss at every level should commit it to memory.

The concept of leaving if not happy is applicable to every person who works no matter the size of their paycheck.

Not everyone can walk on the spur of the moment, but if they aren’t happy eventually they will walk.

Flickr image credit: Brian Nicklaus

As an article on in Forbes points out, your culture is the only part of a company that can’t be duplicated and is, therefore, your biggest and most sustainable asset—if you take the time and invest the energy to make it more than great-sounding words.

While the article doesn’t break new ground it did offer up a great image bite that may resonate with you.

All music is made from the same 12 notes. All culture is made from the same five components: behaviors, relationships, attitudes, values and environment. It’s the way those notes or components are put together that makes things sing.

It points out that the reason that culture can’t be duplicated is context, meaning that two people arranging the same components will have a different result.

That’s because context = MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) and there is not such thing as two people with the same MAP.

Even identical twins won’t have identical MAP because MAP is the result of perception, not just experience.

The problem is building a culture that sings, whether concerto, R&B, pop or rap, takes effort, entrepreneurs are always in a time crunch and culture gets pushed to the back burner.

When that happens just remember that when reality requires you to pivot, when success requires you to staff up quickly, when the bugs surface or your competition is killing you the strength to overcome will be found in your culture—or not.

Flickr image credit: The-Lane-Team

Yesterday I shared my love of crossing stuff off lists because of the sense of accomplishment it brings, but that kind of stuff is small potatoes; it lifts me up and helps me move forward, but it isn’t a substitute for hitting the goals that move my life.

I just hit the biggest one on my list and want to share it with you.

For the last several years we’ve been working to turn a consulting approach for allocating incentive stock in private companies based on the company’s values and culture into a web-based subscription service (SaaS)—and it’s finally a reality!

Not only that, but because I hate the way traditional Help works, I conceived a brand new, user friendly type of Help that our programmers implemented brilliantly—you’ll love it.

It’s a soft launch, but Option Sanity™ has its second beta client (I’m looking for three more) and is looking good.

But it feels strange; for so long the focus and the goal has been to produce the software and the website. That meant working with the programmers, tons of writing and editing, working with the guy who originated the math and mechanics of Option Sanity™ and who was primary tester and developing my own skills as a user.

Now that it’s done I keep waiting for a massive feeling of accomplishment and although it’s there it’s dwarfed by what needs to be done now—marketing, identifying and closing multiple sales channels, supporting new users, developing a FAQ based on their questions, creating a user community—the list seems endless.

With all that starting me in the face I thought I’d ask for some help.

It would be terrific if you would to www.optionsanity.com, read about the product and click Take the Tour. Unfortunately the tour isn’t done, but on that page you’ll find a link to the full app demo.

Check it out and then leave your comments on the review page. Forward the information to anyone you think would be interested

I know it will take a few minutes, but I would be eternally grateful.

Thanks!

Image credit: RampUp Solutions

More proof that culture is the difference between winning, losing and turning around.

What can culture make happen? Just about anything.

What do Apple, McDonalds, IBM, Continental Air Lines and ABB have in common with Western Digital, U.S. Steel, Waste Management, Nutrisystem and Orbital Sciences? They all came back from near death experiences or brushes with irrelevance.

Culture drives everything that happens in a company.

Steve Jobs says that Apple has a startup culture and it was the culture he focused on when he came back to bring the company back from the brink.

When it comes to culture Jim Goodnight’s 30 year-old SAS is at the top of the heap and likely to stay there. Goodnight decided not go public because he “didn’t want analysts on Wall Street telling him how to run his business and forcing him to cut out the elements of SAS’s culture that give it an edge” and what an edge that is.

Finally, there is no way today’s column can end without a reference to Zappos.

You’ve probably already seen it, but the article in Inc. Magazine on why Zappos was sold to Amazon is actually an excerpt from Tony Hsieh’s new book Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.

In his column about Zappos Chris O’Brien supplies a great close to today’s post.

If you treat employees like they’re just a bottom-line expense, they’re bound to act like one, delivering the very least performance possible. And if you treat customers like they’re a problem, then they’ll eventually get the message and go away.

Image credit: pedroCarvalho on flickr

Did you watch the new reality show Undercover Boss on CBS Sunday after the Super Bowl?

