As I mentioned in my previous post, the keynote address at SXSW by Tony Hseih really struck a chord with me. Zappos is able to use customer service and they follow through on that – discounting typical metrics of time spent on calls, encouraging their people put their personality into helping customers, rewarding their employees for their behavior. From the top down, Zappos can say that they legitimately focus on the key to their corporate culture: customer service.

To a certain extent, that’s easy for them. They are a service provider – not a manufacturer, not a design team, not all the things that go into so many other companies. So how does one create a culture within an organization? Like the Zappos culture book, I think the best (and really only) way to go about it is to talk to the people that work there. Find out what is important to them. I don’t just mean the creative types, or the sales people, or the outgoing employees – but everyone. From accounting to customer service, the mail room to the board room – talking to people and attempting to identify the unifying factors within an organization will shed light to the personality of the company as a whole. Personality is important to culture – but that still isn’t culture. Understanding the personality of the people that make up the company will give you insight to their values.

Values. That’s an interesting concept. People often discuss their “values” in abstract forms. When people describe their values it’s almost an idealized version of how they see the world. Individuals may not always live up to their values – but they inherently use them to judge themselves. That is why a collective’s values – in this case a company – is the most important variable when discussing culture.

To create a true culture, you have to take the values that already exist within your company and set a lofty – yet achievable goal – that everyone can strive for. It doesn’t have to center around a marketing plan, or a specific lifestyle, or even a look or feel – it merely has to be a value that everyone understands and respects. From there, it’s management’s job to make sure that those values and the goals they create are integrated into every phase of the company. Like Tony says, that means making sure that each person you bring on fits in with the culture that is created. Zappos has illustrated their commitment to their culture and it’s become a rallying cry, marketing message, and overall business model that they live by. Other companies need to learn that culture isn’t something made in a meeting or with clever, creative slogans but rather through the crucible of the people that create the company’s wares every day.