I just read an interesting expose on Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com. For the record, I have to be one of their all-time best customers. Should have bought stock! And as an author, I’m indebted to the ingenious idea of a virtual bookstore!

I found one anecdote fascinating. Amazon originally rented office space on Seattle’s skid row. And the offices were sparsely and cheaply furnished. Bezos himself worked at a makeshift desk that was made from a cheap wooden door purchased at Home Depot and sawed off two-by-fours. What I found interesting is that other employees followed his example and built their own desks the same way. In the process, frugality became part of the Amazon culture. And that frugality is epitomized and symbolized by a makeshift desk.

In 1996, Amazon brought in $16 million in revenue. Three years later, annual revenues had gone up a hundredfold to $1.6 billion. And by it’s 10th anniversary, Amazon.com passed the $8 billion mark.What’s interesting is that, despite their exponential growth, Amazon’s culture continued to self-perpetuate. Ten years into it, with 12,000 employees, you could still see people sitting at desks built from doors!

I’d said it a thousand times: creating culture is the most important and most difficult task of a leader. In fact, the only thing more difficult is changing culture. But the good news is that culture is not a mystery. It is living out your core values in meaningful ways. It is communicating your values in memorable ways. And that boils down to small actions that make a big difference. Things like making desks from doors!