Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

by Tony Hsieh

was much more interested in running my own business and figuring out different ways to make money.

I always fantasized about making money, because to me, money meant that later on in life I would have the freedom to do whatever I wanted.

I could be creative and eventually live life on my own terms.

They were particularly receptive to the fact that we were offering to do everything for free.

Psychologically, it’s hard because of all the inertia to overcome.

From my poker experience, I knew it was never too late to change tables.

made a note to myself to make sure I never lost sight of the value of a tribe where people truly felt connected and cared about the well-being of one another. To me, connectedness—the number and depth of my relationships—was an important element of my happiness, and I was grateful for our tribe.

I bought 810 so I could architect our parties and gatherings. Owning the loft would ultimately enable more experiences.

It was like someone had bestowed on me the Rosetta Stone of techno music, and no amount of verbal explanation would have helped me understand it. I had to experience it for myself. And in that one instant, I did. I had awakened. I had been transformed.

“Envision, create, and believe in your own universe, and the universe will form around you,” she said softly. “Just like what you did tonight.”

It went with my life philosophy of valuing experiences over things.

I hadn’t showered or had a decent meal or good night’s sleep in five days. I started thinking about all the things that I took for granted in life, and how much more I should appreciate the things I had.

One of the things that he found from his research was that great companies have a greater purpose and bigger vision beyond just making money or being number one in a market. A lot of companies fall into the trap of just focusing on making money, and then they never become a great company.”

But was it all talk? Or were we committed?

focusing too much on trying to figure out how to generate a lot of buzz, when really they should be focused on building engagement and trust.

I can tell you that my mom has zero buzz, but when she says something, I listen.

Most call centers also have scripts and force their reps to try to upsell customers to generate additional revenue.

I’d always thought of as a very “corporate” thing to do. I resisted doing it for as long as possible.

So the challenge to everyone is this: Make at least one improvement every week that makes Zappos better reflect our core values.

You must do something that’s above and beyond what’s expected. And whatever you do must have an emotional impact on the receiver.

Leaving that store, I had an incredible feeling. Not only did I share WOWness, I shared it with two people and could only hope they might pay it forward as well someday.

Others can copy our images, our shipping, and the overall look of our Web site, but they cannot copy our people, our culture, or our service. And they will not be able to evolve as fast as we can as long as embracing constant change is part of our culture.

And for anyone we bring on board, the best expertise they can bring is expertise at learning and adapting and figuring new things out—helping the company grow, and in the process they will also be growing themselves.

I knew that Zappos trusted me, maybe even before I could trust myself in certain roles. Because of that, I was able to learn and grow by leaps and bounds, both personally and professionally.