Delivering Happiness; A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

New York: Business Plus, 2010. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. xiii, [1], 253, [5] pages. Illustrations. Inscribed by the author on the fep. Inscription reads Jennifer--Live in the Wow! Tony Hsieh. Includes Preface; Introduction: Finding My Way. Section 1 Profits: In Search of Profits; You Win Some, You Lose Some, Diversity; Section II-Profits and Passion--Concentrate Your Position, and Platform for Growth: Brand, Culture, Pipeline; Section III--Profits, Passion, and Purpose: Taking It to the Next Level; Endgame; Epilogue; Appendix: Online Resources; Index. In delivering Happiness, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh shares the different lessons he has learned in business and life, from starting a worm farm to running a pizza business, through LinkExchange, Zappos, and more. Fast-paced and down to earth, Delivering Happiness shows how a very different kind of corporate culture is a powerful model for achieving success--and how by concentrating on the happiness of those around you, you can dramatically increase your own. Tony Hsieh (December 12, 1973 - November 27, 2020) was an American Internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He retired as the CEO of the online shoe and clothing company Zappos in August 2020 after 21 years. Hsieh's book Delivering Happiness focused on his entrepreneurial endeavors. It was profiled in many world publications, including The Washington Post, CNBC, TechCrunch, The Huffington Post and The Wall Street Journal. It debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List and stayed on the list for 27 consecutive weeks. The visionary CEO of Zappos explains how an emphasis on corporate culture can lead to unprecedented success. Pay new employees $2000 to quit. Make customer service the entire company, not just a department. Focus on company culture as the #1 priority. Apply research from the science of happiness to running a business. Help employees grow both personally and professionally. Seek to change the world. Oh, and make money too. Sound crazy? It's all standard operating procedure at Zappos, the online retailer that's doing over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales every year. In 1999, Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay) sold LinkExchange, the company he co-founded, to Microsoft for $265 million. He then joined Zappos as an adviser and investor, and eventually became CEO. In 2009, Zappos was listed as one of Fortune magazine's top 25 companies to work for, and was acquired by Amazon later that year in a deal valued at over $1.2 billion on the day of closing. In his first book, Tony shares the different business lessons he learned in life, from a lemonade stand and pizza business through LinkExchange, Zappos, and more. Ultimately, he shows how using happiness as a framework can produce profits, passion, and purpose both in business and in life. Derived from a Publishers Weekly article: Zappos CEO Hsieh offers a compelling account of his transformation from Harvard student entrepreneur through his years as a dot-com wunderkind to the creator of a formidable brand. As the tech boom bursts, and Hsieh confronts his dwindling investments, his story comes alive. As the funding for his incubator companies dries up and one of his most promising startups, Zappos, a shoe retailer, seems doomed, Hsieh blossoms into a mature businessperson, slashing expenses and presciently making customer service the essence of the company's brand. The story becomes suspenseful as Hsieh recounts the stress of operating in survival mode, liquidating his assets to fund the company in its darkest days and seeking out an 11th-hour loan. By the time Zappos is acquired by Amazon for more than $1.2 billion in 2009, Hsieh and his team had built a unique corporate culture dedicated to employee empowerment and the promise of delivering happiness though satisfied customers and a valued workforce. An uplifting tale of entrepreneurial success, personal growth, and redemption.