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  • Delivering Happiness

  • A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
  • By: Tony Hsieh
  • Narrated by: Tony Hsieh
  • Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (704 ratings)
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Delivering Happiness cover art

Delivering Happiness

By: Tony Hsieh
Narrated by: Tony Hsieh
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Editor reviews

Tony Hsieh is a really nice guy. This is what makes him a very unusual CEO, which is what makes his company so interesting. It also makes him a writer who doesn't use much corporate lingo, and a terrifically casual reader of his own book on the growth and development of Zappos, his unique company. One part memoir, one part philosophy, one part corporate handbook, and all silly optimism, Delivering Happiness will appeal to a surprisingly wide audience.

Hsieh begins with his business history, which adequately conveys his wackiness. First, there was the worm farm in elementary school. All the worms escaped, and he lost money. Then there was the mail order button business in middle school, so successful that he passed it along to his younger brothers in succession. In high school, he learned a bunch about programming, thereby combining his instincts with an appropriate knowledge base. He laughs out loud at his own computer club lunchtime antics, and so will you. Then there was the pizza business in his dorm at Harvard, where Hsieh found innovative ways not to attend any classes, and a high-paying corporate gig after graduation where he once again did as little as possible.

This is a man who likes to take business risks, and as he explains how he made decisions that caused him to grow from slacker into a Red Bull-pounding, 24-hour working machine, you'll be amazed that it sounds like he's smiling the entire time. From his first major start-up, which was subsequently sold to Microsoft, to his repeated close calls where Zappos almost went under before it was eventually bought out by Amazon, this true story of one man's corporate odyssey will leave you believing that anything really is possible. It will also at least make you want to shop at Zappos, if it doesn't make you want to move to as Vegas to work there.

Shot through with brief guest-narrations using the actual participants relevant to Hsieh's fast-paced world of entrepreneurship, there are a wealth of memos, emails, and testimonials that all serve as evidence to his weird intellect. And if you played a drinking game where you drank a shot every time Hsieh mentions having a drink, you'd be drunk before the book is half finished. From the tone of his voice to the story he tells, this is clearly a guy who needs his work to be fun and challenging. Just as Zappos has done, Hsieh's book casually fires the opening volley in a new era of corporate culture and management.

This eye-opening treatise on how to be happy at work has the added bonus of an hour-long conversation between Tony Hsieh and Warren Bennis, who has been universally considered one of the most significant leadership gurus for the past 40 years. Much of what Hsieh says is a more concise version of what he says in the book, though insights from the aging but still hilariously astute Bennis do offer something extra exciting. They discuss happiness in a way that is useful to all people, not just corporations. Megan Volpert

Summary

In this, his first audiobook, Tony Hsieh - the widely admired CEO of Zappos, the online shoe retailer - explains how he created a unique culture and commitment to service that aims to improve the lives of employees, customers, vendors, and backers. Using anecdotes and stories from his own life experiences, and from other companies, Hsieh provides concrete ways that companies can achieve unprecedented success. Even better, he shows how creating happiness and record results go hand-in-hand.

He starts with the "Why" in a section where he narrates his quest to understand the science of happiness. Then he runs through the ten Zappos "Core Values" - such as "Deliver WOW through Service", "Create Fun and A Little Weirdness", and "Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit" - and explains how you and your colleagues should come up with your own.

Hsieh then details many of the unique practices at Zappos that have made it the success it is today, such as their philosphy of allocating marketing money into the customer experience, thereby allowing repeat customers and word-of-mouth be their true form of marketing. He also explains why Zappos's number-one priority is company culture and his belief that once you get the culture right, everything else - great customer service, long-term branding - will happen on its own.

Finally, Delivering Happiness explains how Zappos employees actually apply the Core Values to improving their lives outside of work - and to making a difference in their communities and the world.

©2010 Tony Hsieh (P)2010 Hachette

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What listeners say about Delivering Happiness

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Dull and over simple

I had high hope for this book after reading the other reviews but I have to say having just read the Steve Jobs autobiography this is woeful in comparison. The book is padded out with detail that neither has relevence or any entertainment value.

eg. I made a cup of tea for Dave, I took a cup and put boiling water in it and then I added a tea bag. Dave waited a while for the liquid to cool and raised it to his lips. He then started drinking the liquid.

