Delivering Happiness: A Review

This post represents 240/800 words today as part of the 21.5.800 project. Thanks for reading!

I'll be honest and say that I didn't know what to expect when I signed up to review* Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.  By the time I had finished reading, I was pleasantly surprised.  There were lessons learned from mistakes and failure.  There were insights that made me stop and reflect on my own career.  There were surprises and revelations of unexpected good consequence.  Best of all, there were moving passages about shared success and collective victory.

Tony tells the stories of his early searches for profits with refreshing honesty and humility.  While I would have liked more depth in the first part of the book and more effort to tie the sections together, the real meat is what Tony took away from those formative business endeavors (even from childhood) and how they shaped his perspective leading up to Zappos.

The story of Zappos as told by Tony is one of people, of the importance of relationships not only within the tight culture of Zappos, but also externally with vendors, customers, the general public.  Tony has shown that it is possible to be successful and care about people, to be inclusive rather than exclusive, to share rather than hoard.  It's an example we can all benefit from.

Overall, it's a quick read and I would recommend taking the time to do so.  Looking forward to hearing more about the next chapter for Zappos and for Tony Hsieh.

-Andrea

*For full disclosure: I received a free, advance copy of the book with the understanding that I would provide an honest review here on my blog.  Statements in this post reflect my own personal opinions and I have not received compensation as to the nature of these opinions.