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Happy at Any Cost
Happy at Any Cost: The Revolutionary Vision and Fatal Quest of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh | Kirsten Grind, Katherine Sayre
3 posts | 2 read | 4 to read
From award-winning Wall Street Journal reporters, a startling portrait of one of our greatest tech visionaries, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh (Robert Kolker, author of Hidden Valley Road), reporting on his short life and untimely death and what they mean for our cultures pursuit of happiness. Tony HsiehCEO of Zappos, Las Vegas developer, and all-around beloved entrepreneurwas famous for spreading happiness. He lived and breathed this philosophy, instilling an ethos of joy at his company and outlining his vision for a better workplace in his New York Times bestseller Delivering Happiness. He promoted a workplace where bosses treated employees like family members, where stress was replaced by playfulness, and where hierarchies were replaced with equality and collaboration. His outlook shaped Silicon Valley and the larger business world. Hsieh used his position at work to integrate levity into a normally competitive environment. He aspired to build his own utopian cities, pouring millions of dollars into real estate and small businesses, first in downtown Las Vegas, Nevadawhere Zappos was headquarteredand then in Park City, Utah. He gave generously to his employees and close friends, including throwing infamous Zappos parties and organizing gatherings at his home, an Airstream trailer park. When Hsieh died suddenly in November of 2020, the news shook the business and tech world. Wall Street Journal reporters Kirsten Grind and Katherine Sayre quickly realized the importance of the story because of Hsiehs stature in the industry, but as they dug into the details of his final months, they realized there was a bigger story to tell. They found that Hsiehs obsession with happiness masked his darker struggles with addiction, mental health, and loneliness. In the last year of his life, he spiraled out of control, cycling out of rehab and into the waiting arms of friends who enabled his worst behavior, even as he bankrolled them from his billion-dollar fortune. Happy at Any Cost sheds light on one of the most venerated, yet vulnerable, business leaders of our time. It's about our cultures intense need to find happiness at all costs, our misguided worship of entrepreneurs, the stigmas still surrounding mental health, and how the trappings of fame can mask all types of deeper problems. In turn, it reveals how we conceptualize successand define happinessin our modern age.
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review
Cinfhen
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Mehso-so

While I have much respect and admiration for Tony Hsieh the founder of shoe giant Zappos and was deeply saddened to learn about his untimely death,I found this book disappointing. It lacked depth and read very flat ( that could be due to the reader, very monotone). Somewhat ironic for a man who valued happiness above all else Tony seemed to always be chasing it, looking for more. It‘s true…Money can‘t buy happiness.

Cinfhen We‘re out of step @Megabooks 😘😘 2y
Megabooks @Cinfhen totally!! I won‘t recommend books for awhile. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I‘m glad you enjoyed this one though. 2y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Beautiful flowers 💐 2y
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Cinfhen Hahaha 🤣 it‘s weird, we‘re usually in perfect reading harmony @Megabooks but I‘ll still ALWAYS seek your reviews & recommendations xxxx 2y
Cinfhen Thanks so much @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Happy Belated Mother‘s Day 💕💕 2y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Cinfhen you too 💗💗 2y
72 likes6 comments
blurb
Cinfhen
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Starting this NF audio recommended by @Megabooks
The mysterious death of CEO and founder of Zappos
#Scribd
Going for my first #Bingo @TheAromaofBooks
My three bails last week are pretty darn helpful 😂😂

TheAromaofBooks Sometimes those bails are just so freeing!!! 😁 2y
Megabooks I hope you‘re enjoying it! 2y
62 likes3 comments
review
Megabooks
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Pickpick

This book was sad. I know that‘s not going to sell anyone on it, but for a man who sought to bring happiness to all, he had a tragic end.

Tony Hsieh was the CEO of Zappos, an online shoe retailer. He had wonderfully crazy ideas about workplace joy and put them into action long before other companies. He helped bring business to downtown Las Vegas. But during the pandemic he became unstable and psychotic. His entourage encouraged his drug use. ⬇️

Megabooks ⬆️ The sycophants that surrounded him during his last days blocked attempts for help and he died in November 2020. This is a look at his legacy and demise by two WSJ reporters. #ImAnAngel #nonfiction22 @Riveted_Reader_Melissa 2y
ChaoticMissAdventures I have a friend who has been working at Zappos for years and years and they are all deviated,. He apparently was incredible and it was all just so damn sad. I hope this book allows others to understand 💔 2y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa Stacking! I don‘t know why, but this does seem to be a sad pattern… a little bit of fame and wealth and both the yes men and the controllers come out of the woodwork to cash in, and start by separating you from your family & friends and people who genuinely care for you, just like any other abuser. I remember thinking that after watching both Freddie Mercury‘s and Elton John‘s biopic movies. 2y
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Suet624 How sad. I didn‘t know any of this. 2y
Bookzombie I wasn‘t aware of this. It does sound incredibly sad. 2y
Megabooks @ChaoticMissAdventures there was a large Zappos warehouse near Louisville KY that locals loved. Such great working conditions compared to other places. Plus people like me loved the returned shoes store! Just incredibly sad. 2y
Megabooks @Riveted_Reader_Melissa so true! And he was an incredibly generous person, but his long term circle didn‘t take advantage. But as he became unstable and his substance use issues got worse, new people slide in who just took advantage. It also reminded of Robin Williams. Tony wasn‘t a suicide, but it was the same making others happy when he‘s hiding some deeper pain and using alcohol and drugs to block it. 2y
Megabooks @Suet624 @Bookzombie I had heard of him when he released a book in 2010, but I didn‘t keep up after. Just very sad. 2y
Cinfhen #stacked and actively l👀king - I remember hearing about this young CEO and his unusual business methods but didn‘t know anything about his death. 2y
Megabooks @Cinfhen yeah, same. I hope you‘re able to find it. 2y
Cinfhen It‘s on #Scribd 💜😘😘 2y
Megabooks @Cinfhen awesome! 2y
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