Tony Hsieh - CEO, Zappos.com & "Delivering Happiness": A Wake-Up Call for Many of Us

To online retailer Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, running his own company meant living life on his own terms.  As a California-raised child of Taiwanese immigrants, he dreamed of making lots of money by breeding and selling mass quantities of earthworms. When that  didn't work, he moved on to staging garage sales with a friend.  This effort succeeded a bit better, though the profits came more from a lemonade stand and less from the sale items.

As a middle school student, he graduated to having a newspaper route but shortly discovered that it was much work for little pay.  Writing and producing his own newsletter was far more challenging but unfortunately had to be discontinued - again, much labor for too little return.  A summer stint selling Christmas cards door-to-door was brief, not yielding what he'd hoped. 

Disappointed but ever-optimistic, an ad in "Boys' Life" magazine (a favorite of Tony and his brother, Andy) for a button-making kit whet his entrepreneurial appetite yet again.  Forging a mail order business of converting photos onto wearable pin-on buttons, Tony had his first success.  It not only gave the intrepid middle schooler a steady income of $200/month but he also learned many business lessons.  His button company also became a family enterprise, although he didn't realize it then. 

I'm currently reading Tony Hsieh's good-natured new book: "Delivering Happiness - A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose," due to be officially published next Monday, June 7th.  It's not so much an autobio as an exploration of the question: "Can a Company Really Deliver Happiness?"  This is the map of Tony's journey, from enterprising child to Zappos investor/advisor, in the business world. 

It's a personal wake-up call for me.  The enterprising side of my nature (mine and countless others) was steadily eroded over the years by the dysfunctional Philadelphia public school system of the 1960s-70s.  There's not much reason to believe the situation is any better now.  Suffice to say, whether you agree or disagree with Tony's premise - that the traditional corporate approach is obsolete and a new culture of passion and purpose leads to greater success for all - this is definitely well worth a read.  If nothing else, it might make you tap into that long-dormant, creative and intuitive part of you that was snuffed out by school and society over the years.  

HotJava will read and post about "Delivering Happiness" in the next few weeks.  And more power to you, Tony Hsieh!  Thank goodness your initiative and powers weren't dampened by anyone or anything!  

Interested in blogging about DH? Link to:
http://www.deliveringhappinessbook.com/contact/apply-for-an-advance-copy/