Hsieh Quotes & Sayings

Don't be cocky. Don't be flashy. There's always someone better than you. — Tony Hsieh

The brand is just a lagging indicator of a company's culture. — Tony Hsieh

Success is getting to a point where you'd be truly OK with losing everything you have and starting over. — Tony Hsieh

Branding Through Customer Service Over the years, the number one driver of our growth at Zappos has been repeat customers and word of mouth. Our philosophy has been to take most of the money we would have spent on paid advertising and invest it into customer service and the customer experience instead, letting our customers do the marketing for us through word of mouth. — Tony Hsieh

I think everyone should get a little exposure to computer science because it really forces you to think in a slightly different way, and it's a skill that you can apply in life in general, whether you end up in computer science or not. — Tony Hsieh

Never outsource your core competency. — Tony Hsieh

The biggest (and hardest) lesson I've learned in life is that the external world is just a reflection of the world within. — Tony Hsieh

You've gotta love the game. To become really good, you need to live it and sleep it. — Tony Hsieh

A road that does not lead to other roads always has to be retraced, unless the traveller chooses to rust at the end of it. — Tehyi Hsieh

Our society in general has is more money equals more happiness and all the research has shown that that's true up to a point, up until you can get your basic needs met, but then really there is other stuff that has a much bigger impact on your happiness besides just money. — Tony Hsieh

The schools of the country are its future in miniature. — Tehyi Hsieh

I think maybe 50 years ago people and businesses felt like they had to choose between maximizing profits and making customers happy or making employees happy, and I think we're actually living in a special time where everyone's hyperconnected, whether through Twitter or blogs and so on. Information travels so quickly that it's actually possible to have it all, to make customers happy through customer service, to make employees happy through strong company cultures, and have that actually drive growth and profits. — Tony Hsieh

At Zappos, one of our core values is to Pursue Growth and Learning. In the lobby of our headquarters, we have a giving library where we give away books to employees and visitors that we think will help with their growth, both personally and professionally. I can't wait to add The Compound Effect to our library. — Tony Hsieh

If I was going to go into an office I wanted it to be with people I would choose to be around even if we didn't have to work together and so that was one of the major reasons why I decided out of all the different companies we invested in to work with Zappos. — Tony Hsieh

Zappos uses call center technology to track average call time per agent. But the goal isn't to reduce this average - it's more important that we make an emotional connection with the customer, rather than just quickly getting them off the phone. — Tony Hsieh

Instead of getting an iPad, I now use my iPhone with a giant magnifying glass attached to my face. — Tony Hsieh

If the world knew how to use freedom without abusing it, tyranny would not exist. — Tehyi Hsieh

I think the most important thing is just if you hire people whose personal values match the corporate core values - and not just the stated ones. — Tony Hsieh

Twitter is like hugging. Just because it's hard to measure the return on investment doesn't mean there isn't value there. — Tony Hsieh

Inspire other communities and cities to reinvent themselves. — Tony Hsieh

Lean too much upon the approval of people, and it becomes a bed of thorns. — Tehyi Hsieh

What's the best way to build a brand for the long term? In a word: culture. — Tony Hsieh

Someone broke into my car last night. Nothing worth taking, car is actually less of a mess now. I should schedule this monthly. — Tony Hsieh

A bigger business is like a cruise ship: There are lots of amenities and you can go a lot further, but it's harder to turn quickly. — Tony Hsieh

For example, for most of our loyal repeat customers, we do surprise upgrades to overnight shipping, even though we only promise them standard ground shipping when they choose the free shipping option. In conjunction with that, we run our warehouse 24/7, which actually isn't the most efficient way to run a warehouse. The most efficient way to run a warehouse is to let the orders pile up, so that when a warehouse worker needs to walk around the warehouse to pick the orders, the picking density is higher, so the picker has less of a distance to walk. But we're not trying to maximize for picking efficiency. We're trying to maximize the customer experience, which in the e-commerce business is defined in part by getting orders out to our customers as quickly as possible. The combination of a 24/7 warehouse, surprise upgrades to overnight shipping, and having our warehouse located just fifteen — Tony Hsieh

Being a winner sometimes has little to do with the score. If your players seize the opportunity to be better today than they were yesterday in softball, in math, in music, in anything worth doing in life, regardless of natural ability, that will make them winners on and off the field. — Lawrence Hsieh

Our customers call and e-mail us to say that's how it feels when a Zappos box arrives. And that's how we view this company. — Tony Hsieh

We asked ourselves what we wanted this company to stand for. We didn't want to just sell shoes. I wasn't even into shoes - but I was passionate about customer service. — Tony Hsieh

Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you. — Tony Hsieh

Most companies are very quick to hire and slow to fire, when really it should be the other way around. — Tony Hsieh

If there are too many competitors, even if you're the best it's a lot harder to win. — Tony Hsieh

A lot of people realize "I don't have to work in this job that I'm miserable at every year, or every day, and I don't have to live in, for example, New York City where it's super expensive and if I live somewhere else that is less expensive and could pursue my passion like, I can afford to do that." — Tony Hsieh