The opening episode starred Larry O’Donnell, President and C.O.O. of Waste Management.

O’Donnell plays ‘Randy’, a new worker being filmed for training purposes. At one location he jams the trash line by not removing large cardboard; he is fired, for the first time in his life, for not being able to efficiently collect blowing trash at a landfill—unlike the worker he is with who has done the job for 19 years while spending three days a week in dialysis; he cleans porta-potties with a guy who’s attitude is every manager’s best dream; and he rides with a female trash hauler where he learns that to stay on schedule women drivers use cans from the trash as pee-pots.

He meets a 29 year old single mother who overcame five kinds of cancer by age 25, has taken in her brother’s family and her dad, is about to lose her home in foreclosure and is doing three jobs post layoffs for the same money she was getting before, but is still upbeat and even invites the new guy to dinner.

O’Donnell is surprised by the physical and mental exhaustion he experiences his first day, amazed by the people he meets, outraged by what he learns and shocked at the implementation of a policy he personally conceived to raise productivity by which workers were docked 2 minutes for every 1 minute they were late.

At the start of the show when O’Donnell tells his executive team that he is going undercover the reactions vary from surprise to incredulity.

When he meets with them at the end and talks about what he learned and changes he believes are needed and how he plans to use his new knowledge the look on guy’s face said it all—he might as well have rolled his eyes.

Sadly, that is often the reaction from senior leadership regarding intel that comes from front-line, bottom-of-the-heap workers.

The smartest managers listen to their all their people—not just the ones in suits.

The final scene includes and overlay update on what happened to each of the people who worked with O’Donell and changes, both made and ongoing, as a result.

I don’t watch reality shows; I’ve read that many are scripted, but I do believe that there are bosses of large companies who don’t have egos the size of Texas and are capable of learning from unfiltered feedback from the lowest rank and file.

Plus, it seems that changes were actually made.

As big a believer as I am in bosses talking to the troops, there is no way O’Donnell would get this kind of feedback from this level of employee if they knew who he was.

Go ahead and call me naïve, but in spite of everything I’d rather be a chump than a cynic.

And in case you missed Undercover Boss you can watch it here.

Image credit: Svadilfari on flickr

The most overused and abused words in almost any language are ‘lead’ and its close cousins ‘leader’ and ‘leadership’.

People are constantly exhorted to “step up and be leaders” and to “cultivate leadership skills” and therein lies my difficulty.

I googled a number of places and here is a partial list of leadership traits; I’m sure you can add many more.

Do you see the same problem I see?

Ignoring how they are interpreted, these are the traits that allow people to be decent human beings, no matter what they do in life.

Of course, the interpretation is colored by ideology and MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™), sometimes so highly colored that a person on the ‘other side’ won’t recognize them—politics and religion are two areas where this is most obvious—but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

If you prefer to see developing these and other ‘leadership traits’ as laying the basis for your emerging as a leader that’s fine, as long as the development isn’t contingent on your advancement to a certain position.

Ever wonder if there is one trait beyond all others that leaders of all kinds have and is obvious in every situation?

Join me Thursday for the answer.

Image credit: lepiaf.geo on flickr

Today’s Odd Bits are kind of a hodgepodge, but in the twisty corridors of my mind they do fit together.

First the potatoes.

Do you believe all the experts, academicians, pundits and just-plain-people who keep talking about how the so-called Great Recession is permanently changing America’s stuff fixation? I don’t, I just think people will find a way to do the same thing covertly—call it inconspicuous consumption.

On the other side, have high-end retailers really changed their attitude towards customer service? An exec from Saks Fifth Avenue said, “Every customer is valuable and they’re even more valuable today because there are fewer of them.” Does that mean they will revert to form when there are more of them? Another little gem buried in this article shows that consumers haven’t changed all that much, after all, who really needs an $18 bottle of nail polish?

Microsoft, the company people love or hate. Since I’m in the latter camp I was delighted to see that they lost on appeal and the $290 million judgment for violating a patent stands. Their reaction is typical of today’s worst corporate MAP, since “…new versions [of Word], with the computer code in question removed, would be ready for sale when the injunction begins Jan. 11.” They stole, but that’s OK because getting caught won’t interfere with business and apparently the money is no big deal. Still more intriguing is an article at CNN wondering if Steve Ballmer will be out in 2010, “Ballmer has shepherded Microsoft to vanishing mobile market share (now just 7.9 percent of the market), a hesitant tiptoe into software as a service, and a general sense of retreat in emerging markets.” (Be sure to check the two links at the end of the story.)

