Wednesday, May 8, 2013

One of my all time favorite entrepreneurs is Tony Hsieh, the leader of shoe giant, Zappos. If you are looking to build an empire that is rich with culture, fun, and loyal employees, you would be well suited to read Hsieh's book, Delivering Happiness. Hsieh has incorporated hundreds of unique ideas into his business model to build a company that many thought impossible. Who would buy shoes online? Consumers want to try them on, right? Zappos has proven many wrong by building the largest online shoe retailer in the world. Not only that, Zappos has turned their shoe company into a school of learning by inviting the public in for tours of their facilities, and inviting business leaders to come in for coaching and training from a company that has mastered the art of building an amazing tribe.

Ask Anything. Hsieh believes that transparency is important in any organization. You want your employees and members of your team to feel like they can ask anything about you, other leaders in the company, or general questions about the company itself. It is for this reason that the leadership at Zappos sends out an "Ask Anything" email to their entire firm on a regular basis. The "Ask Anything" email encourages members of the Zappos family to send in emails to the leadership asking anything about them or the company. What Hsieh and his leadership team learned was that inquiring minds DO want to know. The employees send in questions asking personal questions about the leaders. They send in questions as diverse as "Why did you sell to Amazon," to "Why did you change the menu in the cafeteria?" The best part is that the leaders compile all the questions from their employees, then send out the answers to all the employees. They figure that if just one person has the question, then someone else probably does as well. The process of regularly giving employees the opportunity to "ask anything," has allowed Zappos to create an air of transparency, an even playing field if you will, where all employees know who their leaders are, where the company is going, and the reasons behind small, everyday decisions the company had made.

We have incorporated "Ask Anything," into our firm and had surprising responses. Here are some of the questions we got:

1. Who chose the company name?

2. What can we ask our Chief Techie for help with?

3. Why does Stacey read so much and what are her favorite books?

4. How old is Andy's son and what type of volunteer work does Andy do at his school?

5. Will there be a kitchen in the new office space?

6. What's the policy when my team member wants to leave the team and work for the company?

These are just a few of the questions we have responded to in our Ask Anything column. The point? People want to know about you and your company. If you are a business leader, it's time to get transparent with your people. It's time to give them the opportunity to Ask Anything.

By the way, if you are a salesperson, this just might work for you too. There is nothing more endearing to your clients than transparency. I would venture to guess that many of your clients are interested in you and your business. I bet they do want to know what you do on your free time, how you created your team name, and what your goals for your business are. There is no way of knowing for sure until you give them the opportunity to Ask Anything!