Recently, I have read two books which are Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose and Losing My Virginity by Sir Richard Branson.

The first book mentioned is written by Tone Hseih, founder of Zappos which was eventually bought over by Amazam.com. The core values instilled by him is:

1. Deliver WOW Through Service

2. Embrace and Drive Change

3. Create Fun and A little Weirdness

4. Be adventurous, creative and open- minded

5. Persue Growth and Learning

6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication

7. Build a Positive team and Family Spirit

8. Do more with less

9. Be Passionate and Determined

10. Be Humble

I was impressed with the core values. Why? Look at it. One by one. Don't you think it's more of a culture which can be imposed and practiced? I would love to have this kind of core values which is practical and make sense. For Tony, core values should be something for people to follow and happy about it. So far, I've not heard any core values that has the word "wow". A normal spoken language which is being used as a core value. Ain't that great? Tony focus his attention towards the employees first and customer as secondary. Without a strong base of employee, your company will never be big enough for global capitalization.

Another book which was written by the global entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson also focus on his employee.

"Conventions dictates that a company should look after its shareholders first, its customers next and last of all worry about its employees. Virgin does the opposite. For us, our employees matter most. It just seems common sense to me that, if you start off with a happy, well motivated workforce, you are more likely to have happy customers. And in due course the resulting profits will make your shareholders happy. " (Page 410: Losing My Virginity).

Think about it. Both companies emphasis on their employees by having their own cultures. In an organzation, we can't copy others culture. We can learn but we can copy. 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. You do the math for a year. Without having the great culture, employees will come to work for money instead of seeing it as part of the life where they really enjoy. Happy workers come and work with joy. They need little attention. They work like an auto-pilot. Unlike unhappy employees, they are forced to do the work. They forced themselves to come to work. I believe we have choices to make in life. Don't let the life controls you. Start taking action and control life.

Not all companies have great culture and values. What should we do if our company belongs in the sad case? Having a set of core values which is valueless since nobody even understand and practice it. Complaints doesn't lead to anywhere. Take ACTION. What? You can always starts discussing among your colleagues and find the right medium for you to highlight this. Your small action will actually be rewarded handsomely. Trust me. When we focus so much about outside world, we are actually preparing ourself for a bad time. There won't be any company in the world that make money all the time. There are times when they suffer. They can only wake up again if they have the right employees that can bring them up again. Apple is one classic example. They rised during the 70's and eventually were kind off quiet for a while. Then Steve Jobs just came in again and did his magic. Without him, there won't even be I-Pods, I-Phones, I-Pads and list goes on. God! Amazing.

Mission, Vission, core values - culture.

Think about it. Amazing companies distinguish themselves with other companies by having their own set of cultures. For them, happy people will lead to happy customer. Happy customer will bring more profits. At the end of the day, it's a win-win situation for all.

Cheers!