Yammer started in 2008 and now has 100,000 companies and organizations, including over 80 percent of the Fortune 500, as customers.
But that isn’t why I’m writing about it.
I read an interview with David Sacks, Yammer’s founder, chairman and C.E.O. Of course, the interview started asking all the standard ‘leadership’ questions, but Sacks responses were all about culture. (Fantastic information, I hope you take time to read it.)
“You’ve really got to create a company culture that people want to work at. And so you try to give them a voice, give them a sense that they influence the direction of the company, and try to avoid unnecessary process and hierarchy — things that might frustrate employees. … I think you’ve got to create a culture in which dissent is valued.”
Sacks’ responses forced (my interpretation) the interviewer to focus on Yammer’s culture as opposed to Sacks and his ‘leadership’.
I find these interviewers interesting. They seem always to focus on the person, looking for the accepted responses and attitudes towards ‘leadership’ and comments that have ‘I’ in multiple places.
When the responses don’t fit that profile the interviewers seem a bit incredulous—or maybe it’s just me and my own prejudice on the leadership thing.
Watch this interview with Tony Hsieh (sorry, the Washington Post doesn’t provide embed code), but keep your eyes on the interviewer as you listen to the questions and responses, especially at 4:09, when Hsieh says, “I think of myself less as of a leader and maybe more of a protector.”
Check out the interviewer’s facial expressions and then tell me if it’s my imagination or does he register surprise tinged with disbelief.
The New Yorker has a fantastic story on Zappos. I’ve written about Zappos several times previously and I have to say this is one of the best profiles I’ve seen.
“Tony Hsieh, has earned a zealous following by imposing an ethos of live human connection on the chilly, anonymous bazaar of the Internet. He talks about being the architect of a movement to spread happiness, or “Zappiness,” via three “C”s: clothing, customer service, and company culture.
“Eventually, we’ll figure out a way of spreading that knowledge to the world in general, and that has nothing to do with selling shoes online.”
There has been much talk about what will happen to the Zappos culture and its all important focus on happy since it was acquired by Amazon. The culture was even considered important enough that the issue was addressed in an SEC filing—”Amazon vowed to leave Zappos’s management structure intact.”
Hsieh was already rich when he joined Zappos after selling his first company to Microsoft; he had a simple focus…
“What kind of company can we create where we all want to be there, including me? How can we create such a great environment, where employees get so much out of it that they would do it for free?”
Anyone who has seen Hsieh knows he isn’t a fashion icon; everything he wears is no name, moreover he has no interest, “I much prefer experiences to stuff.”
And that is what Zappos really sells, the intimate experience of a leisurely conversation on the phone with a person who is happy to hear from you, doesn’t multitask while talking or rush you because she has to do something else (the current record-holding call went on for five hours, twenty-five minutes, and thirty-one seconds) and, by the way, you get a pair or more of shoes with it.
The article is a fascinating and intimate look at Hsieh and Zappos; I hope you’ll take time to read it.
Yes, it’s another post about my favorite company. Why do I write so much about Zappos?
Because, according to CEO Tony Hsieh, “Our No. 1 priority is the company culture. Our whole belief is that if we get the culture right, then everything else, including the customer service, will fall into place.”
Zappos embodies everything I believe about culture being the bedrock of corporate success.
Not bad for a dot com startup that was given exactly one week’s worth of additional funds in which to turn itself around or be shut down.
But heaping more kudos on CEO Tony Hsieh isn’t the purpose of this post. Rather, I’d like your opinion of why cultures such as this are so rare.
Hsieh is a Gen Xer running a truly multi-generational company (I confirmed this by calling and chatting with a customre support person, not HR or an official source, just a worker) that hires based on cultural fit and skills—they carry equal weight.
The focus on culture is one reason that Zappos doesn’t have the generational management problems besetting so many companies.
The Zappos culture is a long way from rocket science and Hsieh isn’t shy about explaining how to duplicate it, so you tell me.
I’ve written multiple times about Zappos and I’m not the only one. Any time the conversation turns to productivity, customer service, branding, leadership, staffing, etc., and chances are someone will point to Zappos.
