Editor’s Note: John Williams is a human resource consultant to RCR Wireless News and TelecomCareers who is blogging on HR matters that impact the wireless industry, including hiring and retaining employees as the economy improves.
This week I have been struck by the dichotomy of dreamers who travel to Las Vegas. I am wrapping up a four-day trip to the annual conference of the Society for Human Resource Management and the crowds I have wandered through could not be more polar except for one common trait.
They are dreamers.
Walking down “The Strip” I hear people dreaming of striking it rich. One young man behind me told his female partner, “If I win a million dollars, I am going to retire.” He is probably 30 years old … that million dollars is going to have to go a long way! So he and his friend detour into a casino and start investing in their dreams.
The other crowd I float through is an ocean of human resource professionals at the SHRM conference in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Our conversations are about the latest workplace trends in social media, leadership development and organizational engagement and performance. We siphon off into learning events to invest in our dreams of driving successful people practices and driving value into our business.
What a contrast. I wonder which dreams have a greater chance of coming true? Who will go home more fulfilled, happy and equipped to be more effective.
Speaking of dreams and happiness, Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com and best selling author of “Delivering Happiness, a Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose,” addressed and challenged HR leadership to harness the competitive advantage of corporate culture. Prior to selling his successful Internet marketing network LinkExchange to Microsoft Corp. in 1998, Hsieh found that the culture had declined to a state he admittedly didn’t want to work at. He dreaded going to work each day … and it was his company. He wanted out and was ready to sell. He resolved to learn from this experience and discovered along the way that creating a company whose culture is attractive and characterized by fun, innovation and collaboration, will engage employees beyond a purposeful employment experience but will also positively impact customer experience.
Hseih joined Zappos.com as CEO in 1999 and took the company from $1.6 million in revenue to over $1 billion by 2009, when Zappos.com was bought by Amazon.com for approximately $1.2 billion. Amazon allowed Hseih and Zappos.com to maintain autonomy based on his culturally driven formula for success. Hseih has harnessed what every CEO wants and every HR leader dreams of: a corporate culture that actually drives success.
If you want happy customers, nurture happy employees. Zappos.com’s success formula is centered on customer experience that drives customer referrals. Zappos.com’s culture of passion and employee empowerment connects with customers in a relational, meaningful way. Customers keep coming back and sending their friends.
Hseih went a step further by sharing his experience with the world by launching a 20-plus city tour, “Delivering Happiness.” Their mission: “to inspire and be inspired.” You may see this U.S. tour (literally by tour bus) as a creative marketing ploy, but there is a genuine, altruistic mission in Zappos.com to take what they experience at work and share with the world.
Hseih described his adventure in corporate cultural revolution as an evolution. Their business values and culture aren’t necessarily the right culture for every business, Hseih admits, and the Zappos.com culture has taken 10 years of development to capture the essence of their vision.
At the SHRM conference, Hseih inspired HR leaders to explore corporate values and culture with their business leaders, and to seek and develop unique, tangible values that will transcend through to all stakeholders.
So I left Las Vegas wondering whose luggage was filled with cash and whose was filled with fire. CEO’s what do you think about this? Does your culture deliver an amazing customer experience?
John Williams, SPHR, is a Human Resource Consultant to RCR Wireless News, www.rcrwireless.com, a leading wireless industry news service, and TelecomCareers, www.telecomcareers.net, a leading telecommunications industry job board. Williams recently served as VP HR for ITC Deltacom and previously held executive and HR leadership positions with Clearwire Technologies, MCI Systemhouse and EDS. Williams is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources and an active member of the Society of Human Resource Management.
