Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.
—HENRY FORD
Let’s assume you have a job opening. Your final decision comes down to a choice between two equally qualified candidates; both applicants present well and have impressive work histories in addition to glowing references. How do you decide which will be the better fit for your organization? Just as customers seek an ideal fit from your products or services (in the case of Zappos, maybe a pair of shoes or a jacket), you must seek staff members who suit your culture. As you will soon see, one of the key elements in Zappos success has been its leadership’s uncanny ability to bring together a team of like-minded employees who are dedicated to common goals and objectives. Zappos has, in essence, made a priority of ways to “serve a perfect fit” between its purpose and its people.
By “serving a perfect fit,” I am referring to the importance of identifying your core values and selecting individuals who share those values. The principle also entails the use of your company values to inform your business decisions and to defend your culture against internal and external threats. Few businesses define culture, communicate values, or serve a better culture fit than Zappos.
Like all the principles in this book, “Serve a Perfect Fit” is unpacked across two chapters. Chapter 2, “It All Comes Back to Culture,” focuses on how the leaders at Zappos chose and uncovered the core values that underpin their company. It explores the all-inclusive process the leaders use to articulate the Zappos values, and it examines how your company can either create your first set of values or reexamine your existing ones. “It All Comes Back to Culture” concludes with approaches used by Zappos leaders and staff to hire people with whom they want to spend time.
Chapter 3, “Culture Should Be a Verb,” takes you through the Zappos revolutionary approach to new hire orientation and on-boarding. In fact, the Zappos enculturation process is so different from ordinary paradigms that it will make you think twice about the way you bring your new hires into your business. “Culture Should Be a Verb” also offers a view of the one-of-a-kind strategies that supercharge the Zappos culture. Without further ado, it’s time to use Zappos as a benchmark for your corporate culture and values.