Recommended Reading - Delivering Happiness

Last month, I attended the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco and heard Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos and author of this book, Delivering Happiness, speak.  I was quite interested to hear what he had to say, since I’m such a loyal (and too frequent) customer (let’s just say, I made their VIP list within 2 purchases, much to my hubbie’s dismay…).  Anyway, Tony spoke about the rise of Zappos and his passion for customer service and branding.  He also told the audience that we would all get a free copy of his book (I felt like it was the closest I’d ever get to feeling like I was on the Oprah or Ellen Show).

I just completed reading the book and I must say I was very pleasantly surprised!  Tony himself wrote the book without a ghost writer thus it seems like you’re simply listening to him casually talk, which is great since he is very amusing and has a great, dry wit.  He describes the path to building Zappos into the huge success it is today - and the refreshing thing about this journey is it isn’t littered with corporate greed, envy and a relentless pursuit of the almighty dollar (although, he didn’t do too bad by selling to company to Amazon for over $1 billion).

The conclusion of the book talks more about what makes us happy.  There are essentially four key points:

•  Perceived Control
•  Perceived Progress
•  Connectedness (to others)
•  Vision/Meaning (being a part of something greater than yourself)

If you’re looking for a stocking stuffer, I highly recommend this book.  It’s great for anyone who is interested in entrepreneurism, brand building, e-commerce, or happiness… :-)