Saturday, April 12, 2014

Book Review- Delivering Happiness

Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, Tony Hsieh, New York, NY: Business Plus, 2012. ISBN: 978-0446576222 (paperback) 978-0446563048 (hard cover)

First off, the hard cover is cheaper is you buy the book used, but if you like your books all shiny and new, I gave the ISBN for the paperback as well, since that's cheaper than the new hard cover copies. I love used books, but generally like finding them in used book stores, where you can see them before buying them. Plus, it's more of a treasure hunt that way.

I borrowed this book from my firm's library- libraries are also great places to borrow books- they let you take them for free, as long as you promise to give them back in a timely manner. It was written by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. If you've never ordered from Zappos, they really are pretty great. The prices are a bit high, but they don't compete on price.

This book would be a good read for a wide audience, whether they are interested interested in business or not. Hsieh goes into some personal stuff and writes about his previous company before going into how he became involved in Zappos. It gets a little weird at times with the Zappos stuff, kind of cultish, but there is still plenty of good stuff to take away from the book.

While I already knew about the importance of customer service and passion for what you do, it made me think more about company culture. It also seemed like Hsieh's investments and efforts for Zappos were a real gamble, that fortunately paid off for him. I'm thinking a lot of his decisions wouldn't work for other companies, but his ideas on keeping employees happy and making sure they're a good fit for the company are good.

I'm not business expert, and this book certainly didn't turn me into one. But if you're looking for an inspiring and somewhat useful business book, I would recommend it to you.



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