Delivering Happiness is a book written by CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh (2013). Zappos, when it started in 1999, did the opposite of attract investors. To keep it afloat, its creators used millions of their own dollars so they could keep the site up and running (Greenfield, 2015). Hsieh went as far as to let employees live in his personal lofts rent-free so they could keep the company afloat (Denning, 2014). Delivering Happiness tells the story of how Zappos was transformed from a small, struggling start-up into the thriving business it is today by cultivating happiness as a business by living a life of passion and purpose (Blinkist, 2017). The strategies employed by Hsieh are outlined in a Business Insider article and relate well to the lesson on transformational leadership. One of the most encompassing approaches to leadership, transformational leadership is concerned with the process of how certain leaders, like Tony Hsieh, are able to inspire followers to do great things.
First, the book talks about the importance of discovering what you as a leader are passionate about. According to Hsieh, realizing your passion is important because it makes all of the decisions that follow easy (Blinkist, 2017). By having an ultimate goal, it makes it that much easier to know what decisions to make when they arise. A transformational leader is on the front line advocating for change for others (Northouse, 2016, pp. 176-177). In order to create change, however, a leader should have a passion that they can use to direct their decision making. Transformational leaders also create a vision (PSU WC, L.10, 2016), and being passionate is an important factor in being able to create an effective vision for the company that they can use to be agents of change.
Second, Hsieh mentions that it is important for leaders to take things slow and be aware of hypergrowth (Blinkist, 2017). Trying to grow a company too fast can end up with things slipping through the cracks and a degradation of the company’s culture. A transformational leader takes time to engage with employees help foster a culture that is empowered and inclusive. After all, this theory can be used to describe leadership like Hsieh’s in which entire company cultures are influenced (Northouse, 2016, pp. 162). Going along with this is point #3, that the success of a company is closely tied to the culture, therefore, leaders should create one they believe in (Blinkist, 2017). Connectedness and feeling like part of the tribe is important according to Hsieh and according to the transformational approach. By creating that culture of closeness, leaders are employing the transformational theory skill of making clear the values and norms of the organization, involving themselves in the process of shaping the organizational culture (PSU WC, L.10, 2016).
Fourth, the book Delivering Happiness emphasizes that leaders should always strive to be learning. According to Hsieh, continual growth should be a goal for any company. Employees should feel like their work is part of a greater purpose, and that learning and growth are not only allowed, but appreciated (Blinkist, 2017). This fits into the transformational leadership approach of motivating followers to go above and beyond what is expected of them. Creating a culture that incentivizes learning and development can be seen as an attempt to raise the consciousness in individuals, getting them to transcend their own self-interest by training them to do even more (Northouse, 2016, pp. 175). To create long-lasting change, a key goal of the transformational style, leaders must foster a culture of continual development.
The fifth strategy, focus on building engagement and trust by treating people well instead of on building buzz around your brand, emphasizes the importance of pleasant customer engagements. This is reflected the leadership theory as transformational leaders are effective build trust and foster collaboration with others.
The last strategy Hsieh mentions is to have a vision of a higher purpose so that your ultimate outcome will be happiness (Blinkist, 2017). This refers to the idea that a company should have a higher purpose beyond the product it is selling and beyond making profit. This vision, as described in the book, is the focal point for a transformational leader and should emerge from the collective interests of various individuals within the organization (Northouse, 2016, pp. 176). Effective leaders use this vision to guide people’s behavior into the direction they see for the company. When a business has a clear vision, it is easier for people to learn how they fit in with the overall direction of the organization , empowering them and making them feel useful Northouse, 2016, pp. 173).
In conclusion, the book Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh outlines important strategies comparable to those of a transformational that he used to launch Zappos to success.
References:
Blinkist. (2017, May 30). 7 lessons from a multimillionaire CEO’s book any businessperson should read – Business Insider. Business Insider; Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/summary-of-delivering-happiness-by-zappos-ceo-tony-hsieh-2017-5
Denning, S. (2014, January 15). Making Sense Of Zappos And Holacracy. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2014/01/15/making-sense-of-zappos-and-holacracy/#6d4143332077
Greenfield, R. (2015, March 30). Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh: Adopt Holacracy Or Leave. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/3044417/zappos-ceo-tony-hsieh-adopt-holacracy-or-leave
Hsieh, T. (2013). Delivering happiness : a path to profits, passion, and purpose. Business Plus.
P.G Northouse. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles Sage.
