Narrated by: Joseph A. Michelli , Tom Parks

Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins

Zappos, a shoe store that many outside the US has never heard of; a company that apparently revolutionised the way it conducts business and looks after its workers; and in the company’s founder’s words are ‘in the business of creating happiness’.

The reason why I listened to this book was because one of the founders of Revzilla.com, Anthony Bucci, read it and said it was crucial for shaping how he setup, structured, and created his workplace atmosphere in his company.

For those that don’t know, Revzilla.com is an online motorbike apparel retailer famous for their very helpful videos.

I’m interested in setting up my own business recently, and so I’m trying to read more books that can give me insight to how to do this more efficiently, things to think about etc.

I’ve got to say, the book was pretty good, it was well written and the guy that did the narration was very excitable so it made it a pleasure to listen to.

But I have to say, it really did feel like it was a book commissioned by Zappos rather than one made out of complete free-will.

Why?

Because at every stage you’re reminded of the CEO of the company, Tony Hsieh

, the name is dropped several times a minute, and they have one particular phrase… “try this on for size”

Which is meant to indicate that you should now take the Zappos experience and try to apply it to yourself or your own company and see if it can work for you, ie. Find the ‘size’ or method based on the Zappos experience that best suits your business.

Of course the reference to ‘try on’ & ‘size’  makes sure that you never forget that its talking about a shoe company.

The book also constantly refers to the employees of Zappos.com as Zapponians, which means every time they should mention ‘the employees’ the also manage to drop the name of the company.

I realise this sounds bad, but in reality it’s also another great example of fantastic marketing.  Writing a book of ‘best practices’ done by one of the companies that was voted no. 6 best companies to work for in America, and drop their name all over the place, so that those of us that hadn’t heard about the company… now do.   Pretty genius.

The lessons learnt however, and the things it gets you to think about are pretty decent as well.

‘Generate happiness, generate wow’  seems to be the company motto.
And throughout the book the author goes into many examples of how this is done, essentially just by being nice to people, starting with their own employees, creating a written Company Culture book that everyone holds high, and ensuring that from there the niceness is passed on.

Citing why things were done the way they were, is of course very important.
-For example, providing free meals at work means that all employees can socialise with whoever they want, and can have business lunches, but also care about the others family so that once back on the job they can work together in the best way, by possibly knowing what’s holding another back, driving them forward…this kind of thing.

-By enacting nap times & nap spaces, which have been scientifically proven to increase productivity later in the afternoon.  Stating that it shouldn’t just be because of ‘tradition’ that companies don’t adopt certain beneficial policies, they should rather see the evidence and then implement the ones that makes sense to them.

Chinese companies often have a nap time after lunch, and I think it’s a great idea.  Nice to see an American company doing it too.

Honestly though, most of the book has a common theme…. And that is generally don’t be a dick.  Don’t be a dick actively whilst also actively trying to be nice and pass niceness onto others.  Because it’s the niceness that generates happiness, and the happiness means more manageable partners, employees and customers who are happy to do business with you, and will in fact rather do business with you than other companies even with a cheaper price because they treated with the respect that they desire, and thus greatly appreciate this level of customer service.

Corporate America has become one of cut-throat operations, where HR is usually they highest expenditure and so employees are given more work, more hours, and more stress, whilst competition is much meaning that sales tactics are direct and time-efficiency is everything.  It essentially means that customer service has fallen away, and respect for all those that are being dealt with is forgotten for the excuse of ‘time-efficiency’ (time is money) and cost efficiency…thus higher profits.  But of course many  of these mentalities are based upon traditions, rather than evidence…and thus the ‘Zappos’ way…as the book calls out…which again shouldn’t really be the Zappos way, but the normal way, brings back respect and dignity to the whole process.

Zappos of course goes above and beyond, the whole ‘don’t be a dick, be actively nice’ philosophy, but it also has some interesting things to think about, despite the obvious common sense to all those who are not corporate American immoral businessmen.

I would recommend this book, but keep in mind that it also works as a promotional book, and marketing tactic.

To listen to a sample click here.    Or to get the book for free, by signing up and getting 2 free audio books (after which you can quit straight afterwards), click the banner or link below:
There’s meant to be an advert below which is a link for you to get 2 free audio books….if you can’t see it, ‘allow ads’ or ‘disable adblocker’ from your adblocker software on this website.

Happy listening!

If not… then click this link:
Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks