It’s hard to believe that when Zappos started back in 2008, it’s happiness-as-a-business model was a bit of a revolution. The company whose tag is, Powered By Service®, started media buzz with an offer called ‘Pay To Quit’. In it, an employee is offered thousands of dollars to leave the company to ensure that the employees, who do stay, truly want to be there. In fact, the Zappos model became so interesting to other firms, that they launched an Insights Department offering in-depth training and campus tours. As of 2014, they had inspired 50,000 people. Not bad for a little website that started out just wanting to sell some shoes online.

Founder Tony Hsieh’s intent wasn’t to create Zappos clones or to push the Zappos core values onto other organizations. What he wanted to do was to show that by creating stories about core values—whatever they are—you and the people you surround yourself with, can live in alignment with them.

Research shows that it doesn’t matter what your values are. The point is that you have them, because when your entire company is aligned around those values, it becomes more powerful.

Your values give power to your brand’s vision because if there is no vision, there is no strategy and there likely will be no growth, at least not for long. Your ability to come up with the next great idea depends in part on you, but it also depends on your firm’s culture and your leadership. Marketing is no longer a discrete entity; it’s deeply personal and extends throughout a showroom, and across the supply chain to tap every function, every employee.

Do you know the story of the service you are selling, not just the products, and their impact in the world? Does your team?