Christopher Pristan Melchor says
One of the strengths of transformational leadership is that leaders provide the vision of the future to their followers (Northouse, 2016, p. 176). I believe this is what Hsieh was able to do at an early stage of his development with Zappos and he did this, as you stated, by finding his passion. There are many motivators who talk about finding your passion, my favorite are Eric Thomas and Simon Sinek. They both talk about being able to find your why and how this drives an external motivation for your passion. Leaders who have can tap into this have an advantage of charisma. Weber described charisma as having super human powers (Weber, 1947, as cited by Northouse, 2016). Charisma from leadership produces many effects on followers: Trust in leader’s ideology,
belief similarity between leader and follower, unquestioning acceptance, affection toward leader, obedience, identification with leader, emotional involvement, heightened goals, increased confidence (Northouse, 2016, p. 164). I think one of the most important effects that charisma provides is that it communicates high expectations among the followers. I have personally experienced this with a supervisor that I use to work with. He was very confident and knowledgable in his job to which he displayed and acted with so much charisma. I felt as though I was forced to be more motivated in my aspirations when I worked with him, I felt like I just needed to be better. Northouse states that this feeling improves followers self-efficacy which in turn improves performance (2016, p. 163). I believe that transformation leadership is among the most powerful leadership applications because of the effects that charisma can produce between a leader on his/her followers.
dir5254 says
Tony Hsieh seems like an interesting man to work for. It seems that he struggled a bit in his early career while he was on his own personal journey to find the type of leader he wanted to be. “I had decided to stop chasing the money, and start chasing the passion” (Success Story, n.d.). Tony’s main focus was to hit $1 billion rather than on spending time on developing his employees. But, in the first couple years after starting a company, the majority of stress comes from being successful. Until a company is established and consistently earning profits, the focus of the leaders tends to stay on money. When they get over the ‘hump’ and can relax a bit, more efforts can go towards developing a strong community of employees to build an even more successful foundation. “Transformational leaders are passionate, driven individuals who are able to paint a compelling vision of the future” (PSU WC, 2020). Tony was able to curtail his priorities by placing his team first. He took a step back, saw the big picture of where he wanted his company to be, and took the time to mold his team leaders. This was the turning point in his career and what helped him earn the 23rd spot of Fortune’s ‘Top 100 Companies to Work For’ (Success Story, n.d.). If a leader’s priority is set on earning money, their focus turns away from taking care of their team. The work environment changes and in not inviting for future employees. When there is a healthy sense of care in a work center, the team is motivated to stand behind the leader, just like the Zappos team was eager to stand behind Tony.
Encouraging others towards self-improvement is another great characteristic that Tony Hsieh brought to his team. This type of environment encourages the follows as they develop and learn their own methods of leading (Northouse, 2016). This creates an open relationship with the ability to be flexible. The team is able to test the waters and begin to understand themselves as leaders. This type of learning environment is contagious and doesn’t only better one individual, but rather the entire team. In my work center, we use self-improvement as almost a competition between us. There are better things to compete over, but this has been making us better for a while now, and I am closer to my bachelor’s degree because of it. We use self-improvement to put on awards packages and then goes on our annual evaluations at the end of each year. Continuously improving yourselves eventually helps you stand out and earns you promotion points down the road. Creating this type of environment improves the leadership quality across the entire team and improves the working environment as leaders begin to understand the relationships that are needed to be successful.
References
Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2020). PSYCH 485 Lesson 10: Transformational Leadership. Retrieved 29 June 2020, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2015147/modules/items/29089242
Success Story. (n.d.). Tony Hsieh: The Entrepreneur Who Delivers Happiness. Retrieved on 28 June 2020, from https://successstory.com/people/tony-hsieh
cjb127 says
Thanks for this post Yasmin. I found it very thought-provoking, and it’s about a company that I have quite a bit of experience with, since that’s one of the few places my wife will purchase shoes. So Zappos boxes show up at our house on a regular basis!
I think you did a great job of tying Tony Hsieh’s style to the Transformational leadership approach. But as I read through your post, I also wondered if you couldn’t similarly find strong alignment with the Servant leadership approach.
As an example, you mention that he shows the importance of avoiding hypergrowth. One of the Servant Leadership characteristics is foresight, or looking into the future to make educated judgments about where things will be, then planning accordingly, (Northouse, p. 228). A good servant leader would be cautious about overly fast growth as well.
Your third point shows that a company’s success is closely tied to the culture, and servant leaders are known for building community, (Northouse, p. 229). This is all about culture creation and nurturing.
Your fourth point focuses on a strive to be continually learning. This value is similarly weaved throughout those of Servant leadership. Servant leaders will listen. They are committed to the growth of people (themselves ostensibly included), and they see themselves as stewards of an organization, (Northouse, p. 228) which should include a healthy motive to challenge oneself to learn as much as possible in order to make the best decisions possible.
Your fifth point describes the importance of interpersonal skills and collaborative work. Good servant leaders will exhibit empathy, or standing in the shoes of another person, (Northouse, p. 227). It sounds like Hsieh was a bit of a master at that, especially when dealing with customers.
And your final point of envisioning a higher purpose goes right to the servant leadership characteristic known as conceptualization, (Northouse, p. 228). A good servant leader can see the big picture and create a grand vision behind which his organization can rally.
None of this is to criticize your choice of transformational leadership as the model of use here, as I think you did quite a nice job of demonstrating how it fits. But it’s interesting to me that we can often pick the model we are most comfortable with, then figure out how to apply it.
Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.