Zappos’ Platform for Growth: Brand, Culture, Pipeline

Zappos is a Phenomenon — Going from $0 in 1999 to over $1 Billion in 2008! In “Delivering Happiness: A path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose,” Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO, explores Zappos’ journey. The essence of the journey (via Tony Hseih’s Delivering Happiness, Joseph A. Michelli’s The Zappos Experience, and Round Table Companies’ Delivering Happiness (the comic book)) is best described in Chapter 5, “Platform for Growth: Brand, Culture, Pipeline”!

As many organizations are eager to replicate Zappos’ success (but in their own way), they must venture on their own journey and evolve their own platform for success!

Platform

Zappos is seemingly a natural meaningfully-purposeful enterprise (Purpose & Meaning) powered by or founded on mutual authentic & appreciative engagement (Engagement).

(click figure to enlarge)

Tony explores Zappos’ history and concludes that “Zappos is about delivering happiness to the world” and then briefly shares three frameworks of happiness.

The first happiness framework involves Perceived Control, Perceived Progress, Connectedness (number and depth of your relationships), and Vision/Meaning (being part of something bigger than yourself). Zappos’ notion of Connectedness relates to Engagement and Zappos’ notion of Vision & Meaning relates to Purpose & Meaning.

The second happiness framework involves Chip Conley’s (Peak book) adaptation of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs to business (Customers: Meets Expectations, Meets Desires, and Meets Unrecognized Needs; Employees: Money, Recognition, and Meaning; and Investors: Transaction Alignment, Relationship Alignment, and Legacy). Zappos’ notion of Meets Desires, Recognition, and Relationship Alignment relate to Engagement and Zappos’ notion of Meets Unrecognized Needs, Meaning, and Legacy relate to Purpose & Meaning.

The third happiness framework involves three types of happiness (Pleasure, Passion, and Higher Purpose). Zappos’ notion of Passion relates to Engagement and Zappos’ notion of Higher Purpose and Meaning relates to Purpose & Meaning.

Conclusively, Zappos is seemingly a natural meaningfully-purposeful enterprise powered by or founded on mutual authentic & appreciative engagement.

Journey

Artful Transformation (Context, Foundation, and Evolution) is a means to foster a journey to evolve a platform seemingly similar to Zappos’!

(click figure to enlarge)

Tony emphasizes that “a big reason we hit our goal early was that we decided to invest our time, money, and resources into three key areas: customer service (which would build our brand and drive word of mouth), culture (which would lead to the formation of our core values), and employee training and development (which would eventually lead to the creation of our Pipeline Team)” and “our belief is that our Brand, our Culture, and our Pipeline are the only competitive advantages that we will have in the long run.”

Furthermore, Tony emphasizes that “as we focused more and more on our culture, we ultimately came to the realization that a company’s culture and a company’s brand are really just two sides of the same coin”, “the brand is just a lagging indicator of a company’s culture”, and “if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff — like great customer service, or building a great long-term brand, or passionate employees and customers — will happen naturally on its own.”

Zappos’ notion of Culture is foundational and relates to socialization (Phase I, Context), enactment & elaboration (Phase II, Foundation), and enactment & evolution (Phase III, Evolution).

Edgar Schein, the world-renowned expert on organizational culture, emphasizes that “culture is a pattern of shared tacit and interconnected assumptions that was learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems”. Using this definition, we can distill the anatomy of Zappos and Zappos’ journey!

Fundamentally, culture is not simply about identifying or discovering core values, but about living harmoniously with core values (which constitute a worldview via Purpose & Meaning and Engagement) within the context of “external adaptation” and “internal integration”.

Zappos’ notion of Brand is essential and relates to value-creation (Phase II, Foundation). Notice that Brand is the result of value co-creation with customers. Furthermore, it’s this association with brand that allows Zappos to shape its culture based on “external adaptation”. The mere identification of Core Values without the forces of external adaptation does not constitute Culture!

Zappos’ notion of Pipeline is essential and relates to communities (Phase III, Evolution). Notice that pipeline is the result of living communities. Furthermore, it’s this association with pipeline that allows Zappos to shape its culture based on “internal integration”. The mere identification of Core Values without the forces of internal adaptation does not constitute Culture!

While Tony emphasizes that “it was necessary to come up with core values — essentially, a formalized definition of our culture — in order for us to continue to scale and grow”, only appreciating Zappos’ journey more holistically exposes that there is more to Zappos’ culture than merely identifying or discovering core values!

Delivering Happiness Distilled

Corey Blake (@CoreyBlake9000) of Round Table Companies (RTC) gratuitously honored my request for an advance copy of Delivering Happiness, the comic book!

Based on Tony Hseih’s Delivering Happiness, Joseph A. Michelli’s The Zappos Experience, and my experiences working with clients in leveraging Tribal Leadership, I was very intrigued!

The Delivering Happiness comic book elegantly distills the essence of the original Delivering Happiness book.

The CEO and Chief Happiness Officer of Delivering Happiness, Jenn, provides an introduction (emphasis added):

From a scientific sense, research shows that we’re super bad at predicting what will give us long-term happiness (ironic, since it’s one of the most basic human desires).

From a business sense, happier companies prove to be more successful and sustainable in the long-term.

From a common, human sense, we can each make the choice to deliver happiness in the world. Whether it’s to ourselves, our family and friends, or a complete stranger, research shows that if we deliver happiness, we get happier in return.

First it was a book, then it was a bus tour, and now, we’re the Delivering Happiness Movement. We’ve evolved into a company with a cause — to spread and inspire happiness at work, in communities and everyday life.

How are we doing it? With a cool, frosty cup of ICEE:

I — Inspiration
C — Community
E — Education
E — Experience

From a scientific sense, business sense, and human sense, you’ll enjoy how the comic book reflects the original book, bus tour, and movement!

