4 Business Lessons From Guy Kawasaki & Tony Hsieh

Browsing through The New York Times, I stumbled upon 2 great interviews that offered invaluable business lessons.

The interviews were about two great entrepreneurs, Guy Kawasaki, co-founder of Alltop and managing director of Garage Technology Ventures; and Tony Hsieh, founder of LinkExchange (which was sold to Microsoft for $265 million) and CEO of Zappos.

It was inspiring to learn about their past experiences and differing opinions in business. In essence, Guy places high emphasis on sales while Tony believes that company’s culture is the foundation of a successful business. Below are four inspiring pointers I have picked up from the interviews.

1. No First Job Is A Mistake

You can never make a mistake in your first job. Whether you were from a big multinational company, a start-up that was heading towards failure or one that could be the next Google, you would definitely learn something. In fact, joining a start-up that had gone bust would bring a fresh graduate more experience than anything else.

2. Culture Is So Damn Important

Motivating people to work, offering incentives and setting KPIs are standard methods to keep employees driven. To push performance to the next level, the culture must be set right. I find this quote from Tony especially insightful: “We decided that if we get the culture right, most of the stuff, like building a brand around delivering the very best customer service, will just take care of itself.”

3. Hire People Who’re Better Than You

I often curse and swear whenever I feel that my boss is less competent than me. After reading this, perhaps he had made the right choice to hire me in the first place.

“So A players hire A+ players. But others hire below their skills to make themselves look good. So B players hire C players. C players hire D players, etc”

4. Quit If You Don’t Enjoy Your Job

As Tony mentioned in the interview, the sale of LinkExchange is due to failing company culture. When work is feeling like a drag, it is best to change it. You’ll never be able to exceed your potential if you don’t like what you’re doing.

Read the full interviews from The New York Times here and here. They are definitely worth your time.