Top 80 Tony Hsieh Quotes (2023 Update)

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

— Tony Hsieh

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

— 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. “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

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

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

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

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

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

23. “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

24. “There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.”

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

26. “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

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

— Tony Hsieh

28. “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

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

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

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

— Tony Hsieh

32. “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

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

— Tony Hsieh

34. “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

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

— Tony Hsieh

36. “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

37. “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

38. “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

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

— Tony Hsieh

40. “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

41. “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

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

— Tony Hsieh

43. “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

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

— Tony Hsieh

45. “We must all learn not only to not fear change, but to embrace it enthusiastically and, perhaps even more important, encourage and drive it.”

— Tony Hsieh

46. “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

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

— Tony Hsieh

48. “Your brand is your culture.”

— Tony Hsieh

49. “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

50. “You’ve gotta love the game. To become really good, you need to live it and sleep it.”

— Tony Hsieh