Tony Hsieh Quotes

1. “Whatever you’re thinking, think bigger.”

— Tony Hsieh

Featured in: Startup Quotes

2. “Chase the vision, not the money. The money will end up following you.”

— Tony Hsieh

Featured in: Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes, Startup Quotes, Business Quotes, Quotes About Money

3. “Your culture is your brand.”

— Tony Hsieh

Featured in: Marketing Quotes

4. “Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion.”

— Tony Hsieh

5. “Customer service shouldn’t just be A department, it should be the entire company.”

— Tony Hsieh

6. “Learn by doing. Theory is nice, but nothing replaces actual experience.”

— Tony Hsieh

7. “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

8. “Envision, create, and believe in your own universe, and the universe will form around you.”

— Tony Hsieh

9. “For individuals, character is destiny. For organizations, culture is destiny.”

— Tony Hsieh

10. “Zappos is a customer service company that just happens to sell shoes.”

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

12. “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

13. “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

14. “Don’t be cocky. Don’t be flashy. There’s always someone better than you.”

— Tony Hsieh

15. “A great brand is a story that never stops unfolding.”

— Tony Hsieh

16. “Just figure out what your personal values are then just make those the corporate values.”

— Tony Hsieh

17. “Problems are just mile markers. Each one we pass means we’ve gotten better.”

— Tony Hsieh

18. “Help shape the stories that people are telling about you.”

— Tony Hsieh

19. “Without conscious and deliberate effort, inertia always wins.”

— Tony Hsieh

20. “Most companies are very quick to hire and slow to fire, when really it should be the other way around.”

— Tony Hsieh

21. “The best businesses are really ones that can combine passion, profits, and purpose.”

— Tony Hsieh

22. “There’s a big difference between motivation and inspiration: Inspire through values and motivation takes care of itself.”

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

24. “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

25. “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

26. “Businesses often forget about the culture, and ultimately, they suffer for it because you can’t deliver good service from unhappy employees.”

— Tony Hsieh

27. “I’d rather spend money on things that improve the customer experience than on marketing.”

— Tony Hsieh

28. “The brand is just a lagging indicator of a company’s culture.”

— Tony Hsieh

29. “What’s the best way to build a brand for the long term? In a word: culture.”

— Tony Hsieh

30. “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

31. “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

32. “Most innovation comes from outside your industry applied to your own.”

— Tony Hsieh

33. “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

34. “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

35. “Every employee can affect your company’s brand, not just the front-line employees that are paid to talk to your customers.”

— Tony Hsieh

36. “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

37. “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

38. “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.”

— Tony Hsieh

39. “To never forget that the most important thing in life is the quality of life we lead.”

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

41. “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

42. “Your brand is your culture.”

— Tony Hsieh

43. “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.”

— Tony Hsieh

44. “Good businesses generate missions to drive their profits. Great businesses generate profits to drive their missions.”

— Tony Hsieh

45. “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

46. “I believe that there’s something interesting about anyone and everyone – you just have to figure out what that something is.”

— Tony Hsieh

47. “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

48. “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

49. “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

50. “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