I first met Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com in Las Vegas in 2009, the day after the company announced it would be acquired by Amazon.com in an all-stock deal worth about $1.2 billion.
I had been intrigued with the company for several years, as I’d heard over-the-top stories of their customer satisfaction exploits, college dorm-like work environment, and phenomenal sales growth (2000 sales were approx. $1.5 million, then $8.6 million in 2001, $70 million in 2003, $184 million in 2004, $840 million in 2007, then $1+ billion in 2008!).
It seemed that every business publication I opened during that time had a feature or cover story on Zappos and its CEO—Tony had reached rock star status in the world of CEOs. So, in our quest for knowledge, and the desire to learn from those who are bolder and brighter than we are, we set off to Henderson, NV to tour the Zappos headquarters and meet with Tony and some of his team members to get the low down.
Here’s the first video segment from our time with Tony (keep an eye out for more video segments to come in future blog posts). We discuss THE most important thing in ANY business (and life): the ability to adapt; to embrace and drive change; and to learn from our mistakes. Watch the video and see that the originally conceived idea and business model for Zappos is not at all what it is today.
Has your inability to embrace change kept you from reaching your goals and fullest potential? Have you broken through obstacles by adapting to the dynamic nature of life? Let us hear about it by sharing your comments.