There's a big difference between motivation and inspiration: Inspire through values and motivation takes care of itself. — Tony Hsieh

Customer service shouldn't just be A department, it should be the entire company. — Tony Hsieh

The key to success isn't much good until one discovers the right lock to insert it in. — Tehyi Hsieh

The best leaders are servant leaders - they serve those they lead. — Tony Hsieh

Problems are just mile markers. Each one we pass means we've gotten better. — Tony Hsieh

Most innovation comes from outside your industry applied to your own — Tony Hsieh

Business is all about learning to balance the short-term, medium-term and long-term and I think it's when things are going well it covers up a lot of mistakes and bad decisions because you're growing so quickly ... — Tony Hsieh

Just figure out what your personal values are then just make those the corporate values. — Tony Hsieh

Prudence is sometimes stretched too far, until it blocks the road of progress. — Tehyi Hsieh

Action will remove the doubts that theory cannot solve. — Tehyi Hsieh

Your brand is your culture. — Tony Hsieh

I had decided to stop chasing the money, and start chasing the passion. — Tony Hsieh

Without conscious and deliberate effort, inertia always wins — Tony Hsieh

I've never isolated role models based on gender. I have more male role models due to the mere fact that I've done business with more of them and they're leaders within the verticals I work. Of those, Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, is an entrepreneur and personal friend that I have a great deal of respect for. — Amy Jo Martin

SEO expertise is a core need for today's online businesses. — Tony Hsieh

Hopefully 10 years from now people won't even realize we started out selling shoes. They will just think about Zappos as a place to get the best customer service. — Tony Hsieh

[Li Ch'uan cites the case of Fu Chien, prince of Ch'in, who in 383 A.D. marched with a vast army against the Chin Emperor. When warned not to despise an enemy who could command the services of such men as Hsieh An and Huan Ch'ung, he boastfully replied: "I have the population of eight provinces at my back, infantry and horsemen to the number of one million; why, they could dam up the Yangtsze River itself by merely throwing their whips into the stream. What danger have I to fear?" Nevertheless, his forces were soon after disastrously routed at the Fei River, and he was obliged to beat a hasty retreat.] If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. [Chang Yu said: "Knowing the enemy enables you to take the offensive, knowing yourself enables you to stand on the defensive." He adds: "Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack." It would be hard to find a better epitome of the root-principle of war.] — Sun Tzu

The ultimate definition of success is: you could lose everything that you have and truly be okay with it. Your happiness isn't based on external factors. — Tony Hsieh

Be true to yourself. If you follow that principle, a lot of decisions are actually pretty easy. — Tony Hsieh

Whatever you're thinking, think bigger. — Tony Hsieh

I believe that there's something interesting about anyone and everyone - you just have to figure out what that something is. — Tony Hsieh

Help shape the stories that people are telling about you. — Tony Hsieh

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally reached the summit just as the sun was rising. I couldn't believe that we had actually done it. We were standing at the highest point in all of Africa, looking down at the clouds below us, with the sun directly in front of us, its rays welcoming us to the beginning of a new day. It didn't seem like this was something that humans were meant to experience, yet here we were — Tony Hsieh

The problem when someone feels burned out, bored, unchallenged, or stifled by their work is not the job itself but rather the environment and playground rules given to them to do the job at hand. — Tony Hsieh

First, they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. - GANDHI — Tony Hsieh

Good businesses generate missions to drive their profits. Great businesses generate profits to drive their missions. — Tony Hsieh

My advice is to stop trying to "network" in the traditional business sense, and instead just try to build up the number and depth of your friendships, where the friendship itself is its own reward. The more diverse your set of friendships are, the more likely you'll derive both personal and business benefits from your friendship later down the road. You won't know exactly what those benefits will be, but if your friendships are genuine, those benefits will magically appear 2-3 years later down the road. — Tony Hsieh

Whatever you are thinking, think bigger. — Tony Hsieh

Get the culture right, and everything else just falls into place. — Tony Hsieh

The best businesses are really ones that can combine passion, profits, and purpose. — Tony Hsieh

Never accept or be too comfortable with the status quo, because the companies that get into trouble are historically the ones that aren't able to adapt to change and respond quickly enough. — Tony Hsieh

Your personal core values define who you are, and a company's core values ultimately define the company's character and brand. For individuals, character is destiny. For organizations, culture is destiny. — Tony Hsieh

I'd rather spend money on things that improve the customer experience than on marketing. — Tony Hsieh

Help inspire people to realize they are capable of changing the world. — Tony Hsieh

Don't play games that you don't understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them. — Tony Hsieh

If someone is self-aware, then they can always continue to grow. If they're not self-aware, I think it's harder for them to evolve or adapt beyond who they already are. — Tony Hsieh

If you're focused on the friendship as its own reward, serendipitous stuff just happens. I know that sounds weird, but I can tell you for our 12 years of existence, it's actually how a lot of stuff happens. — Tony Hsieh

