How Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast!(*)
The scene is set in the United States. A newlywed couple is preparing to move. You can imagine the mess the house is in. Unaware that her husband placed her jewelry in a bag she just purchased from Zappos, the lady places the bag in its original Zappos packaging and takes it back to the store for an exchange. The wife has unknowingly returned thousands-of-Dollars' worth of jewelry alongside the bag, and only realizes while unpacking in their new house that the jewelry is missing.
She immediately calls the Zappos’ Call Center to report the incident. A call center agent answers her call and manages to locate the package but finds it risky and unsafe to ship it back. Instead, he puts himself on a plane, flies to their new digs and returns the jewelry in person. To reciprocate, the couple treat the agent to a dinner and end up becoming lifelong clients for his company.
If asked what I mostly find missing with modern-day corporate management, I would immediately answer; “Culture”! We have not been able to realize that the biggest damage done to corporate culture as the key vector of success is the disappearance of such ambitious concepts as “vision, mission, values” and any “ambition” that these claims might promise. The reasons why culture is treated like the “adopted child” of corporate management are beyond me. However, we owe so much to the culture of our workplace where we spend more time than with our families and grow attached to it almost like a Catholic marriage!
We all know that the vision and mission statements on corporate Websites do not bring anything to the table beyond an “A+” for composition. (In the mean time both my personal and company-related vision and mission statements have always been a black and white photograph.) Perhaps the reason why vision and mission statements have become so deflated and unimportant, almost like a patient struggling to breathe, when at first conception they had been likened to the colorful, eye-catching hot air balloons in Cappadocia, ready to embark upon a trip around the world in 80 days; is because they have neglected workplace culture. This is exactly why we are also aware that the concepts of “customer focus”, “employee wellbeing” and “environmental awareness” flying under the banner of corporate values are all but inapplicable in daily life. The foundation on which these concepts rest is “corporate culture”, which is left unmanaged and unattended. Corporate culture is the world we live in and experience, but we pretend it does not “exist”.
"What kind of company is it?" The answers to this question signals how crucial the above concepts of vision, mission and values are.
Enter a big hall in an open office workplace and you will immediately see how happy employees are. Check out call centers or customer hotline where millions of Dollars are invested in technical equipment, and you will see how customer-oriented they are from the furious expressions on the faces of their owners! Look at a company’s garbage pile in the evening, and you will realize how sensitive they are about the environment.
And so; “writing” something does not make it true! Actions need to match up with words. As long as these behaviors are accepted in employees’ private lives and continue to shape the workplace, they become corporate culture! How to hold a meeting, how to drink tea and coffee, how to take notes during a meeting, how to eat lunch, what to wear, how to present a report… Knowing where to place customers, employees and other stakeholders as part of the same family… All of these are the product of corporate culture and corporate values!
Tony Hsieh and “Delivering Happiness”
If I were an executive officer, I would drop everything to read Tony Hsieh's book, “Delivering Happiness”. Not only would I not put it down until I finished it, I would also push my fellow workers to read it. If I were Human Resources Manager, based on this book by Tony Hsieh, I would focus on “Zappos”. The company is managed by Tony Hsieh himself and has recently been sold to Amazon. I would examine the corporate culture they have created, and the “success” they have built upon this foundation. I would infer much from their story and see if there was any way I could apply it to the company I work for!
Zappos is one of the e-commerce companies defined as part of the “new generation”. They have predicted differentiation as “really understanding and knowing the consumer, and turning this knowledge into surprising delivery methods” . China-based Ali Baba may be running in the same lane, but Zappos is said to win by a landslide in technology and in the accommodation of human emotions.
A company born out of disappointment!
Zappos was founded in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1999. We find founder Nick Swinmurn extremely unhappy, trying to buy a pair of shoes in a mall in San Fransisco. One store has the shoe model but not in the right color, while the other has the right color but not the right size. He returns home empty handed. He tries looking for it online, and is disappointed yet again... He has difficulty finding a place solely focused on shoes. Nick makes a decision that day. He quits his job and founds Zappos!
