First off, everything we’d heard about the Zappos culture, attitude and employees is true.

Our plane landed in Vegas as the tour was starting, so we arrived pretty late. Nevertheless, we were whisked inside by friendly people to catch up with the tour in-progress, just in time to say “Hi” to CEO, Tony Hsieh, working away at his storied cubicle in the middle of “Monkey Row.” Zappos Culture Guides, Jon Wolske and Andi Lyn were quick to make us feel welcome with warm greetings and small talk. Everything about Zappos is genuine. With daily, free tours, it would be easy for the delivery to feel rehearsed and stale. Instead, it felt more like a first-day-on-the-job orientation with your future co-workers.

Afterwards, Rob and I were pressed for time to get to a client meeting on the Strip, about twelve miles away. We were told a cab would take too long, and that they’d be happy to give us a free ride on the Zappos Shuttle. Minutes later a Zappos-wrapped Suburban whisked us to our meeting with time to spare.

The “secret sauce” of Zappos’s success is really no secret at all. They genuinely care about their customers, and they’ve developed a unique system of catering to and connecting with their customers that flies in the face of corporate best practices. It simply comes down to empowering employees to be human in their interactions with customers, which in turn, humanizes the company.

Just watch Andi explain how they handle customer service and you’ll get what I mean.

Oh yeah. They *made* me wear a funny hat and take this picture too.

As Tony explains in his recent interview on This Week In Startups, legal has an unreasonable stranglehold on decision-making in businesses and when weighed against other – oftentimes more expensive – risks made daily in other departments, they pale in comparison. But because of the fabricated authority given to legal in most organizations, they get the last word even when it goes against the best interests of the company.

Does your legal department’s veto power stop you from giving great customer service?

Focused Groups - Click to Enlarge

Wouldn’t be awesome if every company could be run like Zappos? A Twittering CEO. An open and authentic culture. I would teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. I would buy the world a Coke and keep it company.

But CEOs can’t all be Tony Hsieh. There’s a brazillion reasons for this, but I would argue – they shouldn’t all be Tony Hsieh. In most cases, the best way to serve your customers is to be the best damn CEO, CMO, CIO, etc., that you can be 100% of the time. Same goes for your staff. Transparency is critical now, but it can’t ever come at the expense of delivering value in the product or service you offer.

If transparency and authenticity becomes a distraction, nobody wins. If your output suffers, no one will care that you blog, or Twitter, or that the CEO sits in a cubicle with the rank and file.

So ask yourself: How do I serve my customers best?