I particularly enjoyed how the comic book builds up to the 3 key areas:

Customer Service [Brand], which build our brand and drives word of mouth.

Culture, which led to the formation of our core values.

Employee Training & Development [Pipeline], which would lead to the creation fo our Pipeline Team.

… and the ultimate conclusion …

In the end, it turns out that we’re all taking different paths in pursuit of the same goal: happiness.

… and Tony Hseih’s three happiness frameworks:

Happiness Framework 1: Happiness is about Four things: Perceived Control, Perceived Progress, Connectedness (number and depth of your relationships), and Vision/Meaning (being part of something bigger than yourself).

Happiness Framework 2: The fundamental premise behind Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs is that once a person’s survival needs are met, then humans are more motivated by other non-materialistic needs such as social status, achieve, and creativity.

Happiness Framework 3: Three Types of Happiness: Pleasure, Passion, and Higher Purpose.

If you enjoyed the original book, you’ll love the comic book!

Tribal Scrum

Dave Logan introduces “Tribal Scrum” in his CBS Money Watch blog and CultureSync Tribal Leadership blog. For a brief introduction to Scrum, see Introduction to Lean, Agile, Scrum, & XP. For a brief introduction to Tribal Leadership, see Tribal Leadership Distilled: Paradigm, Process, and Model.

The purpose of Dave’s CultureSync Tribal Leadership blog is to “highlight why Scrum and Tribal Leadership are perfect for each other” and “jump start a conversation about implementing ‘Tribal Scrum’.” The blog starts by exploring a “modified version [of Scrum] for executive tribes” and briefly emphasizes “Scrum But” (“incomplete Scrum” where “Scrum implementations fall short of the real deal”) and “Tribal Leadership But” (where “people implement some, but not all, of the system”).

While I’m optimistic about the Tribal Scrum movement, I’m also somewhat disheartened that the conversation has started around Scrum But and Tribal Leadership But!

There is much debate around “But-ness” — against Scrum Buts and for Scrum Buts, and there is even a Scrum But test! Rather than become mired in such debates (where the means (Scrum) commonly becomes the ends!), focus on values & principles and foster the emergence of the most healthy approach (to value discovery and delivery within a specific context); that is, foster being in alignment with the “spirit of the law” versus the “letter of the law” where the result “speak for themselves” based on the nature of those involved!

Why

Dave stresses that “if Scrum follows the BPR road, and emphasizes practices over principles it will fail” and highlights that “the experts in Scrum have the opportunity to become leaders of a business revolution.”

Dave also acknowledges “what’s missing in Tribal Leadership has been a specific game [framework] that great tribes can play against other great tribes” and suggests that “scrum is that game.”

Dave thus suggests “let’s put the best of Tribal leadership, along with the best of Scrum, in a blender, add in executive management concerns, hit puree, and see what comes out.”

Dave additionally warns: “For those who think they already have the answer, please remember: this is about tribes learning together, not about gurus having the answers in which they present to others who are amazed by their brilliance.”

How

Dave explicitly suggests: “If Scrum and Tribal leadership are combined, and focused on the concerns of executive leaders, a transformation in organizations will result.” A great example is Cars.com’s transformation journey! However, regarding transformation, let’s likewise be very clear that transformation cannot be merely reduced to two bodies of knowledge and experience (Scrum and Tribal Leadership) but generally leverages the wisdom of many; for example, Judith E. Glaser (WE-Centric Leadership), Leandro Herrero (Viral Change), Peter Fuda (Transformation and Leadership Framework/Model/Cycle), William Isaacs (Dialogue), and many others (AIR, Human Leadership, etc.) — it’s imperative that the emerging Tribal Scrum community is open versus closed to the wisdom of others outside the immediate community.

Dave then suggests that “just as Peter Drucker’s work brought management into the 20th century, the results of ‘Tribal Scrum’” would bring management into the 21st century” and elaborates how this can be accomplished.

Dave emphasizes: “First, let’s be clear that Tribal Scrum will not result from a single person piecing it together and declaring that they have the answer.” Essentially, Dave is suggesting that Tribal Scrum will emerge by “combining”, “trying”, “refining”, and “letting the community determine what worked and what didn’t.”

Dave then emphasizes: “Second, everyone needs to get immersed in both Tribal Leadership and Scrum.” Essentially, Dave is suggesting that the Scrum and Tribal Leadership communities act on their curiosity about one another.

Dave next emphasizes: “Third, Tribal Scrum will result from lots and lots of experiments — some successful and some not, by combining the two approaches.” Essentially, Dave is suggesting an “open-source approach to knowledge sharing.”

Dave next emphasizes: “Fourth, the community needs to determine the winning approaches here, based on adherence to values and contribution measured by merit.” Dave openly shares that “many people in the Agile world” have expressed that “the Agile community has become fractious and contentious … even dysfunctional”; to which he has responded that “this evolution is completely natural, and has happened in most knowledge-based, accomplish-oriented fields.”

Many member of both the Scrum community (and Agile community, including Scrum, Lean, Kanban, XP, etc.) and the Tribal Leadership community have expressed concern and disappointment in how dysfunctional their respective community has become. As Dave suggests, “this evolution is completely natural”! Furthermore, communities naturally ebb and flow with function/dysfunction — including “extended speech-making, almost no listening, and strong-willed personalities trying to dominate the group with manipulation, back-room deal-making, and force” — but ultimately “the community needs to decide that such behaviors will not be tolerated.” Fundamentally, the health (or lack thereof) of a community is a reflection of its functions/dysfunctions based on the nature of its members!

And lastly, Dave emphasizes: “Fifth, we should eat our own dog food.” Essentially, Dave’s call to action is that “we need a venue, identification of community values, selection of a noble cause, commitment to Scrum and Tribal Leadership.”

Conclusively, Tribal Scrum will emerge through immersion and sharing within a combined Scrum and Tribal Leadership community!

