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If Amazon acquisition of Zappos shoes is an indicator, Jeff Bezos let Tony Hsieh (CEO) continue to keep the culture. Hsieh said in past interviews that Bezos i

by jasode 9y ago

If Amazon acquisition of Zappos shoes is an indicator, Jeff Bezos let Tony Hsieh (CEO) continue to keep the culture. Hsieh said in past interviews that Bezos if fairly hands off. There was still some business "synergy" in the acquisition because Zappos logistics got integrated into the Amazon warehouse in Kentucky. Whether Bezos treats Whole Foods the same probably depends on whether he has confidence in existing management. It's also possible he has ambitions to totally remake WF into something else. In that case, it doesn't matter what managers are there because Bezos wanted the Whole Foods market presence and not the management team.

alanfalcon 9y ago
Zappos CS, front office, creative staff (etc.) got to keep their culture. Zappos warehouse workers got shafted.
- jhall1468 9y ago
  Blame Hsieh. He is given carte blanche over Zappos as long as he meets his revenue targets. Full stop.
- SeeDave 9y ago
  Would it be possible to expound on this comment with a decent source (first party is totally okay!)? I ask not as a personal attack on your credibility, this comment just seems a bit inconsistent with the Holacracy movement that he championed a couple of years back.
  - alanfalcon 9y ago
    https://pando.com/2012/06/06/zappos-hands-over-warehousing-to-amazon-focusing-all-attention-on-the-great-downtown-vegas-experiment/ https://pando.com/2012/06/06/zappos-hands-over-warehousing-t... - as you can see, the warehouse isn't included in any of the good stuff, it was just unceremoniously handed over to Amazon to be run as Amazon warehouses are run. I agree that this is inconcsistent with the Holacracy movement (even if the move preceded the movement officially, clearly these workers were never fully Zappos employees in Tony's eyes, which is sad).
    - SeeDave 9y ago
      Thanks for sharing, and I agree that it is always sad to see upper management marginalize the contributions of certain groups of employees.
  - 20years 9y ago
    Not sure how well that Holacracy movement is doing for them http://fortune.com/zappos-tony-hsieh-holacracy/ http://fortune.com/zappos-tony-hsieh-holacracy/ https://qz.com/849980/zappos-is-struggling-with-holacracy-because-humans-arent-designed-to-operate-like-software/ https://qz.com/849980/zappos-is-struggling-with-holacracy-be... https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/zappos-holacracy-hierarchy/424173/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/zappos-...

by jasode 9y ago

alanfalcon 9y ago

Zappos CS, front office, creative staff (etc.) got to keep their culture. Zappos warehouse workers got shafted.

jhall1468 9y ago
Blame Hsieh. He is given carte blanche over Zappos as long as he meets his revenue targets. Full stop.
SeeDave 9y ago
Would it be possible to expound on this comment with a decent source (first party is totally okay!)? I ask not as a personal attack on your credibility, this comment just seems a bit inconsistent with the Holacracy movement that he championed a couple of years back.
- alanfalcon 9y ago
  https://pando.com/2012/06/06/zappos-hands-over-warehousing-to-amazon-focusing-all-attention-on-the-great-downtown-vegas-experiment/ https://pando.com/2012/06/06/zappos-hands-over-warehousing-t... - as you can see, the warehouse isn't included in any of the good stuff, it was just unceremoniously handed over to Amazon to be run as Amazon warehouses are run. I agree that this is inconcsistent with the Holacracy movement (even if the move preceded the movement officially, clearly these workers were never fully Zappos employees in Tony's eyes, which is sad).
  - SeeDave 9y ago
    Thanks for sharing, and I agree that it is always sad to see upper management marginalize the contributions of certain groups of employees.
- 20years 9y ago
  Not sure how well that Holacracy movement is doing for them http://fortune.com/zappos-tony-hsieh-holacracy/ http://fortune.com/zappos-tony-hsieh-holacracy/ https://qz.com/849980/zappos-is-struggling-with-holacracy-because-humans-arent-designed-to-operate-like-software/ https://qz.com/849980/zappos-is-struggling-with-holacracy-be... https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/zappos-holacracy-hierarchy/424173/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/zappos-...