The 11th Annual Talent Management Summit afforded me the distinct privilege of learning about two of America
HR & Vegas: Two Shoe Companies
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From the pictures of Zappos headquarters, there’s no question which company to work for.
As for the Nike guy, four words: Terry Tate, Office Linebacker. Oh, just to add to insult, ‘I like to own, than be owned” is a quote from Stephon Marbury to a Nike client, LeBron James. Who’s speaking business now? (Of note, Marbury is an honorable businessman, but a terrible player, as is the rest of the Knickerbocker players).
hi Laurie, excellent article you’ve written about the differences of the ‘old’ way of doing business and the ‘new’ thinking of today’s social corporation, Zappos. I follow the CEO @Zappos on Twitter. He follows me back, as I imagine he does everyone who follows him.
I once @replied to him on his meeting with Oprah – I had a direct reply back from him within the day, I was pretty impressed just by that. I’ve been reading a lot of great things about that ‘up and coming’ philosophy at work at Zappos. It would be a wonderful company to work at I have no doubt. I hope to see trends like this with more companies. I am pretty loyal to the company I work for which also has been very good with new ways of doing things, for that I am always grateful and I works ten times as hard because of it, it really says a lot and these little perks go a long way, ‘work hard, play hard’ I think.
How fun that you were given an exclusive tour; I’m a little jeolous, sssshhhh.
Laurie said:
* Daniel spoke of a war for talent (which I do not believe exists) and the current state of irrelevancy of Human Resources in most organizations.
* Dan placed particular emphasis on the importance of employing HR practitioners who can acquire a seat at the table and speak the language of business.
* There was some talk about the importance of
10 or 15 yrs ago Nike was the cool place (remember employees getting Nike swoosh tattoo’s on their thigh’s – to show ultimate loyalty)…so Zappo’s is the IN place this week…Lets talk in 2 years and see if they have sustainability or if their maturing business changes them, remember Starbucks and Google when they were first starting out….
Laurie I am not disagreeing with you on preference of where to work at this moment, just seems like they are the flavor of the day…there are also some people still attracted to the big bad fortune 500 companies…I work with those types…some would even label me one (even though my heart yearns for a Zappo’s evironment)…doesn’t make them bad, just a little sad!
Laurie
Nike HQ is about 15 miles away from my house. Up until about 5 years ago it was THE place to work. Now? Oh boy. If you meet someone that is a former Nike employee and you bring up the topic, you get an ear full.
That being said, I could never work at Zappos. The sheer amount of noise & decorations in the hallways & cube-farm areas would drive me batshit crazy. Maybe, MAYBE I would be able to get used to it, but I doubt it. I like the idea of a brand driven company though. I think as far as that goes, they’re doing it right.
@Tracy