This is a tremendous opportunity for the Scrum and Tribal Leadership communities — looking forward to the journey ahead: Venue, Values, Cause, and Commitment!

WE-Centric Leadership and Tribal Leadership Differentiated

WE-Centric Leadership and Tribal Leadership are two distinct bodies of wisdom (BoWs) focused on Organizational Health (high performance cultures and thriving organizations). Each contributes a unique paradigm / worldview well grounded in practice (based on significant empirical research) regarding human nature (integrating Culture, Leadership, Strategy, and the Enterprise/Organization) with similarities and differences.

Tribal Leadership

Tribal Leadership — as described in Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization (2008) (Dave Logan (@davelogan1), John King (@kingofla), and Halee Fischer-Wright) and CultureSync — focuses on building a thriving organization by leveraging natural groups, that is, synchronizing culture and strategy by focusing on language and relationship structures.

Tribal Leadership emphasizes:

• Five Cultural Stages (Stage 1: “Life sucks”; Stage 2: “My life sucks”; Stage 3: “I’m great (and you’re not)”; Stage 4: “We’re great (and they’re not)”; and Stage 5: “Life is great”),
• Triads and Triading (and the Epiphany), and
• Tribal Strategy (micro strategy) (Core Values, Noble Cause; Outcomes; Assets; and Behaviors).

The essence of Tribal Leadership are Triads and Triading; that is, for the Tribal Leader, everything happens through Triads and Triading. Notice that Tribal Leadership does not emphasize Behavior as much as Language and Relationship Structures, but does emphasize Strategy more so (relative to WE-Centric Leadership).

See Human Leadership for more information about Tribal Leadership.

WE-Centric Leadership

WE-Centric Leadership — as described in Creating We: Change I-Thinking to We-Thinking and Build a Healthy, Thriving Organization (2005) (Judith E. Glaser (@JudithEGlaser and @CreatingWE)), The DNA Of Leadership: Leverage Your Instincts To Communicate, Differentiate, Innovate (2006) (Judith E Glaser (@JudithEGlaser and @CreatingWE)), and the Creating-WE Institute — focuses on building a healthy, thriving organization by leveraging vital instincts, that is, changing I-thinking to WE-thinking by focusing on language and conversations.

WE-Centric Leadership emphasizes:

• Unhealthy or toxic cultures with an I-centric fingerprint and Healthy or nontoxic cultures with a WE-centric fingerprint;
• Creating WE via
  — Believing WE focused on changing attitudes or beliefs (around Authority, Territoriality, and Self-Interest),
  — Learning WE focused on adopting new habits of mind and behaviors (around Culture, Possibilities, Space, and Conversations), and
  — Being WE focused on expressing WE-consciousness (around Working in Concert and Sustaining WE); and
• Leadership DNA (Community, Humanizing, Aspiring, Navigating, Generating, Expressing, and Spirit).

The essence of WE-Centric Leadership are Conversations; that is, for the WE-Centric Leader, everything happens through Conversations. Notice that WE-Centric Leadership does not emphasize Strategy as much as Language and Conversations (which embody Behaviors and Relationship Structures), but does emphasizes Behavior more so (relative to Tribal Leadership).

See Human Leadership for more information about WE-Centric Leadership.

WE-Centric Leadership and Tribal Leadership

WE-Centric Leadership and Tribal Leadership champion a Leader-Leader / Follower-Follower or Fellowship model of Leadership versus a Leader-Follower model of Leadership.

Stages vs. Unhealthy-Healthy

While the Tribal Leader distinguishes between Stages 1 & 2 & 3 and Stages 4 & 5, the WE-Centric Leader only distinguishes between Unhealthy and Healthy cultures. Consider that Stages 1 & 2 & 3 are Unhealthy while Stages 4 & 5 are Healthy, Stage 2 is more Unhealthy than Stage 3, and Stage 5 is more Healthy than Stage 4.

While the Tribal Leader experiences the Epiphany and upgrades the Stage of a tribe (with emphasis on “natural groups”), the WE-Centric Leader experiences Creating WE and fosters the Health of a group (with an emphasis on “vital instincts”).

Triads and Triading vs. Conversations

While the Tribal Leader focuses on Triads and Triading, that is relationship structures, the WE-Centric Leader focuses on Conversations, that is relationship structures and behaviors. While a Triad (within a tribe) generally involves three people anchoring each other, a Conversation (within a group) involves any number of people anchoring each other (as a network).

Fundamentally, a triad involves three legs where each leg (anchor) of the triad is responsible (accountable) for the quality of the relationship between the other two parts, presencing missing core value when the opposite leg is “unhealthy”.

While the Tribal Leader leverages a Tribal Strategy, the WE-Centric Leader expresses WE-consciousness via Leadership DNA.

How do You Experience the World?

While Tribal Leadership and WE-Centric Leadership are similar, they are distinct in emphasizing different nuances of how we experience human nature and leadership. In particular,

• If you experience the world through stages and triads, perhaps you are more-so a Tribal Leader;
• If you experience the world through health and conversations, perhaps you are more-so a WE-Centric Leader; and
• If you blend stages with health and traids with conversations, perhaps you are more-so a WE-Centric Tribal Leader.

Paul Glover’s WorkQuake

Corey Blake (@CoreyBlake9000) of Round Table Companies (RTC) gratuitously shared a review copy of Paul Glover’s (@glovergroup) WorkQuake book (@WorkQuakeBook) with me. As a follower of Paul Glover’s work in associations with FastCompany, I was very interested in the book!

The book focuses on “the excuses people at all levels of an organization have for not being productive, effective and accountable participants in the Workplace of the Knowledge Economy!”