Having a higher purpose is more than just about profits. You actually end up making more profits in the long run because employees really are a lot more engaged and customers see the higher purpose in the company. — Tony Hsieh

I thought about how easily we are all brainwashed by our society and culture to stop thinking and just assume by default that more money equals more success and more happiness, when ultimately happiness is really just about enjoying life. — Tony Hsieh

Our belief is that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff, like great customer service, or building a great long-term brand or empowering passionate employees and customers, will happen on its own. — Tony Hsieh

Rather than focus on trying to get a lot of customers to market yourself, really focus more on the actual product or service itself and existing users to, like, what would make them happier, what would make them come back more and more times or in our case buy more often. — Tony Hsieh

Open, honest communication is the best foundation for any relationship, but remember that at the end of the day it's not what you say or what you do, but how you make people feel that matters the most. — Tony Hsieh

Ask yourself: would you be comfortable printing everything your employees, customers & partners have to say about your culture? — Tony Hsieh

I think when people say they dread going into work on Monday morning, it's because they know they are leaving a piece of themselves at home. Why not see what happens when you challenge your employees to bring all of their talents to their job and reward them not for doing it just like everyone else, but for pushing the envelope, being adventurous, creative, and open-minded, and trying new things? — Tony Hsieh

For me, the most fun is change or growth. There are definitely elements of both that I like. Launching a business is kind of like a motorboat: You can go very quickly and turn fast. — Tony Hsieh

Every employee can affect your company's brand, not just the front-line employees that are paid to talk to your customers. — Tony Hsieh

Harmony would lose its attractiveness if it did not have a background of discord. — Tehyi Hsieh

Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose. — Tehyi Hsieh

I think a much better use of time and resources is to really focus on your existing users or customers and figure out what changes can you make in the Web site, the service, the product, whatever, to get them to come back more often to generate that repeat business and once you kind of figure out that formula, then when you get new customers the whole thing just kind of grows exponentially. — Tony Hsieh

I made a list of the happiest periods in my life, and I realized that none of them involved money. I realized that building stuff and being creative and inventive made me happy. connecting with a friend and talking through the entire night until the sun rose made me happy. Trick-or-treating in middle school with a group of my closest friends made me happy. Pickles made me happy. — Tony Hsieh

Continual Learning Educate yourself. Read books and learn from others who have done it before. Learn by doing. Theory is nice, but nothing replaces actual experience. Learn by surrounding yourself with talented players. Just because you win a hand doesn't mean you're good and you don't have more learning to do. You might have just gotten lucky. Don't be afraid to ask for advice. — Tony Hsieh

If you're worried about putting food on the table or putting a roof over your head, that stress is definitely will contribute to unhappiness, but once you have your basic needs met then incremental money. — Tony Hsieh

It doesn't cost anything to say hi when you pass someone else in the hallway, whereas, most corporations if you pass you avoid eye contact. — Tony Hsieh

A great brand is a story that never stops unfolding. — Tony Hsieh

Potential to increase the lifetime value of the customer. Usually marketing departments assume that the lifetime value of a customer is fixed when doing their ROI calculations. We view the lifetime value of a customer to be a moving target that can increase if we can create more and more positive emotional associations with our brand through every interaction that a person has with us. Another common trap that many marketers fall into is focusing too much on trying to figure out how to generate a lot of buzz, when really they should be focused on building engagement and trust. I can tell you that my mom has zero buzz, but when she says something, I listen. To that end, most of our efforts on the customer service and customer experience side actually happen after we've already made the sale and taken a customer's credit card number. — Tony Hsieh

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). — Tony Hsieh

Things are never as bad or as good as they seem. — Tony Hsieh

I'm mighty glad that I found you. Have a terrific birthday. — Tehyi Hsieh

Usually my 'a-ha' moments are when I'm not trying to think of how to solve a particular problem. — Tony Hsieh

To WOW, you must differentiate yourself, which means do something a little unconventional and innovative. You must do something that's above and beyond what's expected. And whatever you do must have an emotional impact on the receiver. — Tony Hsieh

To never forget that the most important thing in life is the quality of life we lead. — Tony Hsieh

It's more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long difficult words but rather short easy words like What about lunch?" - Winnie-the-Pooh — Tony Hsieh

For me, my role is about unleashing what people already have inside them that is maybe suppressed in most work environments. — Tony Hsieh

Envision, create, and believe in your own universe, and the universe will form around you. — Tony Hsieh

Your culture is your brand. — Tony Hsieh

Have fun. The game is a lot more enjoyable when you're trying to do more than just make money. — Tony Hsieh

Money alone isn't enough to bring happiness ... happiness [is] when you're actually truly ok with losing everything you have. — Tony Hsieh

We already treat our vendors well, but we can build up our reputation within the vendor community even more by really treating our vendors as true partners in the business. Most vendors aren't happy dealing with most retailers because the retailers, especially the department stores, usually try to squeeze every last dollar out of them. We could be the first major retailer that doesn't try to do that. — Tony Hsieh