Delivering Happiness
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October 2011 L e a SOUNDVIEW d Executive e r s ® h i Book Summaries p www.summary.com Delivering Happiness A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose THE SUMMARY IN BRIEF 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. Zappos is an online retailer that’s doing more than $1 billion in gross mer - chandise sales annually. After debuting as the highest-ranking newcomer on Fortune magazine’s annual “Best Companies to Work For” list in 2009, Zappos by Tony Hsieh was acquired by Amazon in a deal valued at more than $1.2 billion. In Delivering Happiness , Hsieh shares the different lessons he has learned in business and life, from running a pizza business, through LinkExchange, Zappos and more. Fast-paced and down-to-earth, Delivering Happiness shows how a very CONTENTS different kind of corporate culture is a powerful model for achieving success — Section I: Profits and how by concentrating on the happiness of those around you, you can dramati - Page 2 cally increase your own level of happiness. You Win Some, You Ultimately, Hsieh shows how using happiness as a framework can help leaders Lose Some in organizations of all sizes and types produce profits, passion and purpose both in Page 3 business and in life. Diversify IN THIS SUMMARY, YOU WILL LEARN: Page 4 Section II: Profits • How to make customer service the responsibility of the entire company — and Passion not just one department. Page 5 • How to help employees grow — both personally and professionally. Platform for Growth: • How to apply research from the science of happiness to running a business. Brand, Culture, Pipeline Page 6 • How to focus on company culture as the No.1 priority. • How an emphasis on corporate culture can lead to unprecedented success. Section III: Profits, Passion and Purpose Page 7 Epilogue Page 8 Published by Soundview Executive Book Summaries®, 500 Old Forge Lane, Suite 501, Kennett Square, PA 19348 USA © 2011 Soundview Executive Book Summaries® • All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited. Concentrated Knowledge ™ for the Busy Executive • www.summary.com October 2011 THE COMPLETE SUMMARY: DELIVERING HAPPINESS by Tony Hsieh The author: In 1999, at the age of 24, Tony Hsieh sold LinkExchange, the company he co-founded, to Microsoft for $265 million. He then joined Zappos.com as an advisor and investor, and eventually became CEO. He helped Zappos.com grow from almost no sales to more than $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually, while simultaneously making Fortune magazine’s annual “Best Companies to Work For” list. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose by Tony Hsieh. Copyright © 2010 by Tony Hsieh. Summarized by permission of the publisher, Business Plus, Hachette Book Group. Business Plus is an imprint of Grand Central Publishing. 253 pages, $23.99, ISBN 978-0-446-56304-8. To purchase this book, go to www.amazon.com or www.bn.com. Summary copyright © 2011 by Soundview Executive Book Summaries®, www.summary.com, 1-800-SUMMARY, 1-610-558- 9495. For additional information on the author, go to www.summary.com. Introduction: Finding My Way was reminiscent of when I’d attended my first rave 10 years earlier, where I’d witnessed thousands of people Wow, I thought to myself. The room was packed. I dancing in unison with everyone feeding off of each was on stage at our all-hands meeting, looking over a other’s energy. Back then, the rave community came crowd of 700 Zappos employees who were standing up together based on their four core values known as cheering and clapping. A lot of them even had tears of PLUR: Peace, Love, Unity, Respect. happiness streaming down their faces. At Zappos, we had collectively come up with our Forty-eight hours ago, we had announced to the own set of 10 core values [see sidebar, page 2] . Those val - world that Amazon was acquiring us. ues bonded us together and were an important part of In November 1998, LinkExchange, the company that the path that led us to this moment. Looking over the I’d co-founded, was sold to Microsoft for $265 million crowd, I realized that every person took a different path after two and a half years. Now, in July 2009, as CEO to get here, but our paths somehow all managed to of Zappos.com, I had just announced that Amazon was intersect with one another here and now. I realized that acquiring Zappos right after we had celebrated our 10- the path that got me here began long before Zappos and year anniversary. (The acquisition would officially close LinkExchange. I thought about all