The book is organized as a collection of Bottom Line articles that focus on operational performance issues and Morning Mantra articles that focus on personal performance or productivity issues — to “survive the WorkQuake“:

WorkQuake — A convulsion in the world of work, caused by a shift in the fundamentals of an economy, rendering the business world and work environment virtually unrecognizable to those working in the transition period between an old economy and its replacement economy. The current WorkQuake is occurring between the Industrial Economy and the Knowledge Economy.

Each article is a nugget of practical wisdom, blending just enough Why with great amounts of How… a book for the pragmatist in all of us!

One of my favorite Bottom Line articles is about Conflict, “the natural course of events when the ideas and interests of two or more individuals or groups clash — which, in a vibrant organization, they should be doing all the time.” The book distinguishes between Good and Bad conflict, explores root causes, and describes how leaders can manage conflict: Define the conflict; It’s not you versus me, it’s you and me versus the problem; Find common ground; Separate opinions from facts; Have an open mind; Listen actively; Silence is not necessarily assent; and Follow up. Great practical wisdom!

Another one of my favorite Bottom Line articles is about Performance, where the book offers “Ten Tips Guaranteed to Improve Organizational Performance”: Communicate the Company’s Goals to the Workforce; Stoke the Competitive Spirit; Conduct Survey and Focus Groups; Do a Compensation Survey; Develop an Effective Pay-for-Performance Plan; Develop an Effective Recognition/Rewards Program; Practice Financial Education; Improve Employee Performance Improvement Sessions; Train Your Front Line Leaders; and Walk Around More. Again, great practical wisdom!

One of my favorite Morning Mantra articles is about Energy, where the book emphasizes that there are three essential ingredients necessary for high performance: adequate resources, proper time management and a high level of energy. The book then offers six rules to generate the necessary level of energy in any workplace. Great practical wisdom!

Another one of my favorite Morning Mantra articles is about Productivity, where the book emphasizes six basic steps for improving personal productivity to become a “Master Manipulator of Time”: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Action Planning; Self-Discipline; and The Power of Accountability. Again,great practical wisdom!

There is much more in the book! If you are interested in nuggets of practical wisdom, blending just enough Why with great amounts of How, don’t miss WorkQuake!

Jonathan Fields’ Uncertainty

Jonathan Fields (@jonathanfields) (www.jonathanfields.com) kindly honored my request for a copy of his Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance book (Amazon).

Based on my experiences working with clients concerning transformation and how we appreciate and approach Uncertainty as a quintessential / elemental aspect of the transformation journey, I was very intrigued!

The Book

The book is a beautiful exploratory journey through the world of uncertainty.

The Introduction begins with The Three Psychic Horsemen of Creation:

One of the single greatest determinants of high-level success as an innovator or creator in any realm is the ability to manage and at times even seek out sustained high levels of uncertainty, bundled lovingly with risk of lose and exposure to criticism.

The Introduction then declares the purpose of the book:

Uncertainty is about what goes on in your head, your heart, and your gut as you strive to create anything truly extraordinary.

This book will give you a better understanding of your own creative process and a set of concrete daily practices and environmental changes that will allow you to reframe uncertainty, risk, and exposure as allies for creating and innovating on a level you never thought possible.

And with such an inviting Introduction, the book then delves into the heart and soul of uncertainty.

Why Uncertainty Matters

Chapter 1 emphasizes that “every quest to create something bold starts with a question, a hunch, or an idea” and that “creating” versus merely “replicating” “requires us to live with uncertainty”; thus, “we need to develop the ability to tolerate uncertainty”.

Notice the distinction between “creating” and “replicating”, and the expression that its a “quest” wherein “uncertainty” is a given such that we must cultivate the ability to “tolerate” it — if nothing else, this offers a refreshingly realistic perspective!

Far too many people sadly dull their natural ability to “tolerate” uncertainty by neglecting to renew their commitment to a quest and their extraordinary journey, but dwell (if not obsess) on the mundane and ordinary!

What Uncertainty Does to Us

Chapter 2 emphasizes that “uncertainty causes pain” which manifests as “suffering, anxiety, and fear” and fuels us to “do whatever we can to eliminate the bad feeling”; and the “rush to create certainty and eliminate risk and judgment” “unintentionally snuffs out our ability to create genius.”

Notice the whole notion of “creating certainty” versus “discovering” or “finding” it, and notice how “rushing” (versus deliberately acting to) “create certainty” conflict with “creating genius” — again, if nothing else, this offers a refreshingly realistic perspective!

The Myth of the Fearless Creator

Chapter 3 emphasizes that many seemingly “fearless creators” also “experience the same open-ended circumstance that shut most others down”, but they “build these things [situational changes, personal practices, and shifts in mind-set] into their lives, with great deliberation, as scaffolding that allows them to lean more deeply into the [creation] journey.”

Briefly consider the interplay between curiosity, uncertainty, scaffolding, and action.

• If one is curious, recognizes uncertainty, and has the appropriate scaffolding, they may be more inclined to act.
• If one is curious and does not recognize uncertainty, they too may be more inclined to act, perhaps to a fault!
• If one is curious, recognizes uncertainty, and does not have the appropriate scaffolding, they may be less inclined to act.

Perhaps, its the interplay between scaffolding and uncertainty that shapes how we bridge the chasm between curiosity and action!

Find Your Certainty Anchors

Chapter 4 explores “certainty anchors”, particularly rituals and routines, to “help counter the resistance that comes when you lean into the side of the creation process”:

Certainty anchors are experiences — ones that either happen naturally or that you build intentionally into your life — that serve as a source of psychology bedrock. They allow you to take more risks and embrace uncertainty in your work with more confidence in the name of creating better, deeper outcomes.

Essentially, certainty anchors may be considered behavioral aspects of scaffolding.

Build Your Hive

Chapter 5 explores “judgment-leveling creation hives” that are an “incredibly effective vehicle that can open you to the feedback you need to grow your ability and your endeavor as efficiently as possible”.

Essentially, hives may be considered environmental aspects of scaffolding.

Socialize Creation

Chapter 6 explores how to “shorten the time needed to arrive at certainty” by focusing on how to “test your ides, gather information, and build on what works, and eliminate what does not work” using “lean methodology” or “feedback-driven technologies”. Essentially, “adding certainty more often and in smaller chunks and fueling action.”

Essentially, feedback may be considered a workflow aspect of scaffolding.

Also notice the “incremental” (“more often and in small chunks”) approach to additive certainty and how it fuels action. Far too many people seek a “big bang” up-front approach to certainty (or resolving uncertainty) and resist action otherwise!

Train Your Brain

Chapter 7 explores “attentional training (AT)”:

Meditation, mindfulness and many forms of contemplation-driven spiritual practice are examples of something called attentional training (AT), practices that either innately or by will require intense, focused awareness. Through daily repetition, they create both physiological and psychological changes that can profoundly alter the way we experience and handle nearly any challenge or endeavor.

Notice the emphasis on “intense, focused awareness” and how such practices become certainty anchors.

See the Forest

Chapter 8 explores the “bigger question” that emerges “every time a new major hurdle presents itself”: “whether to keep going, to change what you’re doing, or to fold and shut down the endeavor altogether”; and this chapter also explores the “opportunity to lose yourself in the quest” that can be countered when we “establish a set of circuit breakers designed to allow you to come back from a question that has turned into an abyss”.

The ability to recognize, appreciate, and successfully confront the dark side of any quest is crucial!

Own the Story Line

Chapter 9 explores “reframing”, which “allows us to create and associate a different story line around” the “normal fear and anxiety” from “uncertainty and risk that comes with creation” “instead of defaulting to an automatic story that engenders negative emotion”.

Likewise, our ability to feed the dark side of any quest versus starve it is ever-present (and human)!

Bring it Home

Chapter 10 emphasizes that “uncertainty must be present in the quest to create anything deeply meaningful” and that “over time, facts and actual experiences will replace leaps of faith and hunches”.

Ultimately, when considering uncertainty, we should always remember: “Certainty, beyond the fact that you were born and you will one day die, does not exist.”

In Conclusion: The Alchemy of Fear

Jonathan Fields’ (@jonathanfields) (www.jonathanfields.com) Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance book (Amazon) is a masterpiece filled with human wisdom:

Doing all of these things pushed me — a lot. But they’ve also allowed me to lean with greater comfort than ever before into the uncertainty and fear that must be part of the quest to create something brilliant from nothing. I am no longer just an artist, an entrepreneur, or a creator. I’m training, and likely forever will be, in the alchemy of fear.

It’s my greatest hope that this book provides both the inspiration and the foundation needed for you to do the same.

Jonathan, thank you for beautifully sharing how embracing uncertainty may be wonderfully liberating!

Joseph Michelli’s The Zappos Experience

Joseph A. Michelli (@josephmichelli) (The Michelli Experience) kindly honored my request for an advance copy of The Zappos Experience: 5 Principles to Inspire, Engage, and WOW (@zapposxperience) (Zappified) book (Amazon).

Based on Tony Hseih’s (@zappos) Delivering Happiness (@DHMovement) and my experiences working with clients to leverage Tribal Leadership, I was very intrigued!

The Book

At first glance, The Zappos Experience may seem very similar to Delivering Happiness, however, Tony Hsieh immediately distinguished between the two books in The Zappos Experience‘s Forward:

So how is The Zappos Experience different from Delivering Happiness, and why should you care if you’re not in the business of selling clothing and shoes online?

In all likelihood, what your business does will be very different from what Zappos does. My hope is that Delivering Happiness will help inspire the why of your business, while The Zappos Experience (along with Zappos Insights) can contribute to the how of your business.

What is Zappos and the Zappos Experience?

The book starts with two questions: What is Zappos? What is the Zappos Experience?

The book emphasizes that it “will offer you a chance to learn from a company that is changing the paradigm for how to deliver excellent service by embedding that service into its culture” while quoting Peter Jackson’s Maps of Meaning, “cultures are maps of meaning through which the world is intelligible,” and emphasizing “at Zappos, leadership has offered a ‘map of meaning’ that produces success powered by a culture of service.”

The book then briefly explores Zappos’ history and emphasizes three historical pivot points that “offer insights regarding leadership decisions and staff efforts that kept the orders rolling in and the bankers, employees and customers happy”:

• Forging a Team with Diverse Strengths
• The Courage to Try to Do What You Think is “Right”
• Passion, Determination, and Humility

The book then briefly explores Zappos’ unique value proposition.

By making consistent choices to trust staff members and customers in often small but unexpected ways, the leadership at Zappos has essentially created customer wows, a loving family environment, and an enriched customer experience. Some Zappos customer communiques even sign off, “With love, The Zappos Customer Loyalty Team.” For some, “love” may seem like an odd concept in the context of business, but in the words of Peter Senge, author of the classic business book The Fifth Discipline, love is nothing more nor less than “a commitment to someone else’s growth and development.” Zappos lives that commitment to staff members, customers, and vendors alike.

Because leaders at Zappos demonstrate a commitment to the growth and development (“love”) of their company’s employees and their customers, consumers and staff return their love for Zappos through consistent referrals, positive social media chatter, and repeat business. This loyalty, resulting in 75 percent of orders each day being placed by returning customers, allows Zappos to spend less on marketing and advertising and instead invest more in truly delivering wow through service.

This resonates with my own experience of Love (in Business) and my appreciation of Starbucks.

Joseph Michelli then briefly introduces the Zappos Experience.

Building a vibrant culture, living in accordance with one’s values, and translating service directly into loyal return business are but a few of the many differentiators between Zappos and other well-intentioned companies. I have come to call the totality of these differences the “Zappos Experience.”

From my perspective, the Zappos Experience reflects a culture that is committed to impassioned service delivery, transparent communication, acceptance of differences, and weirdness — a highly playful, highly productive, and innovative business where staff members and customers become fully engaged an emotionally connected.

Then, Joseph Michelli introduces the “five core business principles” around which the book is organized (that offer “a map for your behind-the-scenes exploration of the company”) and emphasizes that “while these principles may seem fairly easy to grasp, applying them consistently may prove challenging” and “it is consistent execution that differentiates a Zappos from other well-meaning yet average businesses or mediocre individual service providers.”

1. Serve a perfect fit.
2. Make it effortlessly swift.
3. Step into the personal.
4. S T R E T C H.
5. Play to win.

The rest of Joseph Michelli’s book explores “how Zappos can help you zap your leadership, your culture, and your service, be it professional or personal, to the next level!”

Serve a Perfect Fit

This section opens with the following quote:

Coming together is a beginning
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.
— Henry Ford

This section, “Serve a Perfect Fit,” focuses on “how Zappos selects and orients for a service culture.” “The leadership at Zappos views culture strength as the foundation for employee engagement and, ultimately, for customer loyalty.” “Zappos has, in essence, made a priority of ways to ‘serve a perfect fit’ between its purpose and its people.” “By building a tight employee community, Zappos has developed a platform for outstanding service.”

• 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.”
• Chapter 3, “Culture Should Be a Verb”, focuses on how Zappos approaches “new hire orientation and on-boarding”.

Notices the emphasis on “service culture” versus merely “culture”; that is, a culture that is always in service of something beyond itself. Similar to Greenleaf’s “servant leadership”, this could readily be termed “servant cultureship“.

Notice the notion of culture as a platform wherein an engaged employee community fosters customer loyalty. Tribal Leadership emphasizes that leadership involves synchronizing culture and strategy naturally, which essentially involves fostering fitness between purpose and people.

Notice the emphasis of “core values” and “on-boarding” or culture (verb) or “culturing“.

Far too many so-called leaders are challenged when focusing on culture because their notion of culture is respectfully “self-serving” (internally focused) versus a “service culture” (externally focus), thus is seems far less relevant to their business objectives and goals.

Make it Effortlessly Swift

This section opens with the following quote:

The more effort customers must
put forth in a service interaction,
the less likely they are to be loyal.
— Jeffrey Henning

This section, “Make it Effortlessly Swift,” focuses on “how Zappos delivers wow through service without even having to make customer service personal.” “The leadership at Zappos has aspired to a more potent transformational and emotional service outcome, namely, to deliver happiness.”

• Chapter 4, “Less Effort, More Customers,” focuses on “how Zappos makes all aspects of the customer experience as effortless as possible.”
• Chapter 5, “The Ticket to the Big Service Dance: Velocity, Knowledge, Recovery and Surprise,” focuses on “how Zappos instills a sense of urgency into service delivery.”

Notice the emphasis on “transformational and emotional” outcomes that form effortless customer experiences delivered with urgency.

Step into the Personal

This section opens with the following quote:

The companies that survive
longest are the ones that work out
what they uniquely can give to the
world — not just growth or money
but their excellence, their respect
for others, or their ability to make
people happy. Some call those
things a soul.
— Charles Handy

This section, “Step into the Personal,” focuses on how “legendary and beloved companies seek personal, enriched experiences that are easily remembered and readily shared with others” while other brands “rely on operational excellence in service delivery to garner respect and differentiate themselves from less effective competitors”.

• Chapter 6, “More than a Wallet with Legs,” focuses on how “leaders foster an environment of authentic connections and real relationships with customers.”
• Chapter 7, “Connections at All Levels,” focuses on how leaders “openly and consistently provide feedback that helps staff members deliver personalized service to customers, vendors, and even non-customers.”

Notices the emphasis on “personal, enriched experiences” that are memorable and shareable versus merely “operational excellence”. Notice the emphasis on “connections” & “relationships” that are “authentic” & “real” being fostered by consistent “feedback”.

S T R E T C H

This section opens with the following quote:

If you want to be happy, set a goal
that commands your thoughts,
liberates your energy, and inspires
your hopes.
— Andrew Carnegie

This section, “S T R E T C H.,” focuses on “what businesses can achieve by being discontented, knowledge seeking, and unwilling to fall in love with the way things are or the way things have always been.”

• Chapter 8, “Zappos University,” focuses on “how Zappos stretches staff members to be subject-matter experts, better people, and future organizational leaders.”
• Chapter 9, “Beyond Shoes,” focuses on “how Zappos has stretched its brand elasticity well beyond its original product line into broader merchandising and even corporate leadership training.”

Notice the emphasis on “stretching” both staff members and the brand as fostered by being “unwilling to fall in love with the way things are”.

Far too many organizations fall in love with the way things are and no long seek to stretch.

Play to Win

This section opens with the following quote:

The master in the art of living makes
little distinction between his work and
his play, his labor and his leisure, his
mind and his body, his information and
his recreation. … He simply pursues his
vision of excellence at whatever he does,
leaving others to decide whether he is
working or playing. To him he’s always
doing both.
— James Michener

This section, “Play to win,” focuses on how “leaders see work and play as being intertwined” — “play is a powerful tool for alignment and social cohesion.”

• Chapter 10, “Play Well,” focuses on “how Zappos infuses a spirit of play on daily, monthly, and extended timelines throughout the workplace.”
• Chapter 11, “R.O.F.L.,” focuses on “how Zappos has transformed fun into a culture that is far from frivolous.” R.O.F.L. commonly stands for “rolling on the floor laughing” but in this Chapter it stands for “Return On Fun Lasts”.

Notice the emphasis on joy or enjoyment, that is, “finding joy in”! Mere Work and Play are different but may be intertwined, specifically, it’s the “spirit of play” that makes “work” “fun”.

Fundamentally, if you are not enjoying work, quite simply, stop working and ask “what’s missing”!

