Skip to main content

Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh (Book Review)

Excuse me one second while I send a message to my past self from 10 years ago: "Drop everything and go west and get a job at this new company Zappos."

Delivering Happiness is probably the most authentic business book I've ever read. It's not that the book tells the origin story of one of the coolest, most innovative companies (Zappos) in the country, although it certainly does that. It's not all the sound business advice and lessons imparted from Tony Hsieh, although there's plenty to consider in these pages. It's not even that the book is inspiring, although it definitely will make you believe that anything is possible again.

All those good elements aside, the book really resonated and stood out for me because every bit of it felt genuine and real. Tony Hsieh made the decision not to use an editor, and it really paid off. I felt no degrees of separation when reading this -- instead, the reading experience was intimate, as if the author was writing to me. Even the occasional awkward grammatical phrasing didn't matter -- it just worked.

There are so many reasons to recommend this that I couldn't possibly list them all. Instead, I'll just list the Zappos core values, as they figure prominently in the book (and Tony's story) as well:

   1. Deliver WOW Through Service
   2. Embrace and Drive Change
   3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
   4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
   5. Pursue Growth and Learning
   6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
   7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
   8. Do More With Less
   9. Be Passionate and Determined
  10. Be Humble

Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. rantingnerd2:35 PM

    What does your wife think of the idea of *that* being what you'd tell your younger self? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Raven4:30 PM

    I suspect she believes in romantic fate as forwarded in the film "Sideways". So, if I followed a different (geographic) path years ago, I still would have ended up with her, because it happened / is happening / will happen.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe by Roger McNamee

Zucked is a sobering and important book for the stand it takes in calling out Facebook and major Internet platforms in how they are addictive by design, are eroding our privacy, and are susceptible to manipulation by bad actors threatening democracy.  I especially appreciated the coverage of filter and preference bubbles and the explanation of how and why modern online platforms can contribute to self-perpetuating beliefs and tribalism.  The author read widely about the subjects covered in the book and included a rich bibliography for further reading. Even if you don't read Zucked itself, I've included below some of the organizations, peoples, and books mentioned so you can explore. By coincidence or not, just one month after its release, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg published a lengthy blog detailing how Facebook will shift to become more of a privacy-focused communications platform . Organizations Center for Human Technology Common Sense Media - Non-profi...
1 comment
Read more

When Weak Connections are Valuable at Work

I recently contributed an article to Information Outlook, the online magazine of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). The title is "When Weak Connections are Valuable at Work", and it's about how new networking tools enable us to cultivate workplace connections with people we rarely (or never) see but who can help us in important ways. Download the article as a PDF or read the web version below. When Weak Connections are Valuable at Work (PDF) When Weak Connections are Valuable at Work If you’re not sure who the weak ties are in your social network, look at the contacts on your phone. Chances are, there are some people in your contacts list you don’t call (much less see) on a regular basis, but you find it useful to keep them listed for those occasions when you do need to contact them. Perhaps your doctor, babysitter, mechanic, or accountant fits this description. If you use a social network like LinkedIn or Twitter professionally, you will have even mo...
2 comments
Read more

Electric Snow Blower?

UPDATE - 12/15/2009 After some back and forth, we went with the Snow Joe Ultra 622U1 13 Amp Electric Snow Thrower. I'll be commenting about its performance as the winter progresses and we use it regularly, but we already had a chance to try it last Thursday (12/10), when the first big Lake Effect snow of the season dumped more than a foot of snow on us here just south of Buffalo. Based on the test run, the Snow Joe performed admirably, handling the one foot high snow in our driveway without issue and essentially doing everything I expected of a powerful torque but lightweight snow thrower. ORIGINAL POST - 8/17/2009 I know it's only August, but I live in Buffalo, and you always need to think ahead about snow. The last two winters, we went without any snow removal machinery, and it hasn't been fun. The first winter I just shoveled, and the second we hired a plowing service. The plow service was better than shoveling all the time, but there were still too many times ...
24 comments
Read more