Focus on your employees and success will follow.

John Battelle interviewed Tony Hsieh (pix below) of Zappos this week at Federated Media Publishing's CM Summit in NYC and one of the key take aways for me re: their success was his (Tony's) focus on corp culture and caring for his employees. Below is a quote from an article in Inc that he basically repeated in the interview. Additionally, the article is also a fascinating read on how selling Zappos actually enabled it to thrive and grow.

Tony Hsieh's approach to dealing with employees is remarkable and his business has flourished in a most competitive market sector, women's shoes. Check out his book to learn how to create a culture that enables a business to thrive and grow. "Delivering Happiness"

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"Zappos sells shoes and apparel online, but what distinguished us from our competitors was that we'd put our company culture above all else. We'd bet that by being good to our employees -- for instance, by paying for 100 percent of health care premiums, spending heavily on personal development, and giving customer service reps more freedom than at a typical call center -- we would be able to offer better service than our competitors. Better service would translate into lots of repeat customers, which would mean low marketing expenses, long-term profits, and fast growth."

From Inc Magazine, June 1, 2010

Zappos is now a $1B/year company for Amazon. Tony was right.