I seriously doubt that Tony Hsieh can even spell imperial CEO, let alone act like one—his office is a cube in the middle of a lot of other cubes.
He has built Zappos around extreme customer service—only to him it’s not extreme, because he knows no other way to do business. And Zappos employees are as passionate about Zappos as Hsieh is.
During his keynote address at the CEO Summit he said that “Creating a happy workplace is crucial to building a successful company. … After looking at research on human behavior he found that happiness is about four things: perceived control, perceived progress, connectedness and vision, or in other words “being part of something bigger.””
Hsieh constantly presents Zappos anywhere possible to build his brand, not talking about shoes, but about Zappos’ culture, the customers’ experience and how happy employees mean happy customers.
Companies constantly talk about the need for a ‘great customer experience’, whereas Zappos provides one.
He’s writing Delivering Happiness due out March 2010. If I was rich I’d send it to every CEO whose company can be found by searching ‘XYZ sucks’ (for example, ‘Comcast sucks’ shows 22,300 results).
Amidst all the doomsayers and layoffs stands 34 year-old Tony Hsieh, CEO of billion dollar Zappos and as far from an imperial CEO as it’s possible to get. (I wrote about Zappos last spring with a link to an excellent interview.)
Hsieh sold LinkExchange, his first company, in 1999 to Microsoft for $265 million and then founded Zappos, a company known for its astronomically high quality customer experience and some of the happiest employees on Earth.
And the downturn isn’t changing that.
From the start, he chose to spend the marketing and advertising money on the customer experience, fostering repeat business and word of mouth advertising.
For his customers:
“Unconventional for an online retailer, Zappos offers free shipping both ways and a 365-day return policy. Customers can order 10 pairs of shoes, try them on, and send nine back. Or 10. Free.
Where other companies duck customers and hide their contact information…Zappos’ 800 telephone number is prominently displayed at the top of its Web page. At the Zappos call center, representatives work without scripts and are under no pressure to quickly dispatch with customers. … Shipping is promised in five to six days. But the company’s little secret is that most orders are automatically upgraded to free overnight shipping. The warehouse operates 24/7… The goal is building a lifelong relationship.”
For employees:
Hsieh says, “The number one focus and priority for the company, even though we want the brand to be about customer service, is company culture … Our belief is that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff, like great customer service, will just happen naturally.”
When asked why more companies don’t do as Zappos does, Hsieh says. “Patience. Most corporations don’t want to put in the time to build customer service and a company culture. … Chase the vision, not the money. The money will follow.”
Don’t miss Robert Reiss’ interview with Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh.
Hsieh believes that Zappos incredible customer service is the number one driver for sales growth that skyrocketed from $1.6 million in 2000 to more than $1 billion in eight short years, while powering straight through the dot com bust.
Hsieh believes that to be successful you “need to be truly passionate about whatever you’re in the business of doing—it should not just be about making money.”
Zappos.com’s incredible customer service is embedded in its culture and Hsieh explains in depth that the culture is protected by a unique “two-step” hiring process that in its second-step concentrates on Zappos’ corporate culture and its core values. Hsieh says, “We make sure the people we hire have similar values. We won’t hire them if they are not a “culture-fit even if they are technically strong.”
The company focus is obvious—listening to its customers to hear their requests and understand their needs.
Hsieh’s says, “We place a lot of value on the interaction with customers. We want and take the time to talk to our customers.”
The man’s on to something. In an age when most customers are left with the feeling that the company is doing them a favor by taking their money for the product/service and their desire for decent (not even great) customer service is at best an annoyance listening to Hsieh is not only refreshing, but offers tangible proof that a focus on company culture and superb customer service pays.
You tell me—it great customer service common sense or rocket science?
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
Yammer started in 2008 and now has 100,000 companies and organizations, including over 80 percent of the Fortune 500, as customers.
“Tony Hsieh, has earned a zealous following by imposing an ethos of live human connection on the chilly, anonymous bazaar of the Internet. He talks about being the architect of a movement to spread happiness, or “Zappiness,” via three “C”s: clothing, customer service, and company culture.
