“賣鞋的亞馬遜”
近來美國書店排行榜商業書籍top 1是一本叫做Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose--《奉上幸福》。這本書作者是36歲的華裔青年創業家謝家華（Tony Hsieh），書中闡釋他為企業創造熱情和利潤的要訣。
謝家華，這個名字對於大多數華人還很陌生，在美國卻已是家喻戶曉。這位36歲的美籍華人一手創辦的網路鞋店Zappos.com，已成了很多美國人日常生活中必不可少的網站之一。去年10月，謝家華以10億美元的資產登上《財富》雜誌“40歲以下億萬富豪榜”，排名第27位。
從哈佛的“天才少年”到如今的網路售鞋大亨，謝家華憑藉自己的天資與獨到的判斷力，創造了一個網路傳奇。
謝家華出生於伊利諾州，父母早年從台灣移民美國。他在舊金山長大，就讀哈佛大學主修電腦，19歲就拿到了學位。21歲他以2萬美元作為資本，在小公寓裡創業。他的公司Link Exchange主要是“為沈默者發聲”，這是當年一度流行的廣告交換。這家公司後來以2.65億美元賣給微軟，謝家華挖到了第一桶金。
有了錢，謝家華投資了比自己更年輕的創業者尼克•斯威姆的網路鞋店Shoe Site，覺得“Shoe Site”這個名字太白，更名為Zappos。在謝家華的帶領下，“Zappos”開始“家喻戶曉”。每38個美國人當中，就有一個人買過Zappos的鞋或相關商品，Zappos的目標是滲透到10%。
獨特用人理念：“鼓勵”辭職
Zappos的成功，也歸功於謝家華尋找合適員工上採用的一套獨特做法。Zappos的核心能力是電話客服。Zappos的call center招入新員工後，會提供4個星期培訓。培訓的第一個星期，Zappos稱其為“出價”時間，這一周的最後一天，公司會告知新員工：“如果你今天辭職，我們會按你的工作時間付你薪水，另外還提供1000美元獎金。”這一看似瘋狂的舉動，卻能真正吸引認同公司價值、熱愛客服工作的員工投入。
謝家華說，熱情和奉獻才是Zappos賴以留住顧客的核心價值，因此，“更看重態度而不是經驗”是Zappos選人的基本原則。
Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose：
l Pay new employees $2000 to quit.
l Make customer service the responsibility of the entire company, not just a department.
l Focus on company culture as the #1 priority.
l Apply research from the science of happiness to running a business.
l Help employees grow both personally and professionally.
l Seek to change the world.
l Oh, and make money too.
Sound crazy? It’s all standard operating procedure at Zappos, the online retailer that’s doing over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually. After debuting as the highest-ranking newcomer in Fortune magazine’s annual “Best Companies to Work For” list in 2009, Zappos was acquired by Amazon in a deal valued at over $1.2 billion on the day of closing.
In his first book, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh shares the different lessons he has learned in business and life, from starting a worm farm to running a pizza business; through LinkExchange (acquired by Microsoft for $265 million), Zappos, and more.
Tony shows how a very different kind of corporate culture is a powerful model for achieving success — and how by concentrating on the happiness of those around you, you can dramatically increase your own.
亞馬遜書店採訪Delivering Happiness 作者謝家華節選：
1. In the book you say, "I've been an entrepreneur for most of my life." Do you think people are born entrepreneurs or do they become them?
I think usually by the time you're 12 years old, you either have the entrepreneurial spirit or you don't. I would describe the entrepreneurial spirit as a combination of creativity and optimism.
2. Was the worm farm really the invaluable catalyst for forming your business and life philosophy?
My parents tell me that as a kid I was always trying to come up with different business ideas. The idea of starting a worm farm is my earliest memory of a business idea.
3. What is the ratio between rebelling against conventional wisdom and sticking to the good old truths in building a successful business?
1:10
4. You describe your way to happiness starting with profits, then going through passion and finally getting to purpose. Is that the only path to business happiness?
No, that was just the path that I happened to take. Part of the purpose of the book is to help other entrepreneurs and business owners shortcut the process and encourage them to go straight to combining profits, passion, and purpose.
5. You seem to have taken risks with business ideas a lot while growing up. How do you recognize a risk that you shouldn't take?
I think it just comes down to really breaking down what the worst case scenario actually is. For most of us, we're lucky to live in a time and in a society where we aren't actually ever in danger of dying from starvation or lack of shelter. Most of us have friends whose couches we can crash on in the worst case scenario, so any "risk" we take in starting a company isn't actually that big a risk.
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