ABSTRACT
Zappo’s invests in learning from the day the new employee arrives with an emphasis on learning the firm’s unique operations and culture. That is followed with intense training in the firm’s boot camp. At the end of the learning regimen, when recruits fully understand the firm, they offer to pay the individual a month’s salary to quit. It is the reality test that serves as the final cut. Everyone at the company agrees it is better to root out people who don’t fit, right up front. The learning organization is devoted to developing its members through lifelong learning practices. Knowledge is developed among people within the organization and then passed on to others to create understanding across all members. Learning from failures is the most meaningful learning a firm can experience because it blends craft (experience) with art (insight) and science (analysis). The teachers among us are those who actively engage in knowing the business from the front lines.
