Bob Stephen's Top 10 Business Books - #1 Delivering Happiness

This is part 1 of a 10 part series by RSC's CEO & Managing Director, Bob Stephen. In this series, Bob discusses the top 10 business books in his library.

Why every CEO should read “Delivering Happiness”

First, let me ask you a few questions: What is the value of joy in your work? How much does it matter that you, your employees, and your customer’s are happy? Why is it that the amount of money one makes tends to have a negative correlation with how happy they are? If you’ve ever found yourself thinking along these lines, then it is imperative you read Tony Hsieh’s book, “Delivering Happiness.”

Hsieh is the well-known entrepreneur and current CEO of Zappos. In “Delivering Happiness,” Hsieh discusses a few of his highly successful and profitable business ventures. More specifically he discusses the impact those businesses had on his overall happiness. When the time came to sell, he could have made exponentially more than the millions he did – but the money didn’t matter to him. He was completely and entirely unhappy.

BUILDING YOUR OWN HAPPINESS 

Hsieh founded Zappos on one essential principle: happiness. He made the key decision to surround himself with energetic, enthusiastic, likeable, and service-oriented people who in turn helped him create a positive and uplifting culture. The organization developed a set of core values that created an atmosphere of optimism and success. Hsieh made sure that every employee knew they were a valued member of the team.

 

SHARING YOUR HAPPINESS 

It really stuck with me the importance Hsieh put on an internal culture of happiness and positivity. But what caught my attention even more, is his desire to share that happiness.

As the company grew, that happiness Hsieh worked so hard to establish spilled beyond the doors of the organization. They shared that same positivity to their clients through their customer service.

There are a plethora of service oriented professions who don’t hold themselves to the same standards Hsieh established at Zappos. For example: In the book Hsieh shares a story about a particular customer. This customer came back to their hotel late one night and called into room service for a pizza. The hotel staff quickly informed them that their kitchen was closed for the evening and they could not fulfill the request. The customer responded asking the hotel employee to promptly call Zappos and have them send him a pizza. Exasperated, the hotel employee followed through with the request. To her amazement, the customer service representative at Zappo’s got their location, and reported back with 5 pizza delivery services that were open and would deliver directly to the hotel room and asked what type of pizza they would like.

HAPPINESS DELIVERED 

My point in sharing all this is that both the traveler and hotel employee are now loyal Zappo’s customers. Because Hsieh built his business on the principles of happiness and delivering joy to his customers, he is wildly successful. But his success exceeds the numbers on his paycheck. The true success of Zappos is the happiness and the satisfaction Hsieh now has in his job.

What it boils down to is this: When you are happy, your staff is happy. When your staff is happy, your clients are happy. This cycle of happiness creates an atmosphere of productivity. People who love their job work hard at it. When they work hard they get more work done and do their jobs better.

I highly recommend this book and I urge you to add it to your library. Hsieh was able to put into words something I have been searching to describe throughout my entire business career. We all want to provide that level of customer service. We all want to love where we work, what we do, and be able to deliver a product or service that changes other’s lives for the better.

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