bigWOWO rating: Non-Fiction Gold
On your recommendations, I just finished reading Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose. It’s a business/life book written by Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com, and it focuses on Hsieh’s growth as a businessman and a corporate builder of culture. It’s a fascinating story of how he built Zappos from a company making almost nothing to $1 billion in annual sales within ten years. It’s also about his growth as a businessman, as a person, and as a leader.
I think this is the first business book I’ve read from a person of my generation. It was easy for me to relate to Hsieh’s stories. For example, he writes about his first successful business idea, which was a mail order button-making operation that he ran from his house. He got the idea from the classified section of Boys Life Magazine, where a button-press manufacturer was selling their machines. I grew up with those same Boys Life ads! (although I unfortunately wasn’t entrepreneurial enough to capitalize on it.)
I also liked how he consistently seeks new challenges throughout his life. I liked his comparison between poker and business (“Table selection is the most important decision you can make.”), and I found inspiring his love of risk and optimism in the face of adversity. Being a true Gen-X’er, he finds inspiration from many diverse fields; for example, he creates his corporate culture from his experiences at music raves and college dorm life.
Check out this book, and check out Linda’s recommendation. It’s a holistic book that goes beyond just business. My two biggest takeaways were that “table selection is the most important decision,” and that one should value experiences over material things.
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Thanks for the review! I shall check it out at the library 8D
Glad you enjoyed the book!
I also recommend (especially for Asian Gen X’ers), “The Accidental Millionaire” by Gary Fong. A funny great read about his life and business and how he, like Tony Hsieh, made millions, but not after learning from lots of mistakes. Fong is probably the pre-Tony Hsieh.
Fong’s book is a bit more humorous and less business orientated. There were several times I laughed out loud while reading this book and his typical and atypical childhood Asian experiences. However, I took away a lot of inspiration and support from this book, especially when I was at the beginning of forming my small business concept and everyone thought I was crazy for leaving a stable career.
Thanks, Linda! Man, there are lots of AA’s winning the game in the entrepreneurial fields, aren’t there? That’s totally awesome. I’ll put Gary Fong’s book on my list!
i’m happy for Hsieh and his successes. He probably has a lot to say and Zappos looks like a cool place to work. Yet I don’t get the popularity of his site. Sure, returns are easy but his prices are not that great, and they are always seem to run out of my size.
Most definitely.
I’m thinking that it may work for people who don’t like to go shoe shopping and would rather get it delivered. I live in a very polite and friendly place that is an hour from an outlet mall and has no sales tax, so I imagine Zappos isn’t big where I live. Although if I lived in a rude, big city OR a small place where it was hard to get shoes, I think I’d likely prefer to order from them.
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