Yesterday I finished reading Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s new book Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.
Tony starts his book from his family upbringing and onto his college years. Then building and selling his first business, LinkExchange for over $200 million dollars before starting Zappos.
The thing I like most about Delivering Happiness is Tony’s open and honest writing. He talks about when he was on course in his business but also when he was straying off course and away from what the business stood for. He also wasn’t afraid to put his time money and energy into something he believed in, even when others told him he shouldn’t. Any billion dollar business CEO who quotes Winnie-the-Pooh in their book gets a thumbs up from me.
Tony’s three rules for his speeches are:
1) Be passionate.
2) Tell personal stories.
3) Be real.
All three of which are shown in his writing as well.
Tony goes on to talk about happiness and what he thought would bring him happiness compared to what did bring him happiness. He states, “Most people go through their lives thinking, When I get ___, I will be happy, or When I achieve ___, I will be happy.” I think most people think that way, myself included. But Tony points out that research shows, the happiness you thought you would achieve ends up fading fairly quickly after achieving it.
To sum it all up, Zappos sounds like an amazing company to work for! Not just because their customer service is amazing, or because after they hire you, you are offered $2,000 to quit, or even because they were sold to Amazon for over a billion dollars. But you’ll have to get the book and see for yourself all the amazing reasons why Zappos would be a company I’d love to work for and you probably would too.
