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.

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

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.

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

Without conscious and deliberate effort, inertia always wins

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

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.

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).

Things are never as bad or as good as they seem.

I view my role more as trying to set up an environment where the personalities, creativity and individuality of all the different employees come out and can shine.

...the best leaders are servant leaders - they serve those they lead.

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

Whatever you're thinking, think bigger.

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.

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

We decided that if we get the culture right, most of the stuff, like building a brand around delivering the very best customer service, will just take care of itself.

Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion.

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

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

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