So, yeah. That happened.
Let me give you some context: My Zappos mentor, Thomas has me and my fellow “mentees” write down 10 weekly goals every Monday; 5 job-related, 5 culture-related. When the week of our Q&A with MAFT (our internal acronym for our top execs: Mike, Arun, Fred, and Tony) came up, Thomas challenged me to think of especially difficult goals. Hmm, what could be stranger than taking a photo of myself giving Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh a piggyback ride?
So, while all the interns were waiting to grill MAFT with a ton of questions Tony entered the room and I knew this is my chance! I had been thinking of a smooth way to ask a man that's worth millions of dollars to hop onto my back for a picture and, this is how it went:
Me:Hey Tony, nice to meet you. I'm Josh, an intern in the Strategic Planning department.
Tony:Hey.
Me:Do you think we could take a picture together?
Tony:Sure…
Me: Wait, I have a weird request. Can we take the picture with you on my back?
Tony:Uhhh. Sure… I guess so. I don't want to hurt you though.
Me:Don't worry, just jump on!
Super smooth, I know. But there you have it! My most memorable moment at Zappos: when my net worth skyrocketed for about 30 seconds.
Shout out to everyone who made this happen: Tony, Thomas, Raphi, AGB, and “Ting Jung” (iPad Mini).
--Josh Kim
Corporate Strategy Intern