Today, Zappos markets more than a thousand clothing and shoe brands. It has around 1500 employees. When they get worried comments about their rapid growth, they test their self-confidence with the “WOW” philosophy. This is because they have defined the entire raison d'etre of the company around “The best possible customer service” .[3] They call this, in short, “WOW”. And they have foreseen that the corporate culture to feed into this reason for existence must be “fun and mysterious”. Employees working in a job they love, being happy and active participants, and consumers being a part of this fun, enjoyable environment brings success with it. They also conceptualized their business model as a dot.com store where you can buy 3 million different shoes, clothes and accessories - one that offers free two-way shipping (while shipping to and receiving packages from customers.)
The company got hitched to Amazon in 2009! Their common mission, “customer focus and surprising service” was stated to be the wedding ring.
Tony Hsieh…
Let's talk a little more about Tony Hsieh. He started working at Oracle shortly after graduation from the Computer Science Program in Harvard. He so realized, however, that corporate life was not for him. After a five month-trial, he quit his “once dream” job. He then created Linkexchange, an Internet-based network, with his roommate. In 1999, the then 24-year old Tony Hsieh sold LinkExchange to Microsoft for 265 million dollars. After the sale, he stood witness to the destruction of the very corporate culture they had been trying to protect. And this was the second disappointment! Around that time, he discovered Zappos.
He joined Zappos as an investor and advisor. Later on, he was at the helm as the CEO. He created a different kind of success, a zero-to-million-Dollar story. When the company was sold to Amazon for 1.2 billion dollars ten years later, it was announced that he would continue as CEO and that the company would remain independent under Amazon. In 2010, he wrote a New York Times and Wall Street Journal number “one” best seller, a book called “Delivering Happiness”. Hsieh defines the philosophy underlined in his presentations and book as; “The secret to our success lies in valuing our employees and the 24/7 live customer service we provide. No matter how perfect a product you have, if you lack a quality customer service, you will not be able to reach your goals. For a successful customer service, you need happy employees."
The job definition "Fungineer"...
One example of the corporate values transforming into corporate culture in Zappos is the term “fungineer”. In short, it is a concept and position developed to get the company motivated, enrich the job environment and build employee loyalty and happiness through creative activities. There is an activity in Zappos almost every day. These activities, which you can watch on YouTube, are far beyond what we see in other companies and outstanding besides.
How do corporate values transform into corporate culture?
Zappos has 10 corporate values to which it remains extremely loyal and through it has built its corporate culture. These values all correspond to certain politics and processes. So corporate culture is shaped through the participation of all employees. Hiring has two phases. How suitable the candidate is for the department they wish to join, and how suitable they are for the corporate culture...
We shall note the Zappos corporate values here, for those of you who are curious. But more importantly; in order to ensure the permanence of corporate culture, there are explanations of the meaning behind each value and the way they will be turned into action. In addition, there are related books for each value that are recommended to employees.
1. Deliver WOW through service
2. Embrace and drive change
3. Create fun and a little weirdness
4. Be adventurous, creative, and open-minded
5. Pursue growth and learning
6. Build open and honest relationships with communication
7. Build a positive team and family spirit
8. Do more with less
9. Be passionate and determined
10. Be humble
It goes without saying that behind the ability of Zappos to turn each customer call into a university lecture lies the company organization, designed for this exact purpose. For example; Christa Foley is the Culture Advisor and Insight Manager. Her most important duty is to hire people that may fit into the company culture. Another important duty is to create environments where other companies can be inspired by their practices To guide them, to lead them and to help them use Zappos' experiences!
This quote from Tony Heish is actually very meaningful, and quite valid for success; “People will forget what you said and did. They'll remember how you made them feel”. What good corporate culture brings is exactly this! Which in turn brings success!
(*) DRUCKER Peter, Fortune, https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewcave/2017/11/09/culture-eats-strategy-for-breakfast-so-whats-for-lunch/#796ab4767e0f
(**) Published in Brandmap June 2018 issue