Things are never as bad or as good as they seem.

...the best leaders are servant leaders - they serve those they lead.

I think the most important thing is just if you hire people whose personal values match the corporate core values - and not just the stated ones.

We asked ourselves what we wanted this company to stand for. We didn't want to just sell shoes. I wasn't even into shoes - but I was passionate about customer service.

I think maybe 50 years ago people and businesses felt like they had to choose between maximizing profits and making customers happy or making employees happy, and I think we're actually living in a special time where everyone's hyperconnected, whether through Twitter or blogs and so on. Information travels so quickly that it's actually possible to have it all, to make customers happy through customer service, to make employees happy through strong company cultures, and have that actually drive growth and profits.

Your brand is your culture.

Learn by doing. Theory is nice, but nothing replaces actual experience.