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

DIAMOND
RATING
Senteo Rating 3.5
04/27/23
views 5068
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Author:Tony Hsieh
04/27/23
views 5069
comments0
Author:Tony Hsieh
DIAMOND
RATING
Senteo Rating 3.5

Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
Tony Hsieh, Business Plus, 2010
Senteo’s Review information

This book chronicles the rise and success of Zappos and its unique company culture, as told by author, founder and entrepreneur, Tony Hsieh.

It is a light and entertaining read, in which the author seeks to strike a balance between customer, the employees and bottom line, identifying 10 core values that the company lives by:  deliver WOW through service; embrace and drive change; create fun and a little weirdness; be adventurous, creative and open-minded; pursue growth and learning; build open and honest relationships with communication; build a positive team and family spirit; do more with less; be passionate and determined; be humble. This book is about corporate culture and entrepreneurism, and a rather unique case, at that.

A fun, honest, entertaining read, which defies the average business norms. Considering Hsieh was able to sell the business to Amazon for over $1billion, a very unique success story.

 

One may get the feeling reading this that it is more of a manual for employees of Zappos to promote the corporate culture, as opposed to a recipe for other companies. Without the forward-thinking, emotionally balanced and driven leadership, this approach might be difficult to implement in many businesses.

 

Now in trade paperback, the hip, iconoclastic CEO of Zappos shows how a different kind of corporate culture can make a huge difference in achieving remarkable results — by actually creating a company culture that values happiness –and then delivers on it.

  • Pay brand-new employees $2,000 to quit
  • Make customer service the responsibility of 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 . . .

This book contains interesting examples of corporate culture and entrepreneurship. The company pursued a balance between unique culture and an operational efficiency model of rapid response to customer needs through mail order, seeking to promote their culture outward and delivering “WOW” to its customers. For additional perspective on this subject, see Senteo’s review for Authenticity: What Customers Really Want.

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This book provides an analysis of what worked for Zappos in terms of creating a unique model of company culture and customer service focus. It also provides a framework of 10 core values that the company identified and lives by in designing and maintaining its business model, however this more a list of principles than specific methodology.

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    Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
    Tony Hsieh, Business Plus, 2010
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