Delivering Happiness

Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose (2010), a leadership and business development book by Tony Hsieh, explores the secrets behind building an enduring, compelling brand and successful business. Nominated for the 2010 Goodreads Choice Award, it is popular with both general readers and book critics. Hsieh is the CEO of Zappos, a business that he helped grow from nothing to more than $1 million gross annual merchandise sales. He sold LinkExchange, a company he cofounded, to Microsoft in 1999 for around $265 million. Zappos has featured in Fortune magazine’s “Best Places to Work For” list.

Delivering Happiness centers on Hsieh’s life as an entrepreneur and what he can teach aspiring CEOs and entrepreneurs about successful business management. The book is divided into three sections; “Profits,” “Profits and Passion,” and “Profits, Passion, and Purpose.” The narrative moves chronologically from Hsieh’s early life and his first foray into business to the more recent sale of Zappos to Amazon.

Hsieh promotes three core lessons—marketing is far less important than the product you’re selling, the most successful entrepreneurs focus on something they’re passionate about, and a company’s culture will always be more important than customer service. The lessons are easily applied to businesses of all sizes.



Although the content is designed for a business audience, the examples and the biographical content can be enjoyed by anyone who cares about how employee morale, customer service, and happiness are interlinked. Hsieh intends for readers to re-examine their own corporate culture and consider how to make positive, long-term, profitable changes.

The most important thing that CEOs can do is to make their employees happy, argues Hsieh. By making their employees happy, CEOs make themselves happy, because their employees are as passionate about the products as they are. Unhappy employees create a toxic business culture— employees aren’t just less productive—they’re less profitable and poorly engaged with the business. Hsieh’s central idea is that making the people around us happy in turn makes us—and our businesses—happier.

Hsieh suggests that a company’s culture is an accurate measure of its success. It is more important than customer service. The right employees, thriving in the right work environment, automatically give customers great service. Unhappy employees are less likely to go the extra mile for a customer, affecting the company’s reputation. Once a CEO takes care of the culture, the customer service takes care of itself.



Hsieh uses his own experiences as examples of why the company culture is more important than customer service. He recalls that he once hired numerous employees, most of whom were not a good fit, instead of spending time recruiting a smaller, select group of employees. Once he changed his hiring habits, he recruited employees who shared his values, and the company culture developed naturally. His enthusiastic, passionate employees delivered excellent customer service, which in turn increased profits.

Hsieh recommends that marketing a product is often a waste of time. Money spent on costly ad campaigns is better spent investing in a quality product. Picking marketing strategies over product investment is why otherwise successful companies see diminishing returns. Hsieh explains that a good product or service sells itself, which is why we instantly associate certain products, or services, with certain companies. This is how a company builds and sustains a profitable, well-known brand—all without spending any money.

Hsieh argues that it is more important to excel in one thing than to be average at many things. Weak businesses spread themselves too thin and focus on too many areas. Hsieh, on the other hand, decided that Zappo’s selling point would be customer service, and he wouldn’t rest until everyone associated Zappo with the best customer service in the world. As is clear, this strategy worked for him.



Hsieh’s strategies all come down to a single philosophy—find something that you’re passionate about and invest in it. Similarly, if you dislike something, avoid it. If you love your business and what it stands for, you’ll work harder to make it successful. If you don’t believe in what you’re selling, but you think it’ll make you rich, it won’t work. Too many entrepreneurs, Hsieh believes, fail to realize this, which is why their businesses plateau.

Hsieh’s final point is that entrepreneurs have a duty to never stop learning. Modern businesses are always facing fresh challenges, and successful companies are prepared for them. There’s always more to learn and discover, and personal development is a priority. Employees should be encouraged to learn and develop themselves, too, as this helps them feel that their contributions are valued, and the company cares about them.

Hsieh used a Zappos employee as an example. She used to be terrified of public speaking and putting her ideas forward, but Zappos encouraged staff to contribute their thoughts. Hsieh and his team supported her, and she developed her public speaking skills. Eventually, she represented the company at conferences and spoke on its behalf. Hsieh explains that this nurturing approach is why his businesses are some of the best in the world for which to work.