Professor Bonica shared this podcast interview of Zappos CEO, Tony Hiseh with us because Zappos has been brought up as an example a variety of times throughout the semester. I'm intrigued by the company from what I have learned from discussion in class, so I gave the podcast a listen (link below). Tony Hiseh is a very knowledgable and inspiring guy. Tony is an experienced entrepreneur, and co-founded two different companies, LinkExchange and Venture Frogs, before becoming CEO of Zappos. He has a passion for creating, and has built Zappos up to be a very successful company.
The interview has a theme of passion, drive, and following your dreams. Hiseh emphasizes again and again the importance of loving what you do. The worst case scenario for most listeners, he explains, is that you suck up your pride and crash with a friend for the time being if a career leap goes foul. Deciding what to do for work and following your dreams is not a life or death risk. He goes on to describe how if you are doing something you are passionate about, it won't feel like work. One interesting fact he shared is that based on studies, money does not buy incremental happiness once you hit an annual income of roughly 75K. Many people get stuck in unrewarding jobs, because society is accustomed to finding unrewarding work to feed the family, but nowadays there are so many opportunities to link what you do all day with something that you are passionate about. In conclusion, Hiseh preaches to follow your passion and not to focus too much on the what ifs.
Another major topic of discussion in the interview is the culture of Zappos. This is what we spent a good amount of time in class discussing. Hiseh believes that culture drives the brand, and once you get the culture right, everything else will fall into place. Zappos is known for their great culture and work hard to keep it that way. Hiseh shared that after training for new employees, Zappos offers to pay for their training plus a bonus of a few thousand dollars to quit. This is to ensure that employees want to be there for more than just the paycheck and that they believe in Zappos' long term vision. And only about 2% of people take the offer. Hiseh's number one piece of advice to entrepreneurs is to think about if money were not an issue what you would ideally like to do, and then make adjustments to reality. Follow the link below for the full interview clip!
I totally agree with his outlook on life. If you get too caught up in the what ifs, you could miss a lot of opportunities!
ReplyDelete