Zappos.com Delivered Happiness

Zappos.com was founded in 1999 and after encountering troubling times during their inception, later grew to be the largest online shoe store. Based in Henderson, Nevada, Zappos.com has mastered something that many companies find difficult to understand – how to make a company thrive not only from a customer perspective but also with its employees. In July 2009, Zappos.com announced its acquisition by Amazon.com in an all stock deal.

So, I was excited to read Tony Hsieh’s new book, CEO of Zappos.com, Delivering Happiness. With their vast amount of success and rapid growth, I was eager to learn what was at the root of their wild success. Delivering Happiness made #1 on The New York Times Bestseller List, and through the book Zappos.com explains why they have such a unique Company:

• Pay new employees $2,000 to quit.
• Make customer service the responsibility of the entire company, not just a department.
• Focus on company culture as the #1 priority.
• Apply research from the science of happiness to running a business.
• Help employees grow both personally and professionally.
• Seek to change the world.
• Oh, and make money too.

I found the book to be an inspirational read. Zappos.com’s success is an excellent case study. A small group of determined people were able to grow the Company to its size today because of their passion for the Company and its success. Zappos.com not only focuses on making customers happy as a priority, but also the company culture of its employees with their Core Values.

Have you read the book? If so, what did you think of it? Were you able to extract any of Zappos.com’s business findings/knowledge to apply to your business?