A book review of “DELIVERING Happiness…”
“JUMP for JOY . . . The company you now work for . . . has been sold.
Employees at most of the companies I know, when receiving the above news would arrive at work depressed and scared, if they bothered to show up at all. But not the folks at Zappos; they arrived with an air of excitement and even brought along beach balls to create an instant buzz. And they really did jump for joy because they knew their culture would be preserved, and their jobs were absolutely secure.”
Hot off the press, just published 30 days ago, and already on the New York Times Bestseller List! An easy quick read, with a simple message offering great results. DELIVERING Happiness A Path To Profits, Passion and Purpose by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.
In 1999, at the age of 24, Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay) sold LinkExchange, the company he co-founded, to Microsoft for $265 million. He then joined Zappos as an advisor and investor, and eventually became CEO, where he helped the on-line shoe retailer grow from almost no sales to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually, while simultaneously making Fortune magazines’ annual Best Companies to Work For List. In November 2009, Zappos.com Inc. was acquired by Amazon.com in a deal valued at $1.2 billion on the day of closing. Hsieh prefers to call it a marriage between Zappos and Amazon, which gives you a bit of insight to his management philosophy.
I found this book to stand head and shoulders above the crowd, punctuating how to grow really happy customers. To some, Zappos will seem far too weird a place to get any work done. But, as my grandmother would say, “the proof is in the pudding,” and they truly have created a place were people like to come to work.
Want a primer on how to build a brand of great customer service?
Here is what Zappos did:
- Find and hire people who are already passionate about customer service and whose core values match those of your organization.
- Build engagement and trust among staff by letting them use their own judgment when dealing with customers and give them the authority to make the customer happy.
- Strive to eliminate any kind of cynicism and negative interactions and be respectful of EVERYONE.
- Surprise your most loyal customers with free shipping or a bouquet of flowers.
- Perform random acts of kindness for co-workers.
- Demonstrate true transparency in ALL communications.
- Teach your employees how not to fear change but rather to welcome change.
- Empower your direct reports to drive change.
- Remember people function best when they can be themselves.
The book offers many innovative examples of creativity, one is the “Face Game.” When a Zappos employee clocks-in on their computer, a randomly picked photo of another employee pops up on their screen. They are given multiple choices to help identify the employee. It builds loyalty and expands the philosophy that individuals make-up a family unit.
The following is a quote direct from the book and worth repeating to yourself everyday: “No matter what your past has been, you have a spotless future.”
(Author Unknown)
This review is by Judy L. Young, you may reach her at www.laughterlinks.com
Compliance-to-Engagement, as a Road to Mastery
So this is incredibly ironic that I am sitting here at my computer working to be compliant with blogging… because I agreed to. Totally not one of my favorite things to do, and this definitely stretches me. The double-irony of it is that I am blogging on Chapter 5 of Daniel Pinks’ book, “Drive,” and the title of this chapter is Mastery!
This chapter is all about going from compliance-to-engagement, as a road to mastery. Of course there is a lot more involved in this chapter, it is just funny where I am sitting right now on that continuum. As a business owner I am totally on board to work towards our business goals and towards success, yet when blogging I often feel drained and unengaged. I really want to be on the other end of the continuum, engaged, motivated, experiencing “flow” while blogging.
So here is what I am applying that I have learned from this chapter. Mastery is a mindset, “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right,” as stated by Henry Ford. My belief in my capabilities shapes how I approach tasks like blogging.
Mastery can be painful! The path to mastery, to become ever better at something you care about, is not lined with daisies and spanned by a rainbow. If it were, more of us would make the trip. Mastery hurts sometimes… even many times… it’s not much fun. I totally resonate with that!!
I care about our company and will do the not-so-pleasant stuff (e.g., blogging) to own my responsibility in our company’s success. The final law of mastery is that mastery is an asymptote – a constant approaching without ever quite reaching it. You can zero in on it, get really, really, really close to it, but you can never touch it. How frustrating, reaching for something that you never can attain!! However, mastery is also a source of allure, the excitement of pursuing it may be more fulfilling that the final realization of it.
This is totally about the process I create in my pursuit of mastery, it has to be colored with my style and flavor when I blog. How I get to where I am going has to be shaped by me, and it is crazy how I am feeling myself move on the continuum towards engagement, simply by working through this blog! I think I will start another blog right now…
just kidding!!!








