For those referencing it, you can use:
Hsieh, T. (2010) Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, And Purpose. New York: Business Plus.
To buy in India, try this: http://isbn.net.in/0446563048.
There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. Morpheas, The Matrix (Introduction)
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, they you win. Mahatma Gandhi (p5)
I failed my way to success. Thomas Alva Edison. (p7)
The idea of one day running my company was that I could be creative and eventually live life on my own terms. (p10)
..Looking back, a lot of growth happened that way. We'd just throw ideas against the wall to see if they'd stick, improvise, and make it happen.
Learnings (p65-67)
- Help shape stories that people are telling about you.
- Go for positive expected valye, not what's least risky.
- Don't cheat. Cheaters never win in the long run.
- Stick to your principles.
- Differenciate yourself. Do the opposite of what the rest of the table is doing.
- Hope is not a good plan.
- Educate yourself. Read books and learn from others who have done it before.
- Learn by surrounding yourself with talented players.
- Don't be cocky. Don't be flashy. There's always someone better than you.
- Share what you've learned with others.
- Have fun. The game is a lot more enjoyable when you're trying to do more than just make money.
- Inertia
- I'd realized that whether in poker, in business, or in life, it was wasy to get caught up and engrossed in what I was currently doing, and that made it easy to foget that I always had the option to change tables. Psychologically, it's hard because of all the interia to overcome. Without conscious and deliberate effort, inertia always wins. (p69)
Networking
I've found that it's more interesting to build relationships with people that are *not* in the business world because they always can offer unique perspectives and insights, and also because those relationship tend to be more genuine. (p82)
Regarding a hotel that he'd opened
..The dishes were named after various dot-com companies. One of the crowd favorites ended up being Akamai Fried Rice. (!!) (p85)
(Hmm.. and then zappos ended up using Akamai! See this presentation:
'A great company is more likely to die of indigestion of too much opportunity than starvation from too little.' - Packard Law (p89)
'Be humble: In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind, there are a few' - Shnryu Suzuki. (p90)
..It was a valuable lessonn. We learned that we should never outsource our core competency. As an e-commerce company, we should have considered warehousing to be our core competency from the beginning. Outsourcing that to a third party and trusting that they would care about our customers as much as we would was one of our biggest mistakes. If we hadn't reacted quickly, it would have eventually destroyed Zappos. (p119)
Interesting obeservation - 1
Would you be comfortable printing everything your employees, customers, and partners have to say about your culture? If not, what would it take for you to get there?'(p139)
Interesting obeservation - 2
There's a lot of buzz these days about 'social media' and 'integration marketing'. As unsexy and low-tech as it may sound, our belief is that the telephone is one of the best branding devices out there. You have customer's undivided attention for five to ten minutes, and if you get the interaction right, what we've found is that the customer remembers the experience for a very long time and tells his or her friends about it.
Too many companies think of their call centre as an expense to minimize. We believe that it's a huge untapped opportunity for most companies, not only because it can result in word-of-mouth marketing, but because of its potential to increase the lifetime value of the customer. (p143)
Interesting obeservation - 3
At Zappos, our belief is that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff - like great customer service, or building a great long-term brand, or passionate employees and customers - will happen naturally on its own.
We believe that your company's culture and your company's brand are really just two sides of the same coin. The brand may lag in the culture first, but eventually it will catch up. (p152)
Zappos 10 core values
- Deliver WOW through service
- Embrace and drive change
- Create fun and a little wierdness
- Be adventurous, creative, and open-minded
- Pursue growth and learning
- Build open and honest relationship with communication
- Build a postive team and family spirit
- Do more with less (see more in further reading)
- Be passionate and determined
- Be Humble (p154)
About change
Although change can and will come from all directions, it's important that most of the changes in the company are driven from the bottom-up from the people who are on the front lines, closer to the customers and/or issues. (p163
The problem when someone feels burned out, bored, unchallenged, or stifled by their work is not the job itself but rather the environment and playground rules give nto them to do the job at hand. (p171)
It's important to constantly challenge and stretch yourself, and not be stuck in a job where you don't feel like your are growing and learning. (p173)
Listen!
In any relationship, it's important to be a good listener as well as a good communicator. Open, honest communication is the best foundation for any relationship but, remember that at the end of the day it's not what you say or what you do, but how you make people feel that matters the most. In order for soeone to feel good about a relationship, they must know that the ther person truly cares about them, both personally and professionaly. (p176)
Be Humble
While we have grown quickly in the past, we recognize that there are always challenges ahead to tackly. We belive that no matter what happens, we should always be respectful of everyone. (p183)
Amazon & Zappos
Amazon focuses on low prices, vast selection and convenience to make their customres, while Zappos does it through developing relationships, creating personal emotional connections, and delivering high touch ("WOW") customer service. (p218)
No matter what your past has been, you have a spotless future. - Author unknows. (p227)
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit - H. S. Truman (p244)
Interesting Further reads:
All are from the Harvard Business Review Blogs
Zappos 10 core values http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/05/how_zappos_infuses_culture_using_core_values.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+harvardbusiness+(HBR.org)
How to treat vendors? Follow the golden rules: http://bit.ly/dC1ZeY
Do more with less, The India Way of Business http://blogs.hbr.org/imagining-the-future-of-leadership/2010/05/the-india-way-of-leading-busin.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+harvardbusiness+(HBR.org)
More for Less http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/02/more_for_less_for_more_how_to.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+harvardbusiness+(HBR.org)
Jugaad, the new corporate forumla for Corporate America http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/01/jugaad_a_new_growth_formula_fo.html
Price comparison from Indian sites
Presentation from a Zappos exec:
EEC09 - Brian Kalma, Director de User Experience de zappos.com. Ponencia: Extending the customer Experience
