Tony Hsieh

Tony Hsieh working at his desk He doesn't even have a full cubicle. His workstation, in fact, is indistinguishable from any of the other hundreds of employees in the building -- except maybe for the rainforest decorations hanging from the ceiling and the giant inflatable monkey.

Hsieh became a millionaire in 1998 at 24 when he sold his online advertising company to Microsoft. He sold that company not for the money, he said, but because it had grown so fast and wildly that he barely recognized it any more. In the final weeks, Hsieh said he came to dread just going into work.

Naughton worked for a staffing agency that helped Zappos hire staff when it moved to Southern Nevada almost five years ago. She had never seen the kind of positive feedback from placed workers as what the agency received from those working at Zappos, she said. It wasn't long before she joined them.