I recently came across another video with Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh, being interviewed informally by web entrepreneur Loic Le Meur. The interview, which is 20 minutes long and was recorded during the TED conference, can be found on YouTube.

In this interview, Tony Hsieh talks about the several ways the company differentiates itself (many of which are widely known but others not). He also goes on to mention that Zappos releases a book every year called The Culture Book that consists of authentic employee responses when they are asked what the Zappos culture means to them. I got a hold of this year's book by emailing Tony. After browsing the book and reading through some of the responses, you immediately get the feeling that Zappos employees are very proud of working for the company no matter what position they hold (book is organized by departments).

So why put this book together? The answer to that is not clear, but the book says it does get "distributed to employees, prospective employees, business partners, and even some customers." So that alone should tell you it's very likely used as an effective way of recruiting new employees and further proving to the business world that Zappos is onto something.

Your employees are happy and they are not afraid to tell their story, why wouldn't you want everyone to know?

Besides this interview, there is already tons of discussion on what differentiates Zappos as a company and now as a major brand, but I keep finding myself amazed at how seriously they take employee and customer satisfaction and how open they are with sharing their reasons for success. Tony's presentation from a conference last year on how they got to $1 billion is sales is even available on Slideshare.

When I posted about the Zappos Culture book on Twitter, Julio Fernandez (@SocialJulio) replied with this important question: I wonder how the Zappos culture will change once they go from a public to a private company?

Whatever happens, I think the Zappos story is becoming more valuable as time goes on and as they continue growing with very little marketing. Email Tony to get a free copy of The Culture Book (he replied to me within a few hours and I had the book in 2 days) or buy a copy on their site.