I think Zappos is a fantastic company and I am absolutely intrigued by their values and how they truly use it to run the company. How many of us have had the bland corporate values exercise that barely got used and / or could be swapped with another company and no one would know? It’s a total waste because truly credible, authentic values come from the people themselves on how they live their lives personally (inside and outside of work). When your values are that clear to people, then hiring and developing individuals is much easier and growth becomes that much more sustainable. If I’ve learned anything from my years at Netscape and EA it’s that growth can be your worst enemy. You end up hiring people who are just “ok”, you lose balance around key practices, and you can end up taking your eyes off the thing that made you successful in the first place.
Here are their values along with tips provided to every employee as part of their employee oath:
- Deliver WOW Through Service
- Embrace and Drive Change
- Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
- Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
- Pursue Growth and Learning
- Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
- Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
- Do More With Less
- Be Passionate and Determined
- Be Humble
The video above gives you a peak into their operating model which is employee driven, a form of Holacracy. They implemented that a few years ago because they felt it put the power into the employees’ hands for results and culture. Check out their Zappos Stories on YouTube and their Evolve website which is crammed full of excellent tips to move your organization to a more self-managed / nimble organization. Evolving into a culture driven company takes leadership, commitment, humility, a shared growth mindset, and a willingness to reflect, engage, and adapt. Now more than ever your company’s culture can help you adapt through yet another unprecedented event and time in history. Adaptive Talent’s retained search, assessments, total rewards consulting, training, leadership coaching and development programs, and our culture and organizational development consulting services can all help you strengthen your culture and company capabilities. We look forward to helping!