I am a very lucky person who just happens to work for a company in Fresno, California, who has an absolutely amazing boss, who just happens to believe that success is born of core values that I believe are unquestionable: trust, integrity, respect, compassion & responsibility.

Our company had gone through some difficult times fiscally and culturally a few years back and we have, over the last couple of years, made great strides in overcoming these hurdles. We had (and have) been discussing the importance of the customer experience and making sure that we take as the responsibility we have to our employees as seriously as we do our shareholder responsibilities.

While wandering through the virtual universe searching for companies that are making their way to success through these values our boss fell upon the Zappos.com website..this led to a random call to Zappos, not to buy shoes, but to find a company where he hoped he would see the reality of his belief at work. He spoke to a Zappos employee who very obviously loves his job and Zappos, and again, as luck would have it, all of this occured just prior one of our executive strategic meetings....I was there when my boss shared the insight he had gained through his short visit to the Zappos world. Upon our return to work, he received the Zappos Culture book which he has shared with us. WOW!! We are now even more committed to the path we are on!

Though the beliefs we hold are not what you usually hear around the board room during discussions of strategic planning or core company focus we know that they will be the values that set us apart from the rest in our industry; we believe they are core to our success professionaly and personally. I am so happy to have the opportunity to work and grow with such an exceptional team and I am sure I may speak for the rest of our group when I say, thank you Zappos for a great lesson and for being a company with whom we can share a kindered world.

We will be in Las Vegas in September for an industry show and hope to be able to visit Zappos personally.