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How to build a successful business
Former US president, Bill Clinton, once told dissenters (who didn’t agree with his policies) that “It’s the economy, stupid.” Well, for anyone who wants to develop a great career, build a brilliant business or have a wonderful life, I say,
“Run it like a business, stupid!”
It’s shoes, stupid!
And you could do a lot worse than looking at the reason why Tony Hsieh built his Zappos.com business from nothing to eventually selling it to Amazon for $US1.2 billion in 2009! And that was not a time when American corporations were throwing around money.
Give chaos the flick
One of the great realisations of building my publishing and financial services business is that we normal human beings live a lot of our life in chaos. Our natural talents can get us so far. Sometimes it’s really far when you look at some high flyers in sport, media, start-up entrepreneurial businesses and even politics!
Of course, chaotic and unprofessional inclinations can bring many short-term great performers undone, as many business owners and even some Canberra politicians, who have had to throw in their top jobs, have found out.
I learnt from that great book The E-Myth by US guru Michael Gerber, how important systems are to business growth. And US business strategist Verne Harnish in his excellent read The Rockefeller Habits has actually made the comparison between running functional families and professional businesses.
Live by the rules
He says that just like bringing up kids, in business/life you need a handful of rules and you need to make sure everyone keeps them!
I know US author Liz Wiseman in her widely read book Multipliers actually tested out her advice for leaders on her kids to see if it worked at the most testing time for parents — evening bath-time! She argued that in her busy home this was the time when orders were given about bathing and getting to bed and it was done via a series of commands that never seemed to work all that well — but that’s bath-time with young children!
Turn on their lights!
After learning through research that enlightened leaders got more from their staff by posing smart questions and encouraging their followers to look for answers (with guidance at times), they not only achieved better results, they developed better employees and more future leaders!
One night Liz asked her kids a series of questions before bath time, such as: “What do we do at this time of night? And what do we do after that?” By giving them responsibility rather than guiding them often through rote-like commands, she said she had the best night ever getting her tribe settled and asleep!
Create a culture club
Zappos.com was not Tony’s only business success. In 1996, he co-founded LinkExchange, which was sold two years later to Microsoft for a cool $265 million. He had some time and even tried his hand at playing poker in Las Vegas but realised he loved business building.
He was courted by a guy, who was smart enough to realise that 5% of the US shoe market was serviced by mail-order catalogues and this was a $2 billion slice of a $40 billion market! These customers could easily buy their shoes on the Internet so Zappos.com was created to pioneer selling shoes online.
The name of Hsieh’s book is appropriately called Delivering Happiness — a path to profits, passion and purpose and it gives great guidance on mistakes he made and valuable lessons he learnt. However, what he pinpoints as the clincher was how he virtually systemized the culture in his business.
Be happy to the core!
He argues your company’s culture is your brand and as he wrote: “Our employees know that our number one priority at Zappos is our company culture. He actually asked his staff to help establish the company’s core values that determine the culture. Thirty-seven values were eventually trimmed to 10 important ones, which he says explains the company’s success.
And while many key things in this business have organically grown out of what Hsieh and his team found works for them as a workforce, as a group of people together each day and as a business, he says “a few things we do are more purposeful and planned.”
Be part of your community
For example, employees have to walk through a central reception, even though the building where they work has many entry and exit points. He wanted to increase the interactions of his team to build a better sense of community. He obviously thinks that you can create a better business via a system that creates a better life experience for the people in the operation.
Ten of the best!
Unifying everyone are the 10 Core Values of Zappos.com and here they are:
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 positive team and family spirit.
Do more with less.
Be passionate and determined.
Be humble.
What is interesting is that Hsieh has linked the personal growth of the individuals of his team to his company’s growth. So a core value such as “pursue growth and learning” looks so much like a personal thing but when you throw in “do more with less” it suggests you could be creating a smarter worker, who looks to save on costs for the business. A more profitable business results and better wages can be paid and the employee is more qualified for promotion. That’s win, win, win!
Consider reading more
Hsieh had a library of great business books at Zappos.com because he wanted to inspire and educate his team and leaders are learners.
In a world where not enough people are reading the right stuff, you might give yourself a competitive advantage in creating a great career, a brilliant business or a wonderful family by exposing yourself, your team and your family to the best that business has thrown up.
And isn’t it a nice thought that great core values could be at the core of success?
