Assignment 4: Leadership Style: What Do

People Do When They Are Leading?

Andy Vu
Dr. Ronald Jones
BUS 520 Leadership and Organizational
June 7, 2013

Zappos is an online retailer of shoes that was created in 1999. The current CEO of
Zappos is Tony Hsieh. Tony joined Zappos in 1999 after selling a company he co-founded for
$265 million. He first joined as an advisor and investor, but he soon became CEO (Zappos,
n.d.). Tony has helped the company rise to sales of $1 billion and also through the sale of the
company to Amazon for $1.2 billion. He has turned the company around and helped it become
very successful with many loyal customers. In addition to helping the company expand, Tony
has landed Zappos on Forbes magazine of best companies to work for (Zappos, n.d.).
The culture of Zappos consists of ten values. Those items are as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

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 a Positive Team and Family Spirit
Do More With Less
Be Passionate and Determined
10.Be Humble
Source: Zappos.com
I believe that these ten items represent who Tony is. He runs the company as if it were a small
family company. He treats his employees with the upmost respect. Not only that, but he values
peoples opinions and believes that everyone deserves the best service they can get, not only his
customers but his employees as well. The reason for his success as Zappos was due to the fact
that his leadership style is hands on and open. He is willing to listen to others and is always
working. His main focus of the CEO is the company culture (Forbes, 2010). He says that he
focuses the company culture on providing the best customer service. This is how Zappos has

become so popular and grew so large in such a short amount of time. Zappos has great customer
service and because of that their customers are very loyal and are constantly shopping with them.
According to Tony, Zappos hiring process is different than most companies. They have a
two-step process (Forbes, 2010). The first step is a technical review and qualifications of the
potential employee. This also is a test to see how the employee would fit with the team. The
second step is another interview with the HR department. This interview is to see if the potential
employee would fit with the company culture. As stated before, Tony is all about company
culture of customer service. If the potential employees beliefs or goals do not work with the
company culture then they are not a good candidate for Zappos. Zappos is not concerned about
short term profits, but overall long-term profits, and that is with great customer service.
The above ten core values are ones that Tony has helped create and that is how he has run
all of his companies. This is why all of his companies and investments have been so successful.
Tony takes his personal values and turns them into organizational values. These values then play
a part in the culture. Tony likes to hire people that have goals and values that are aligned with
the company culture. He views this as building success of the company. If employees are not a
fit to the culture, then they will not be able to contribute to the company. Even if the employees
are highly qualified to do the skills, the company values culture above all else, so those potential
employees would not work with Zappos.
Tony knows that the customers are what keep the company going. That is why Zappos is
so focused on customer service. Everything revolves around the culture of customer service.
These are the values that Tony holds and they have proven to be a success. That is why other
companies have yet to succeed in creating a bigger brand than Zappos. Due to the amazing and
power-enabled customer service at Zappos, customers love them and continue shopping with

them. Sometimes the prices are higher at Zappos, but customers are willing to pay that to
support a company that supports them and takes care of them.
CEOs are the role models for the entire company. If there is negative press on a CEO
then that is bad for the company. Thankfully, Zappos has a great CEO. Tonys values can be
seen in his personal life and with Zappos. He treats everyone with respect and he gets respect in
turn. He knows how to create business and attract customers. Not only that, but he knows how
to retain those customers.
I believe that the values of a CEO are very likely to influence ethical behavior within an
organization. If Tonys values did not reflect the company, then it would show and the company
would not be a success. Since Tony and Zappos values are aligned then there is no issue. Due
to this alignment anything that Tony does is also a reflection of the company. If Tony were to
behave incorrectly or generate bad media, then that would be bad for the whole company.
Employees look up to the CEOs and if a CEO is not acting according, or has values that go
against the company, then the employees may lose faith in that company. With morale down due
to the CEOs values or behavior, employees are not as loyal and they may even jump ship.
Employees may even act against the company by stealing or creating bad publicity if the CEO is
not a good representation of the company. If a CEO is known to cook the books then some
employees may do the same. Since the CEO does it, they will think that it is ok for them to do it.
CEOs are the role models for a company. Their values and actions reflect the company and are a
huge factor in influencing ethical behavior. This is why all companies need to ensure that they
have ethical standards in place in order to prevent such negative actions.
Tony has helped Zappos become a successful company. It takes a leader with a lot of
strengths to build a company from a start-up to selling for $1.2 billion. I believe that Tony has a

lot of strengths. One of his strengths he holds is his ability to lead others. He has run multiple
companies and all of those companies have been very successful. Not only that, but all of those
companies have been sold for large sums of money. This is a great achievement when another
company is offering to purchase your company. I believe this is his biggest strength.
Focus is another strength that Tony has. Zappos company culture focuses on customer
service. This was Tonys doing. He focused the company and revolved the culture around
customer service. Due to this, the company was about to generate business and create loyal
customers. I believe that the ability to lead a company with a specific focus is a great strength.
A good leader knows what a company should focus on. A great leader knows what a company
should focus on and keeps the company on track. Since Tony has been involved they have been
committed to customer service and the customers.
Another strength that Tony has is the ability to hire great people. He has the two step
process where the first step is technical, people skills and the second step which is the culture fit.
I believe that he is able to hire people who fit with the culture of the company and that is how the
company is able to succeed.
Everyone has strengths and everyone has weaknesses. I believe that Tony has
weaknesses as well. First off, Tony is very open. His processes and values are all out on the
table. While this is good, this could be detrimental as well. Competitors could use this against
Tony. I think that he should continue to be open, but be cautious about it. Another weakness is
that he only hires people who fit with his culture. While this is great for the success of the
company, this is bad if a person has yet to develop their values to the point that it is aligned with
the company. Many college graduates dont have all of their goals in line. This could cause
them to not get the job because of the cultural fit interview. Another weakness is the fact that he

keeps selling his businesses. I believe that he should keep his businesses and he could build an
empire. He could be a social entrepreneur and have lots of businesses.
I believe that focus is Tonys strongest strength. He was able to get the company to focus
on the corporate culture to help drive business. This has proven successful and is helping the
company expand.
I believe that communication is a large key to influencing group dynamics. What and
how you communicate to the company affects how the company acts and the dynamics. Not
only that, but power and politics affect how the company behaves and its values. If a CEO is a
far left or far right person then they would try to push their views on their employees. Group
dynamics changes constantly depending on the leadership team.

References:
Coster, Helen. May 8, 2008. Forbes.com. A Step Ahead. Retrieved on June 4th, 2013. Retreived
from http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0602/078.html.
CrunchBase. Tony Hsieh. Retrieved on June 4th, 2013. Retrieved from
http://www.crunchbase.com/person/tony-hsieh.
Reiss, Robert. July 1, 2010. Forbes.com. Tony Hsieh On His Secrets Of Success. Retrieved on
June 4th, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/01/tony-hsieh-zapposleadership-managing-interview.html.
Schermerhorn Jr., J., Osborn, R., Uhl-Bien, M., Hunt, J. (2012). Introducing Organizational
Behavior. In Lise Johnson (Ed.), Organizational Behavior(pp. 7-83). Hoboken, NJ: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Zappos. Retrieved on June 4th, 2013. Retrieved from www.about.zappos.com.