I had the opportunity to attend CES 2009. A few days prior to my Vegas arrival, I’d been tweeting with Melissa Pierce and she invited me to interview Tony Hsieh, CEO at Zappos.com. It was an amazing experience.

@MelissaPierce recounts her thoughts from our interview:

Like all the videos here, I edited this one myself, however, I’m mighty proud of it, as I also filmed it myself with the HD camcorder that Panasonic gave me when I went to CES. No lights, No external mics, No real film experience. Just me, my camera, and Tony. (and Macala from 1928 Jewelry who was sitting in the room for moral support – @Macala interjects:  I did help with the camera!) As an aside, Jerry Tidmore – you cheated during our duel, I challenge you to a rematch.

Tony Hsieh is passionate about culture, he believes that in order for his company Zappos.com to be at the top of it’s game, the culture within the company has to be just right.

“If you get the culture right, most other things like building a brand or great customer service will just happen naturally on their own”

And on my visit to the Zappos headquarters in Las Vegas, I’d say that the idea that culture is priority is a tea that has been steeped to the perfection. The people there work hard, but they look like they actually enjoy it… Enjoy cubicles? I know! (Having broke free of my own cubical prison it’s hard for me to believe too)

Along with a few other values, such as being humble, being a little weird is also encouraged at Zappos.  The Zappos office looks a lot like a huge dorm room (minus the dirty cloths and crusty take out containers), Each desk decorated with each employees personal flair… some of them quite over the top. Only it’s not like that creepy weird guy in the corner cubicle that has pictures of his accordion and neighbor’s cats pinned up everywhere, it’s more like a community pride feel, a pre-school bulletin board, that “I’m so proud of us all” kind of atmosphere that fosters creativity. I guess it’s why they look like they are enjoying themselves.. they are.

“I think a lot of people think that either your creative or you’re not… Part of being creative is being open minded.”

I hope, I hope that the creative, open minded atmosphere that I discovered at Zappos permeates out to the rest of the world. I hope our education system takes a good look at Zappos and organizations like it and changes it’s curriculum accordingly so that our children are ready for these creative open minded companies. Imagine the wonder and sparkle of childhood never wearing off. Imagine loving what you do for a living.

Melissa Pierce’s project, Life in Perpetual Beta, has been funded by small contributions from people like you. To support the film, get a cool tee shirt, and get invited to exclusive film related events join the tweet team for $30, or email her about how else you’d like to contribute, For more about the culture of creativity, subscribe to life in perpetual beta or follow Melissa on twitter.

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