RIP Tony Hsieh; A Note from Andy Schwartz

December 2, 2020 – St. Louis, Mo

A note from Andy Schwartz, President & CEO of AJ Adhesives, Inc. & Mid-America Packaging:

Tony Hsieh had a profound impact on me and the direction of my company.  In 2010, Paul Jovais, Ken Schene, and I attended Verne Harnish’s Fortune Summit in Las Vegas. We had the exclusive opportunity to tour Zappos’ HQ and meet Tony Hsieh.  Seeing and hearing Tony talk about “Delivering Happiness”, telling the Zappos story, and everything he stood for in business and life wasn’t unique, but the way he executed it was.  He was massively successful and he focused on culture. Making culture the first priority was going to be the new mission at AJ/MAP.

I am thankful that I had the opportunity to meet Tony at that Summit and I am always thankful for Verne Harnish and his ability to see the future. Believing ‘culture drives everything’ we made that our first priority.  Zappos delivering “WOW” through service inspired our “Insanely Happy Customers” campaign, which drives our company.  I’m going to always remember him speaking in his soft-spoken tone. ‘Take care of your people and they will take care of your customers.”

R.I.P. Tony Hsieh