I recently discovered “How I Built This” on NPR and have been hooked! I found this article related to the NPR segment regarding Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos. I thought his story was particularly relevant to this class because he is a perfect example of someone who grew a highly successful company not just for money, but rather because he genuinely wanted to solve a common problem – customer service. Tony said that he actually only owns two pairs of shoes. It wasn’t a love of shoes that drove him to Zappos, but rather a genuine interest in perfecting the customer service experience. “We decided to be about providing the best service; we said, ‘We’re a service company that just happens to sell shoes.’ But in order for that to happen, we had to control the entire customer experience.”

I included both the link to this article, as well as the link to all of the NPR episodes of “How I Built This” for those who are interested.

Article: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20060901/hidi-hsieh.html

NPR Link: http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this