And then there is Facebook, which is one of the top two time-wasters since time began (the other is Twitter). Besides providing you with a whole new set of virus to worry about, it’s obsessive (in case you hadn’t noticed) and the best defense seems to be defriending.

Enough with the potatoes, you need meat to balance your last meal here. And for that kind of substance you can’t beat Harvard.

Specifically, you can’t beat Michael C. Jensen, the Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus’ fascinating paper on integrity.

“Integrity in our model is honoring your word. As such integrity is a purely positive phenomenon. It has nothing to do with good vs. bad, right vs. wrong behavior.”

Therefore the worst villain has the same integrity as your favorite saint. Interesting premise, well worth reading.

Image credit:  nono farahshila on flickr

I have two special stories for you today, the kind that make you realize that there really are rays of hope piercing the hypocrisy so prevalent these days.

Special because they highlight two very different people and their accomplishments against the odds.

First is the story of a company and its employees who really do live by the professed corporate values. The employee is Jim Sinocchi who broke his neck and was paralyzed from the neck down. Instead of walking away, Sinocchi’s employer created a position for him; he is now director, Workforce Communications at the corporate headquarters. That was 28 years ago, long before passage of the ADA or advent of politically correct actions. The company? IBM.

The second is definitely a story of our times.

Management Today named Kate Craig-Wood one of its 35 Women Under 35 2009: Heroines For Hard Times. Here is what they say about her.

“Craig-Wood began her career at Arthur Andersen. She co-founded web and IT hosting provider Memset with brother Nick in 2002 – it now turns over £2m. In 2008, transsexual Craig-Wood won a NatWest Everywoman award. She was the first woman to tandem skydive onto Everest.”

What’s the big deal?

Kate Craig-Wood was born Robert Hardy Craig-Wood.

If they can do it, so can you!

Image credit: MykReeve on flickr

What would your reaction be to an executive who, when asked about company values, replied, “What do you mean by ‘values’? Do you mean ‘value’? I don’t understand what you mean by ‘values’.”

That was Sir Alan Sugar’s response at a recent conference when asked if he’d ever sacked someone because their values conflicted with the company values. (In case you’re wondering, Sir Alan is the counterpart to Donald Trump on the British version of The Apprentice.)

Based on what we’ve seen lately, Sir Alan has a lot of company.

So I have some questions for you.

• How do you establish values in your company or in your life?

• Do you depend on a set ideology or do you determine them yourself?

• Are your values absolute or are they flexible? Why?

• Are they sustainable?

I hope that many of you will take the time to respond and add your own thoughts.

Hat tip to the Leadership Hub for this quote.

Image credit: Arenamontanus on flickr

Are you familiar with risk culture? You should be, no matter your position in your company.

Risk culture is “defined as the system of values and behaviors present throughout an organization that shape risk decisions. Risk culture influences the decisions of management and employees, even if they are not consciously weighing risks and benefits.

“A company’s risk culture is a critical element that can ensure that “doing the right thing” wins over “doing whatever it takes. … When companies reward reckless conduct, or results gained through any means, the risk management message becomes diluted. … Having a strong risk culture means that employees know what the company stands for, the boundaries within which they can operate, and that they can discuss and debate openly which risks should be taken in order to achieve the company’s long-term strategic goals.”

It takes time, effort, commitment from the top, starting in the board room, and support at every level of management.

Once acceptable risk is decided upon, folded into your culture and communicated it’s most important to use it as a filter in the hiring process.

In fact, the only way to ensure that your corporate culture, risk tolerance, values, etc., continues is to hire people who are, at the very least, synergistic with them.

Read the articles and if you have any questions, or want some help learning to use your culture as a filter, give me a call at 866.265.7267 between 8 am and 11 pm Pacific time or email miki@RampUpSolutions.com. (Calls are better; email can get blocked by filters.)

NO charge—I do it for fun.

Image credit: neuza teixeira on flickr