the different business - a few months later in a stock and cash transaction, with es I had been a part of, all the people who had been in the shares valued at $1.2 billion on the day of closing.) my life and all the adventures I had been on. I thought In both scenarios, the deals looked similar: They both about mistakes that I had made and lessons that I had worked out to about $100 million per year. From the learned. outside, this looked like history repeating itself, just at a As all the eyes in the room were on me, I tried to larger scale. trace back to where my path had begun. In my mind, I Nothing could be farther from the truth. To all of us was traveling backward in time searching for the answer. in the room, we knew it wasn’t just about the money. Although I was pretty sure I wasn’t dying, my life was Together, we had built a business that combined profits, flashing before my eyes. I was obsessed with figuring it passion and purpose. And we knew that it wasn’t just out and I knew I had to do it this very moment, before about building a business. It was about building a the energy in the room dissipated, before time stopped lifestyle that was about delivering happiness to everyone, standing still. I didn’t know why. I just knew I needed including ourselves. to know where my path began. Time stood still during that moment on stage. The And then, right before reality returned and time start - unified energy and emotion of everyone in the room ed moving again, I figured it out. l Published by Soundview Executive Book Summaries® (ISSN 0747-2196), 500 Old Forge Lane, Suite 501, Kennett Square, 1-800-SUMMARY PA 19348 USA, a division of Concentrated Knowledge Corp. Published monthly. Subscriptions starting at $99 per year. [email protected] Copyright © 2011 by Soundview Executive Book Summaries® Available formats: Summaries are available in several digital formats. To subscribe, call us at 1-800-SUMMARY (240-912-7513 outside the United States), or order online at www.summary.com. Multiple-subscription discounts and corporate site licenses are also available. Rebecca S. Clement , Publisher; Sarah T. Dayton , Editor in Chief; Andrew Clancy , Senior Editor; Edward O’Neill , Graphic Designer; Chris Lauer, Contributing Editor 2 Soundview Executive Book Summaries ® www.summary.com Summary: DELIVERING HAPPINESS Section I: Profits During my junior and senior year in college, I took Zappos Core Values over the Quincy House Grille, which was an eating area While there are many subcomponents to each on the ground floor of the Quincy House dorm. Our value, we’ve distilled the most important themes dorm housed about 300 students and the Quincy House into the following 10 core values: Grille was a late-night gathering spot for students to play 1. Deliver WOW Through Service. foosball and pinball, and satisfy their late-night cravings. 2. Embrace and Drive Change. One of my roommates, Sanjay, ran the grill with me. 3. Create Fun and a Little Weirdness. We were responsible for setting the menu and prices, 4. Be Adventurous, Creative and Open-Minded. ordering from suppliers, hiring employees and occasion - ally making the food ourselves. 5. Pursue Growth and Learning. At the time, a city ordinance prevented fast-food 6. Build Open and Honest Relationships with establishments from opening up anywhere near campus, Communication. so I decided to take the subway to the next stop to the 7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit. nearest McDonald’s. I talked to the manager there and 8. Do More with Less. he sold me 100 frozen McDonald’s hamburger patties 9. Be Passionate and Determined. and buns, which I loaded into a taxicab and brought 10. Be Humble. back to our dorm. For a couple of months, this was part of my daily routine. Because there was no other place Ideally, we want all 10 core values to be reflected on campus to get McDonald’s burgers, I was able to in everything we do, including how we interact with charge $3 for burgers that cost me $1 to buy. each other, how we interact with our customers, and how we interact with our vendors and business I eventually got tired of making the daily runs to partners. McDonald’s, so I decided to see what it would take to turn the grill into a pizza business instead. I learned that pizzas were very high-margin. A large pizza costs less This Thing Called the World Wide Web than $2 to make but could be sold for $10 (or more As the end of my senior year in college approached, with additional toppings). And even more money could Sanjay introduced me to this thing called the World be made by selling pizzas by the slice.