There are many good reasons to remember Tony Hsieh, but I keep thinking about one in particular: an unusual employment policy at Zappos, where Hsieh was CEO for two decades.
Zappos twice built companies from the ground up and found big exits: Zappos to Amazon for $1.2 billion, and before that, LinkExchange, which Microsoft acquired for $265 million before Hsieh turned 25.
Not just the quirkiness for which he was known -- a near-billionaire who lived in an Airstream trailer because, as he once explained, he valued experiences over things -- but instead, for the 2-word policy Zappos had for new employees.
It wasn't altruism; Zappos was better off without employees who didn't want to be there.
After Amazon acquired Zappos -- and allowed it to remain a freestanding division, under Hsieh's leadership -- "big Amazon" adopted a version of the idea as well.
Hsieh sold Zappos to Amazon in 2009, and I suppose the reason that "The Offer" resonated so sharply with me when I first heard about it is because of what I was doing at exactly that time.