Day 196

 Delivering Happiness  is a book by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. The book is divided into three sections: Profits; Profits and Passion; and Profits, Passion, and Purpose. It is written in narrative form and includes short 1-2 page entries from Hsieh's friends and employees.

The book primarily is on the entrepreneurial journey of the author and the successes and setbacks he and his team faced in the journey in Zappos.com - an online shoe and clothing retailer based in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The book provides sufficient lesson for persons who are on similar path. 

The story by the CEO of the company tells, among others, the focus on customer centricity followed by the company and steps followed- some of them will be of universal application viz

1) Make customer service a priority for the whole company, not just for a department. A customer service attitude needs to come from the top.

2) Make WOW a verb that is part of your company’s everyday vocabulary.

3) Empower and trust your customer service reps. Trust that they want to provide great service…because they actually do.

4) View each call as an investment in building a customer service brand, not as an expense you’re seeking to minimize.

5) Have the entire company celebrate great service. Tell stories of WOW experiences to everyone in the company.

6) Give great service to every one: customers, employees and vendors…. The list goes on. (P169)

All these convey a culture of ensuring customer delight, hence the title—Delivering Happiness to customers. When an online parcel is received, it is not an item that is in question, it is the happiness the receiver gets. So the title of the book is very apt and all those in service industry can benefit from the rich contents in the book.

However the highlight of the book is chapter 7 on End game- Delivering Happiness. The author in his own style tries to arrive at the basic goal of individual’s viz. achieving happiness. 

 The book very aptly ends with a quote of Ralph Waldo Emerson- 

• What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

Highly recommended for reading.

वन्दे मातरम्

ॐ शान्ति: 

9 AM