Core Concepts: Profits, Passion, and Purpose

Tony Hsieh's philosophy was built on a few unconventional but powerful beliefs. He saw business not just as a vehicle for profit, but as a platform for creating happiness—for customers, employees, and the community.

  • Company Culture as the #1 Priority: Hsieh's most famous and influential idea was that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff—like delivering great customer service and building a long-term, enduring brand—will happen naturally on its own.
  • Delivering Happiness: This was more than a book title; it was his core mission. The goal was to deliver happiness to customers through exceptional service and to employees by creating a workplace they were passionate about. He believed that happiness was the ultimate driver of performance.
  • Using Core Values to Drive Decisions: At Zappos, the 10 core values were not just a plaque on the wall. They were the operating system for the company, used in hiring, firing, and everyday decision-making to ensure cultural fit and alignment.

Key Learnings and Quotes

On Company Culture

  1. "If you get the culture right, most of the other stuff, like delivering great customer service or building a long-term enduring brand, will just happen naturally on its own."
  2. "Your culture is your brand."
  3. "We believe that it’s really important to come up with core values that you can commit to. And by commit, we mean that you’re willing to hire and fire based on them."
  4. "We want the person who’s obsessed with the customer and culture to be the CEO."
  5. "At Zappos, we’ve found that the richest and most meaningful relationships (both professional and personal) are ones where you can be yourself and share your deepest thoughts and feelings."
  6. "We want to be a place where you can be your true self."
  7. "The Offer": Zappos famously offered new hires thousands of dollars to quit after their training period. This was a powerful way to weed out people who were only there for a paycheck and ensure that those who stayed were truly committed to the culture.
  8. "Protect the culture at all costs." This was a guiding principle for leadership.
  9. "A great company is more like a tribe than a family." He emphasized that in a tribe, everyone is there to contribute to the collective good.
  10. "For us, our number one priority is company culture. Our whole belief is that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff like delivering great customer service or building a long-term enduring brand will just happen naturally on its own."

On Customer Service

  1. "We’re a customer service company that just happens to sell shoes."
  2. "Customer service shouldn't just be a department, it should be the entire company."
  3. "We decided that we wanted to build our brand on one thing, and that one thing was customer service."
  4. "We take a lot of the money that we would have spent on paid advertising and instead put it back into the customer experience. Then we let the customers do the marketing for us through word of mouth."
  5. "Our belief is that the telephone is one of the best branding devices out there." Zappos encouraged long, personal calls with customers to build relationships.
  6. "Hopefully, 10 years from now, people won't even realize we started out selling shoes." His vision was for Zappos to be known purely for its world-class service.
  7. "We don't have scripts for our call center reps because we want them to have real conversations with our customers."
  8. "We are willing to give up short-term profits for long-term customer loyalty."
  9. "We asked ourselves, what's the best customer service we can provide? And we said, 'Let's be available 24/7.'"
  10. "WOW" Philosophy: The goal was not just to satisfy customers, but to "WOW" them with service that went far beyond their expectations.

On Happiness and Passion

  1. "I made a list of the happiest periods in my life, and I realized that none of them involved money."
  2. "Happiness is really just about four things: perceived control, perceived progress, connectedness (number and depth of your relationships), and vision/meaning (being part of something bigger than yourself)."
  3. "Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion."
  4. "It’s more important to be passionate about what you’re doing than to be an expert."
  5. "The problem when you are chasing the money is that you are always chasing a moving target."
  6. "I believe that there’s a difference between passion and something that just interests you. A lot of people are interested in a lot of things. Passion is about the one or two things that you can’t stop thinking about."
  7. "What’s the best way to build a brand? It’s to figure out your company’s purpose and then act on it."
  8. "Businesses should be about more than just making money. They should be about making a difference."
  9. "Your personal core values define who you are. And a company’s core values ultimately define the company’s character and brand."
  10. "Live with integrity. Whatever you are doing, be all in."

On Business and Entrepreneurship

  1. "Don't be afraid to experiment and make mistakes. The key is to learn from them."
  2. "Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you."
  3. "I'd rather invest in an entrepreneur who has failed before than one who has never failed."
  4. "The best businesses are the ones that are transparent."
  5. "Never outsource your core competency." For Zappos, that was customer service and the warehouse, which they famously brought in-house.
  6. "Envision, create, and believe in your own universe, and the universe will form around you."
  7. "I think the most important thing is to be honest with yourself about what you are passionate about."
  8. "A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today."
  9. "Don’t play games you don’t understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them."
  10. "For individuals, character is destiny. For organizations, culture is destiny."

On Learning and Personal Growth

  1. "I think of my life as a series of experiments. I'm always trying new things."
  2. "Be a lifelong learner. Read a lot. Be curious."
  3. "Whatever you’re thinking, think bigger."
  4. "The best leaders are those who lead by example."
  5. "Don't be afraid to be weird. Zappos's #3 core value is 'Create Fun and a Little Weirdness'."
  6. "It's important to be humble and to be willing to learn from anyone."
  7. "Your title is not your identity. Your actions are."
  8. "Surround yourself with people who are going to lift you higher."
  9. "It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey."
  10. "What’s your ‘WOW’ story? We should all have one."

The primary source for Tony Hsieh's philosophy is his bestselling book, which is part memoir and part business manual.

  • Book: Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose - This is the definitive guide to his thinking and the story of Zappos. It is the source for the majority of his widely-cited quotes and learnings.
  • Website: Delivering Happiness - The company that grew out of the book, which consults with other organizations on how to build a happy, profitable culture. Their blog and resources are a great source of information.
  • Interviews and Talks: Hsieh gave numerous interviews and keynote speeches that are available online. Searching for "Tony Hsieh interview" on YouTube will provide many hours of him discussing his philosophy in his own words.
  • Zappos Insights: The content and consulting arm of Zappos that was created to share its unique business culture with the world. While now part of the Delivering Happiness movement, its original content is still influential.