Yes Tony we understand how a cup of tea is made.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Dull, dull, dull!

Would you try another book written by Tony Hsieh or narrated by Tony Hsieh?

Nope!

What was most disappointing about Tony Hsieh’s story?

Repetitive

How did the narrator detract from the book?

It sounded like he was reading straight from the book.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Unhappiness!

Any additional comments?

The book was very repetitive. Didn't contain any insights. It was generally annoying to listen to.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

I don't know how this book has rated so well....

I was expecting inspiration, a great story and something totally different to what's in this book, the reviews I read before purchasing this book lead me to believe it was awesome, but I think Zappos staff wrote them all....

I got a refund.

All filler, no thriller...

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Last year I read 30 books this was the BEST

If you are passionate about business or just inspiring journeys of self discovery this book is a must read. I loved it and I am sure you will too.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love this Book

A Bible in perfect execution of customer service.
I love this book.
written like a story but full of practical experience and knowledge that you can apply immediately in your own business.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Rare page turner

I wanted to keep listening chapter after chapter. There aren't many business books that are page turners - this is one of them.

Interesting book brought to life by stories and anecdotes. Found some the culture parts in the middle of the book a bit creepy ( started to sound like a cult - that feeling quickly passed as I listened on) but you can't fail to admire the authors total faith in his approach and the success of Zappos. The Zappos focus on customers and culture will become the norm in 20 years time I'm sure.

3 things that stuck with me after reading it:

1. You can find a way to solve any problem if there is enough at stake.
2. Offering new employees $2,000 to leave after they complete their initial training is genius.
3. I wish I'd started my own company when I left University.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

What you really should know about business.

This is a great book, full of insight and examples of how being a better person can often lead to being a better business person. I wholeheartedly agree with the ideals behind this book and hope to emulate in my own business the principles of the Zappos brand.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Inspirational and unconventional

I heard about this book from another author (Kristen Hadeed). This is one of the most inspirational reads ever. Spread happiness in your own company and your employees will deliver that to your customers, who will in turn make you happy by causing your business to expand. The second part of this loop is commonly talked about - "offer great customer service", but the first part is often missed out - that's what Hsieh has brought to light. Zappos allows its employees to talk to the customers in their own words - no written scripts. Company's values were created through crowd sourcing within the company..... and it goes no.
A must read.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

About what every human being should be

I had no idea that this book was mostly about Zappos and I'd never heard of Tony Hsieh (Pronounced 'Shey'), when I started listiening I thought: what the heck has any of this got to do with happiness. However, it is a great story and it sometimes to me seems success is born randomly - many of us have put in the 16 hour days for months, with business plans that the banks demand and still failed. This is the story of how Link Exchange was built and then sold, making the author some $40M. However, he always reflects on what he has enjoyed and the creation of Zappos plays a big part in his life - it almost IS his life. It's only in the final moments of the book that the author really considers happiness and its science.

A really interesting read about someone who sounded not so different from the rest of us. Success is a pretty random thing because it's unpredictable. And happiness should be everyone's aim. It's what life surely boils down to.

I have always recognised that employees are a company's most important asset and this book confirms my beliefs and that it's not all about profitability - success can be measured in many ways and making people happy in something where they spend the majority of their life pays off in every way, it's win win win every way you look at it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A happy listener delivered

This was a fantastic audiobook. I had already seen tony on bloomberg and heard of the company but the story of his fledgling business ventures from his ealry years through to Zappos was enjoyable, thought provoking and build on my first throughts. The narration of the book was great as not only was it narrated by the author himself but we also hear the story of his colleagues and business partners which made it very "story telling" like. For anyone in business, particularly young people, it will enspire you and will challenge you with throughs on what is happiness. I havent stopped talking about this book or thinking about it since I have listening to it so I guess that is as good a compliement that I can pay it.

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1 person found this helpful