Question

Check the latest on Zappos and Tony Hsieh. How and what are each doing at the present time. Do some research to compare and contrast the leadership style and characteristics of Tony Hsieh with those of his boss at Amazon, Jeff Bezos. How are the leadership styles of the two CEOs alike? In what ways do they differ? For whom would you rather work? Is one better than the other in its situational context?

Answer 1

The most current news about Zappos is that they are shifting their apparel photo operations to an amazon studio. This change also requires the company to lay off 30 workers of the department.

The most current news about Tony Hsieh was that he was the keynote speaker during Idea Week, an event celebrating innovation, held in Jan 2018.

Tony Hsieh is the living example of authentic leadership. Authentic leadership runs on the nurturing lines established between the leader and his followers. Tony Hsieh has always been vocal about how much he values his employees. He feels his nurturing attitude motivates the employees to stay productive and creative at the company. He had been successful in aligning the company’s dream with the employee’s dreams, which ultimately led to the success of Zappos. The 3 key mantras of Hsieh leadership are:

• Take pride in being unique – Holocracy
• Leader must connect with his subordinates
• The leadership must be crafted to appeal to the common ideas

Jeff Bezos’ leadership is the best example of no-frill leadership. He has a very practical and business-minded approach. He is known for saying mean things to his employees. He believes in running business in practical, no-frills way. The ultimate objective in his view is to make profits. The key mantras of Bezos’ leadership are:

• Obsess over the customers and make them your priority
• Find commitment among employees through clarifying values
• Recognize the employee’s efforts timely to make his contributions count.

I would love to work under the leadership of Tony Hsieh. Tony has a very unique style of leadership and I would love to be a part of his employee’s team. I would want to see how he deals with stress situations, keeping his out-of-the box thinking in place.

Both the leaderships are apt for their respective businesses. Amazon have been facing rigorous competition and faring well due to the no-frills and outcome focused leadership of Jeff Bezos. Zappos is considered a cult company because of the ideal work conditions and culture that Tony Hsieh has propagated.