Today, the net is abuzz with the release of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s book “Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose”. I was fortunate to be selected as one of the bloggers who was sent an advance copy of Hsieh’s book to review on my site (as well as a second copy of the book which I will be giving away for free to one of my readers. More on that later).
In addition to being thrilled at the opportunity to read this book in advance of its release, I was also understandably curious to read the insights of an entrepreneur who was able to take a struggling online shoe retailer and transform it into one of the decade’s biggest success stories. A few chapters into Hsieh’s book, that curiosity soon transformed into one of delight as Hsieh revealed his need to move past seeking profits to finding some purpose and meaning behind his efforts.
Hsieh’s book begins by sharing some stories from his childhood, featuring moments where his budding entrepreneurial spirit propelled him to come up with all sorts of plans on how to make money. The tales are for the most part endearing, reminding the reader of the whimsical image of the makeshift lemonade stand children create to sell beverages to the passersby.
Though Hsieh shares stories going from his college days to the growing success of his first internet company LinkExchange, to help the reader understand where his drive to push Zappos to its current success came from, the story behind his sale of LinkExchange to Microsoft for over $200 million represents the first of many of the book’s more illuminating moments. For most entrepreneurs, the idea of creating a company that could be sold for hundreds of millions of dollars represents the pot of gold at the other side of the rainbow; a personal Shangri-La where we can experience the kind of freedom we all imagine comes with being financially independent.
And yet, as Hsieh candidly shares in “Delivering Happiness”, the sale of LinkExchange – and his new status as a multi-millionaire – left him more with a sense of listlessness and questions of ‘so what now?’, borne not from being driven or ambitious, but due to lacking a sense of purpose of what to do with his life. After spending a number of years using his new-found fortune to provide seed funding for various start-up companies, Hsieh was drawn to the passion and belief one company had that they could become something special – a start-up company called Zappos, which wanted to sell shoes online.
Through describing the development and growth of this company, Hsieh demonstrates the importance of nurturing a culture that not only exists within the company walls, but a culture that their employees embrace as part of their lives outside of work. Ironically, part of that culture was inspired by the insight Hsieh gained while attending a rave party, where he began to understand the importance of people not only sharing a common purpose, but in being a part of something bigger than oneself to truly feel that sense of happiness and joy we all long for.
Hsieh also realized from his experiences with his previous company LinkExchange that this culture couldn’t exist solely with those in charge. Instead, it had to be something that everyone in the company not only contributed to, but believed in as being their shared purpose; the reason why they were coming in to work everyday beyond simply cashing a paycheck. Reading the various company emails Hsieh sent out to the Zappos employees as their company dealt with financial challenges, layoffs and eventually, their acquisition by Amazon, it’s clear that Hsieh doesn’t simply view them as various cogs in the wheel. His open and honest messages reflect that moment he describes in the rave party, of all these different individuals coming together and moving as a collective toward a common goal. As Hsieh wrote in an email a few days after laying off 8% of their workforce:
Remember, this is not my company, and this is not our investors’ company. This company is all of ours, and it’s up to all of us where we go from here. The power lies in each and every one of us to move forward and come out as a team stronger than we’ve ever been in the history of the company.
Indeed, as the book progresses, the inclusion of stories from other Zappos employees makes more and more sense as it becomes clear that this isn’t just Hsieh’s story. Rather, “Delivering Happiness” represents the story of all the employees of Zappos – of their shared purpose of making others happy by offering the best possible customer experience and consequently, the company’s successes which each of them played a clear part in attaining.
In many ways, Hsieh’s book serves as a modern parable for today’s world, one where we follow him in his pursuit of riches that will lead to that life we all want to live, only to discover that the wealth that will provide us that life we all so desire is not one of material wealth, but one borne from building a community of people driven to fulfill a common purpose.
Perhaps the greatest lesson in “Delivering Happiness” is not how one man found his purpose and how that journey lead him to create a billion dollar business. Instead, it’s the unspoken one that looks out from the pages at the reader and asking them when will they start the journey of taking their passions and using it to find the purpose behind their lives.
You can buy “Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose” on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca for Canadian readers.
***************
Win a free copy of Tony Hsieh’s book “Delivering Happiness”
As I mentioned at the start of my review, in addition to sending me a review copy of “Delivering Happiness”, I was also sent another copy to give away to one of my readers of my blog.
If you’d like to win a copy of Tony Hsieh’s book, write a comment at the end of this piece telling me why you’d enjoy reading this book. I’m going to accept comments for this contest until midnight (EST) Friday, June 11th at which point I’ll pick the person who gives the best answer. So, why would you like to read Tony Hsieh’s book “Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose”? Answer below and you just might win yourself a free copy of the book.
Happy Leaders who dare to go beyond their title are going to change this world – like I mentioned here.
In the age of Leading Beyond a Title, Happiness is a surefire weapon to rock the business world.
Best,
Utpal
Hsieh’s way of doing buisness is remarkable. It’s not his business savvy that really took him to the top but the way he engages the employees. His philosohpies on employee engagement are very similar to Southwest’s: how you treat your employees is how they treat your customers.
I think the reason that Zappos has taken off the way it has is because of his “employees first” philosophy. One of the greatest examples was their recent miscalculation that ended up costing the company millions of dollars. Instead of finger pointing at the employee, the leadership took responsibility for the situation. You’ve gotta respect that.
@Utpal – I think Hsieh offers a great example that fostering a sense of purpose among your employees not only creates a more engaged workforce, but it also makes your company more successful. Even if business leaders don’t care about the emotional well-being of their employees, it’s hard to understand why they’d turn down the opportunity to make their companies stronger and more competitive.
@Drew – I couldn’t agree with you more, Drew. It’s interesting when you read Hsieh’s company-wide emails to see how transparent and open he is about the information he shares with everyone. Of course, it becomes clear that this open communication from Hsieh not only helped to foster that passion among the employees, it also made them feel like they were involved, that it was their purpose for the company to succeed as much as it was his as the CEO of the company.
This act in and of itself is one many business leaders could benefit from learning and applying in their own organizations.
Hi Tanveer,
Excellent book review!! What an honor to have the chance to preview a much anticipated book that is flying off the book shelves.
What I love about the Zappos approach is that they deliver happiness to their employees who in turn deliver that happiness to their customers. It’s a pay it forward approach that works! The leadership team at Zappos recognizes the power in taking care of their employees because they know by doing so their employees will take care of their customers. The most powerful way to engage customers is by engaging your employees. Tony isn’t the only one engaging the employees, it’s a true mind set and culture. They hire for it, train it, recognize it, celebrate it, lead it, coach it and hold people accountable for it. It doesn’t take much work, all it takes is a clear vision, values and dedication to those things in everything they do.
Delivering Happiness is definitely on my reading list! Thank you so much for sharing your insights and key take aways from Delivering Happiness.
Cheers!
Kelly
Thanks Kelly; I’m glad you enjoyed this review. And it was an honour to be given the chance to read this book in advance of its release.
One of the things that’s interesting about reading Hsieh’s book are those anecdotes peppered throughout the book from other Zappos employees. It’s not hard to imagine after reading this book that Hsieh had sent out a company email telling everyone that he was writing this book and asking his employees if they had any stories, memories or ideas they’d like to include in this work. His intentional inclusion of their stories, and voices, showcases the very ideas that Hsieh pushes in his book for other companies and leaders to embrace – that for a company to be truly successful in the long run means giving ownership of that success to everyone in the company, and not just to those who occupy the C-Suite.
Again, glad to hear you enjoyed my review, Kelly, and thanks for your comment.