In conclusion

The book ends with one question: What’s your leadership legacy?

Zappos is no longer in the shoe business; it is in the happiness business! Its leaders became passionate about a goal that transcended products or processes. Those leaders shifted their attention from business success to transformative objectives and, in the end, elevated their significance and their legacy.

So what’s your leadership legacy statement? Go ahead and write it down — but, more important, live it! If you do, you truly will understand the transformational power of the Zappos Experience.

At the end of my Delivering Happiness blog post, I suggested if you want to understand the “Zappos Experience” — how Zappos has achieved greatness — read and reflect on Tony Hseih’s (@zappos) Delivering Happiness (@DHMovement), however, I now further suggest if you want to delve deeper, read and reflect on Joseph A. Michelli’s (@josephmichelli) The Zappos Experience: 5 Principles to Inspire, Engage, and WOW (@zapposxperience) — a treasure trove of practical wisdom!

The Six Diseases

In Artist of Life, Bruce Lee, the father of Jeet Kune Do, describes the Six Diseases [of excessive self-consciousness]:

The desire for victory

The desire to resort to technical cunning

The desire to display all that you have learned

The desire to overawe the enemy

The desire to play a passive role

The desire to get rid of whatever disease you are likely to be infected with

Bruce Lee further elaborates:

“The desire” is an attachment. “To desire not to desire” is also an attachment. To be unattached, then, means to be free at once from both statements, positive and negative. In other words, this is to be simultaneously both “yes” and “no,” which is intellectually absurd. However, not so in Zen!

In whatever profession, the six diseases apply:

• Excessive focus on the ends
• Excessive focus on the means
• Excessive focus on the individual/collective
• Excessive focus on conflict/adversity
• Excessive focus on engagement/disengagement
• Excessive focus on perfection

As Bruce Lee emphasizes, we must “preserve the state of spiritual freedom and nonattachment” where “health is an appropriate balance of the coordination of all of what we ‘are’ (are is being mind rather than having mind)” and “the true meaning of life — peace of mind.”

See The Official Bruce Lee site and this beautiful tribute (and 5 Greatest Quotes).

Artful Transformation and John Kotter’s 8-Step Process for Leading Change

In Leading Change, John Kotter of Kotter International emphasizes:

30 years of research by leadership guru Dr. John Kotter have proven that 70% of all major change efforts in organizations fail. Why do they fail? Because organizations often do not take the holistic approach required to see the change through.

However, by following the 8 Step Process outlined by Professor Kotter, organizations can avoid failure and become adept at change. By improving their ability to change, organizations can increase their chances of success, both today and in the future. Without this ability to adapt continuously, organizations cannot thrive.

How does The 8-Step Process for Leading Change relate to Artful Transformation?

Step 1: Create/Establishing a Sense of Urgency

This step focuses on “helping others see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately”:

Examine market and competitive realities

Identify and discuss crises, potential crises or major opportunities

This step relates to Phase I of Artful Transformation, and specifically fostering awareness of the rationale justifying the transformation.

Kotter’s emphasis that “leaders who know what they are doing will ‘aim for the heart’” and “connect to the deepest values of their people and inspire them to greatness” is crucial.

Step 2: Creating the Guiding Coalition

This step focuses on “putting together a group with enough power to lead the change”:

Assemble a group with enough power to lead the change effort

Encourage the group to work as a team

This step relates to Phase I of Artful Transformation, and specifically establishing a transformation team.

Kotter’s emphasis that “the team should reflect: Position Power; Expertise; Credibility; and Leadership” is crucial.

Step 3: Developing a Change Vision

This step focuses on “clarifying how the future will be different from the past”:

Create a vision to help direct the change effort

Develop strategies for achieving that vision

This step relates to Phase I of Artful Transformation, and specifically deriving a framework. Kotter’s vision is similar to Artful Transformation’s framework and Kotter’s strategies is similar Artful Transformation’s roadmap.

Kotter’s emphasis that a “clear vision [framework] serves three important purposes: simplifies more detailed decisions; motivates people to take action; and helps to coordinate the actions” is crucial.

Kotter’s emphasis “effective visions [frameworks] have six key characteristics: Imaginable; Desirable; Feasible; Focused; Flexible; and Communicable” is crucial.

Step 4: Communicating the Vision for Buy-in

This step focuses on “ensuring that as many people as possible understand and accept the vision”:

Use every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies

Teach new behaviors by the example of the Guiding Coalition

This step relates to Phase I of Artful Transformation, and specifically socializing and refining the framework and roadmap.

Kotter’s emphasis on “communicating the vision” and “the vision should be: Simple; Vivid; Repeatable; Invitational” is crucial.

Step 5: Empowering Broad-based Action / Empowering People and Removing Barriers

This step focuses on “removing as many barriers as possible and unleashing people to do their best work”:

Remove obstacles to change

Change systems or structures that seriously undermine the vision

Encourage the risk-taking and nontraditional ideas, activities, and actions

This step relates to Phase II and III of Artful Transformation, and specifically enacting & elaborating (Phase II) and further enacting & evolving (Phase III) the framework as well as renewing value-creating capabilities (Phase II) and reviewing oversights capabilities (Phase III).

Step 6: Generating Short-term Wins

This step focuses on “creating some visible, unambiguous success as soon as possible”:

Plan for visible performance improvements

Create those improvements

Recognize and reward employees involved in the improvements

This step relates to Phase II and III of Artful Transformation, and specifically the successes and improvements at the early parts of the phases.

Step 7: Never Letting Up / Don’t Let Up!

This step focuses on “consolidating gains and producing more change”:

Use increased credibility to change systems, structures and policies that don’t fit the vision

Hire, promote, and develop employees who can implement the vision

Reinvigorate the process with new projects, themes, and change agents

This step relates to Phase II and III of Artful Transformation, and specifically the gains at the latter parts of the phases.

