One of the exercises I use to help a person uncover their personal brand is for the person to define their 
vision, passion, values, and purpose. Whether you leverage your personal brand as an entrepreneur or as an employee in the work environment to support the corporate brand, knowing these areas will ensure alignment with the place where you work.
Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos.com, Inc. recently wrote a book, “Delivering Happiness.” As I read the book, I saw how he utilized this same process to catapult a struggling company into a $1 billion plus online retailer.
Vision
Zappos’ vision is that, in the future, 30% of all retail transactions in the U.S. will be online and people will want to purchase products from the company with the best customer service and outstanding selection. Zappos.com will become that one-stop online store.
Passion
Zappos’ passion is to deliver extraordinary customer service. Customer service is such a focal point in their brand that all new employees, regardless of their role (including legal, accounting, and more) are required to go through the four-week customer service training. At the end of the first week, new employees are offered $2,000 to quit (plus being paid for the training time) and the offer is made each week until training is completed.
Values
Zappos developed these 10 core values with input from the entire company, making sure that the values were committable – on which they were willing to hire or fire. The recruiting department has even developed questions around each core value.
- Deliver WOW Through Service
- Embrace and Drive Change
- Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
- Be Adventerous, Creative, and Open-Minded
- Pursue Growth and Learning
- Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
- Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
- Do More With Less
- Be Passionate and Determined
- Be Humble
For someone who has gone through the process of unearthing their personal brand, h/she would know if h/her personal values aligned with the corporate values and could leverage these values in an interview. Additionally, knowing your own values helps you to know whether or not the corporate values align with your own, thus facilitating a good fit for you and the employer.
Purpose
Zappos purpose is to build a lifestyle that delivers happiness to everyone, including themselves. As you can see, the vision, passion, and values are intertwined, each supporting the other. When you define your vision for yourself, what fingerprint do you want to leave as your legacy and are you passionate about reaching this goal? What are your core values that will help you achieve that vision?
Conclusion
In 2009, Amazon and Zappos created what they called a marriage in which Amazon purchased Zappos for $1 billion, however they each remained as a separate company. Within a year, Zappos had grown so much that it restructured into 10 separate companies under the Zappos umbrella.
I believe the Zappos story outlines key components of branding philosophy. The story also illustrates how they have hired personnel who know their own personal brand and leverage their own unique value proposition to support the overall corporate brand. Most call centers focus key performance indicators on timeliness of resolving customer concerns that are often scripted. Zappos lets its personnel leverage their personal brand and unique market strengths to deal with customer concerns how they deem appropriate – in fact, the longest recorded call in Zappos history was five hours.
The benefits to knowing your personal brand and how it fits within a corporation’s brand are enhanced job satisfaction and greater personal fulfillment.
This article first appeared in the Personal Branding Magazine by Dan Schawbel
About Kristen Jacoway
