delivering happiness - tony hsieh
An odd book. On the one hand, I really Like Tony Hsieh, his chatty, enthusiastic style of writing and his business philosophy of trying to make his customers really happy. On the other, I'm not at all fond of those crazy macho dot-com bubble "look at us working 24/7" stories, particularly when he keeps patting himself and Zappos on the back about what a close-knit family of workers they are and how they are such a good place to work. It all sounds a bit cult-like to me.
Quite an achievement to build a business like Zappos, but I had expected a little more actual insights into how you make customers happy, and the nitty-gritty of improving customer service. We now get a lot of detail about financing and investors and incubators & such stuff, but that was not the part I came for.
Read it if you want an entertaining chat with Tony about his tiger mom-childhood and the good old days of the dot com boom, but if you're looking for ideas on how to help your own customers you'd probably be better off with some Seth Godins.
19-01-2012
