I read this book a few months back and was so enthralled that I sat down right then to write my impressions. I am glad to be able to post it at least now.
Tony Hsieh is an Evangelist. Not the kind that your are familiar with though. He is an Evangelist who wants you to find happiness in life. He is well qualified to do the job because he is proving it through his own life. Granted, I first heard about Tony Hsieh's book as a rebuttal to Tiger Mom's book. I haven't read Chua's book but had read a lot about what people had to say on it. One of the articles suggested to read this book to get an opposing view.
Once you get hold of this book, the first few pages are enough to tell you that you cannot really claim Tony to a specific category. His message is universal and his life seems dedicated to make this happen. Although I finished the book I have placed an order for it in Amazon as a keeper and for my husband and kids to read and for me to keep reading as a reference. Some of the things he is doing in his company may not be applicable to you and that is not what he wants. In the end he just wants you to be happy. What appeals to me is that I wholeheartedly agree with his premise that 'if you always do the right thing, then everything else will fall into place". I say this to my kids and try to do follow as much as I can. At work I had seen that things improved 100% and made me a much happier person when I just focussed on doing the right thing without worrying about who does what or who gets what. This strategy makes good soul out of everyone at work where you do spend a majority of the hours in any given day. This in turn makes workplace less stressful and life easier to live. Being humans we have our faults, but once we know them and do our best, nothing can really bring us down in spirit. So while Tony may never know this I am excited to find someone who is in a position to practice what he preaches and does it.
Tiger Mom's part in this is that apparently Tony was raised by his Chinese parents in a more relaxed manner and yet he went on to become an achiever. This was point the rebuttal wanted to make. Rebuttal or not I was glad to have come into Tony Hsieh's amazing story. After graduating from Harvard, Tony founded Link Exchange with a friend which he later sold to Microsoft. He had enough experience running his own small food business while in Harvard. Before that he did a profitable penny souvenir type of business from home! Come to think of it, the man was destined to succeed I guess. After selling Link Exchange he did his time as a venture capitalist and ended up as the CEO of zappos which eventually was bought by Amazon. Since Amazon agreed to keep the Zappos spirit as is, Tony is still the life and soul of this well run company geared towards the perennial formula of success that many still somehow forget. Customer satisfaction is the missing word here. The book is a joy to read and Tony Hsieh's enthusiasm and love for people can be quite catching.
No comments:
Post a Comment