Why You Should Like Failure

My Key Takeaways From My Conversation With Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO and Tech Billionaire, and Tyler Williams, Head of Zappos Brand Aura

6 min readDec 9, 2019

I am on the bottom right in in the pink shirt

“…it’s that fear of failure but it’s very different from real death.” — Tyler Williams

Failure is About Growth 🌱

“It doesn’t really matter what the outcome is, it’s more about if you’re learning along the way.” — Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO

Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO and Tyler Willaims, Fungineer and Head of Brand Aura at Zappos, don’t like the word failure, but they are comfortable with the concept. During my time with the dynamic duo, while a live Q &A, Williams and Hsieh shared their belief about different types of failure, and their favorite is: you failed because you tried something new. Tony relates this to school. He says that praising a child for getting a high-grade on a test trains them not to try new things because the focus is wrong. The center should be growing and learning rather than an A+.

This resonated with me a lot. I am a straight-A student, and I am a victim of do-it-for-the-grade syndrome. Symptoms include:

Doing the minimum just to get a high mark
Hasn’t been passionate about schoolwork in since 4th grade
Afraid of strict parents getting mad because you got a B+
Stick to the rubric

Rare symptoms include:

KUMON (if you know you know)
Last-minute everything
Works crazy hard on notes

Can cause:

Insecurities
Relying on grades to feel valid
Anxiety
Depression

To name a few.

Treatment: Fail.

TKS* is my place to fail. I learn so much more than school could ever, and there are no grades. I try new things, and there are consequences when you fail, but it’s ok. Get back up and deal with it.

*TKS or The Knowledge Society is the nerdiest but coolest organization for teens (funded by Tony Hsieh himself in Las Vegas). It teaches mental health, physical health, skills for the real world, how to be a BOSS, new technologies, and so. much. more.

Fear 😱

I had to perform a dance routine in front of the entire school yesterday. What was I afraid of? Slipping? Me forgetting the dance? My team forgetting the dance? These were all relevant. But so what. If I slipped, would I die? No. Maybe hurt my arm and dignity, but I would get up and keep going. Am I so special that in 3019, someone will say, “Remember that girl on the dance team that slipped in 2019? She was such a LOSER!”? NO! In caveman times, failure was death, and now failure is getting 0 likes on a social media post. Which is really the bad outcome?

“Even if you feel the fear of being chased by a saber-tooth tiger; the reality is that the scenario is not that bad and for some people, it’s that fear of failure but it’s very different from real death.” — Tyler Williams

Habits To Stay Motivated and Staying Organized Throughout Everyday Day Life 🗄️

Everything possible now was once impossible.

Daily success practices 📅

Tyler’s number one is keeping his wife happy but also getting things done (GTD). Daily and weekly, he does a 30-minute GTD review. He sweeps all of the material out of his mind to capture everything he has to do. He uses an app called Captio in which you can email yourself tasks you need to do or ideas you might forget. Tyler also visions everything he is doing that day and thinks what wild success looks like. He credits that as to why he thinks everything is possible.

He referenced David Allen’s book Getting Things Done.

Tony does actions through the question, “Is this going to make a difference in my life a year from now?” and if it doesn’t, he cuts it off. Social media is an example of this. He tries not to look at his phone for the first two hours he is awake. He used to wake up and check Instagram. He remembers not enjoying it but just wanted to check it off the list.

Preventing Burn Out🔥

Tony takes time in the morning to read, relax, and have time for himself. Any meetings after 5 pm are relatively fun except when he and his team are hustling for a project. 7 PM to 2 AM is Tony’s ‘fun time.’ Tony often recalls the question, “what’s the point of everything we are doing?’’ He wants to enjoy life, so he uses that as the foundation for everything he does.

Tyler believes that keeping your job enjoyable and separate from your personal life prevents burnout. But sometimes you’re simply burnt. It’s ok to change careers. If you have options and don’t feel trapped in a job you hate (or love), there will be no room for burnout. Not everyone has access to this, but he says you should work towards it.

Tony Only Owns Four Pairs of Shoes and Has Only Sat in Five “Torturous” Shoe Meetings 👞

“We are constantly looking at that next thing that nobody is doing.” — Tyler Williams

The statement of how many shoes tony owns is pretty random, but it shows that he is focused on culture most.

Tony Hsieh is the CEO of Zappos, a shoe company, but he is not all about shoes. He is more in love with the community in the workplace, home, and everywhere else! He and Tyler like to be trendsetters. Tyler explained that the record of running a mile used to be four minutes, and right after the record was set, tons of people could run four-minute miles because people saw it as possible. The same applies to everything new.

In 1996 Tony had started a business called Link Exchange, which began with a small group of friends, but it grew to about 100 people. He said that he didn’t know about the company community then so in 1998 he sold it to Microsoft because the culture just wasn’t there. In 1999, he made sure that culture would be the top priority from the start in Zappos. Tyler and Tony believe in the fact that having experiences with your employees make connections. They do it all. Going on trips and going out to eat together outside of work is a big part of Zappos culture.

The culture in Furgeson's, Tony’s bougie-esc trailer park, has even more culture. Tony owns and lives in Furgeson’s and only lets fun, good people and friends join him. Tyler said he made the ‘mistake’ of buying a house instead of joining Tony in the trailer park but knows that if there was a zombie apocalypse; Furgeson’s is the best place to be because everyone has each other’s back.

Tony mentions milestones as not being the source of happiness. For example, if you want to reach one million dollars, will you be happy? No, it will feel suitable for a day, week, month, but then you’re just left with the money, a whole bunch of green paper that gets you stuff. But if you wanted to reach one million dollars to buy that house, you and your family wanted to live in and cherish, and you have something where you can say, “I did this for them” that is what makes you happy. Ask any millionaire/ billionaire. If they are happy or not, either way, it’s not because of money. Tony believes that relationships are the real source of happiness. He is a billionaire living in a trailer park with a bunch of his friends, a sloth, an alpaca, a lot of dogs, and is so happy.

Talking to Tony and Tyler has changed the way I look at work. Their philosophy and ethics are amazing.

Key Takeaways 🔑

Failure is a sign of growth.
People have already forgotten about that embarrassing thing you did last week.
Do a daily mind sweep.
Don't look at your phone for the first 2 hours of your day.
It's about the relationships, not the money.
Have relationships with your coworkers, boss, and employees.
Happiness is love.