Step 8: Incorporating Changes into the Culture / Make it Stick

This step focuses on “anchoring new approaches in the culture”:

Articulate the connections between the new behaviors and organizational success

Develop the means to ensure leadership development and succession

This step relates to Phase II and III of Artful Transformation, and specifically the emergence of communities (Phase II) and fostering those communities (Phase III).

Artful Transformation and The 8 Steps

The 8-Step Process for Leading Change provides rich guidance that can be used with Artful Transformation to lead change.

Agility Health

Agile is an umbrella term for Scrum, Extreme Programming, Lean Development, Kanban, etc. with roots are in Agility or the “ability to be agile”. Many consider Agile a technology approach; however, the “ability to be agile” (or Agility) applies to the whole enterprise or organization, business & technology including executives, management, and teams.

Quintessentially, Agility is a value system that emphasizes people, results, collaboration, and responsiveness. See Agility Distilled: The Essence of Agility, Manifesto for Agility, and Principles behind the Manifesto for Agility for more information.

As Agility has proliferated across various industries and as more individuals, teams or collectives, and organizations or enterprises approach Agility — that is, adopting, scaling, and sustaining more agile approaches such as Scrum or AIR — there is growing interest in assessing or apprising a team’s or organization’s Agility, or even more so, its Agility/Agile Health or it’s Agility Health Quotient (AHQ) / Agility Health Index (AHI).

How Agile are We?

While assessment approaches such as the Nokia Test, Comparative Agility, or Scrum Checklist focus on practices/techniques, a more foundational approach involves focusing on behaviors/values (after all, Agility is a value system!).

Agility Health

Herein is an empirical (experiential focused) approach that considers Business (Product Owner or Action Owner) and Technology (Engineering Team or Action Owner) with a neutral party (commonly known as “Switzerland”, the Scrum Master or Flow Owner) relative to Agility, which again is a value system that emphasizes people, results, collaboration, and responsiveness (as aspects).

Additionally, this description includes Business, Technology, Governance, Operations, Program/Project Management, and Enterprise Architecture dimensions. Business areas generally include Marketing, Sales, Support, and Products/Services (Product Management or Services Management with Product Managers). Technology areas generally include Engineering, Architecture (Architects), and Infrastructure. Program/Project Management (Project Managers) focuses on the human means to deliver business value. Enterprise Architecture focuses on the technology means to deliver business value. Governance focuses on oversight in the delivery of business value. Operations focuses on supporting the delivery of business value.

People: Commitment-based Accountability

Consider people’s commitments to intentions (outcomes, goals, objectives, etc.) & actions (tasks) and consider people’s accountability against their commitments, that is, overall ownership:

• If people authentically commit and authentically hold each other accountable, this aspect may be considered High.
• If people authentically commit, this aspect may be considered Medium.
• If people don’t authentically commit or don’t authentically hold each other accountable, this aspect may be considered Low.

Consider the difference between interest & commitment: “When you’re interested in something, you only do it if circumstances permit.”

Fundamentally, if people are challenged with commitment or accountability, they may be part of an unnatural group.

Results: Value-based Results

Consider people’s creation of business results and business value (client, customer, etc.):

• If people authentically produce value (or business results that are valued in a business context), this aspect may be considered High.
• If people authentically produce business results (in a business context, but not necessarily business valued results), this aspect may be considered Medium.
  Note: Producing technology infrastructure does not produce business value but only the potential of future business value!
• If people don’t authentically produce business results (or business value), this aspect may be considered Low.

Fundamentally, if people are challenged with business results or business value, they may be part of an unnatural group.

Collaboration: Mutual Authentic & Appreciative Engagement

Consider people’s engagement:

• If engagement involves flow-and-pull and is genuine (authentic), valued (appreciated), reciprocated (mutual), this aspect may be considered High.
• If engagement involves flow-and-pull, this aspect may be considered Medium.
• If engagement does not involve flow-and-pull (but batch-and-push), this aspect may be considered Low.

Fundamentally, if people are challenged with engagement, they may be part of an unnatural group.

Responsiveness: Time-based Results

Consider people’s responsiveness:

• If people are responsive (not merely reactive or expeditious) to any chaos that surrounds them, this aspect may be considered High.
• If people are responsive (not merely reactive or expeditious) to change, this aspect may be considered Medium.
• If people are not responsive (but may be merely reactive or expeditious), this aspect may be considered Low.

Fundamentally, if people are challenged with responsiveness, they may be part of an unnatural group.

Agility Health Quotient (AHQ) / Agility Health Index (AHI)

Generally,

• If the aspects are predominantly Low, overall Agility Health may be regarded as Low, less healthy (or ultimately unhealthy).
• If the aspects are predominantly Medium, overall Agility Health may be regarded as Medium, stable.
• If the aspects are predominantly High, overall Agility Health may be regarded as High, more healthy (or ultimately healthy).

Specifically, quantifying these qualitative aspects, if Low is 1 point, Medium is 2 points, and High is 3 points, Agility Health is the sum of the points related to each aspects (which are equally weighted). Thus, four Low aspects is 1 + 1 + 1 +1 for a total of 4, and four High aspects is 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 for a total of 12. Thus, a sum/score of:

• 4 is regarded as predominantly unhealthy.
• 5 or 6 is regarded as less healthy.
• 7, 8, or 9 is regarded as stable.
• 10 or 11 is regarded as more healthy.
• 12 is regarded as predominantly healthy.

Variations of this approach have included a 5 point scale (very high, high, medium, low, very low) and weighing the aspects.

Anecdotal evidence using this approach to consistently gauge Agility Health and measure the Agility Health Quotient (AHQ) / Agility Health Index (AHI) of a team or organization over time has proven valuable to derive actionable steps in improving health.

Additionally, the notion of an unnatural group is crucial in fostering a thriving organization.