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Tony Hsieh, former Zappos CEO dies at 46

biophase

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This is so sad. You never know how much time you have. I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago. His book Delivering Happiness is a must read for entreprenuers.

 
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D

Deleted78083

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I was gonna start his book "delivering happiness" or something like that.

Jesus, life is now, not tomorrow.
 
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Kal-El1998

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Such a shame, I wish his family well. Let his life be an inspiration to us all and serve as an example as to what we can accomplish.
 

WestCoast

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Wow, always sad to lose someone who made such a large contribution to the business world.
The level of customer service, the passion he had to take care of customers... that lesson will live on forever.

If most of us can leave a legacy .1% as powerful as Tony has, we should consider life a win.

Excellent work Tony, thank you.
 
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Wisith

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I found out on Saturday morning and it absolutely ruined my day. He was a favorite of mine. The book is absolutely wonderful and his company was one of the pioneers on putting customer service first. I remember going to a talk he held while he was in town. He and a buyer for Sketchers were going out for a drink at night and the buyer asked him "can your customer service team help me find a pizza place that's still open?". Tony told the buyer to call and see what happens. They helped the buyer find some places nearby, LOL.

I toured their campus while in Vegas and all the employees had great things to say about him.
 

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This is so sad. You never know how much time you have. I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago. His book Delivering Happiness is a must read for entreprenuers.

Was shocked to hear the news.
I had sometimes wondered about Tony and other great entrepreneurs:
"What would be their life's ultimate masterpiece? The prime jewel of their works?
When will they produce it? "

And suddenly...time was up.

Which reminded me sorely that we cannot wait until we are old enough or strong enough to create any masterpieces. Time waits not. We must create the best masterpiece that we can in the present, with what we have.

Basically, to do our best in big and small things every day.
 

MTF

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fastattack03

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We really don't know how much time we have left. Makes you appreciate every second we have right now.

Also made me realize what I really wanted to do in my life and business.

RIP Tony. Your book is a big inspiration to many.
 

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What a tragic, downward spiral story.

So much to learn from a brilliant person in life and in death, very tragic spiral, that by the sounds the people close to him could see and weren’t able to assist in changing.
 

MJ DeMarco

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What a tragic, downward spiral story.

Wow, I can't imagine the mental battles he was facing to the point he couldn't be alone and had to pay people to be around him. Unable to face yourself alone with a constant need for distraction is a coping mechanism to deal with your internal demons. So sad...
 
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ZCP

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everyone has demons. check up on each other!!

if you haven't heard from a fastlaner in a while, tag them and chase them down and check on them!
 

Thinh

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Did you hear the news? Zappos' founder and CEO Tony Hsieh died in house fire recently.

I won't go and talk about the details, since the article I just linked is thorough on the subject.
Somehow, while having my breakfast, it just clicked with something I'm experiencing these days and with what @MJ DeMarco says in his books about pursuing one's passion.

First, in case somebody was still wondering, you can be worth high 9 figures and still struggle finding happiness, just like any average Joe.
Hell, the guy wrote a best-seller called Delivering Happiness: A Path To Profits, Passion and Purpose. That should warn us about alluring book titles, even when the author seems to have all the reasons to be right. Seems like the world, and human psyche, are too complex to draw conclusions in a haste.

Also, a remark by one of his close friends, quoted in the article:
“He was never interested in shoes,”
If we take the message too literally, we might nod, because this seems in accordance with what the founder of this forum stated clearly, i.e. following your passion is a bad strategy.

I would just like to add a subtle distinction though, as a warning for anyone who might take this message too literally, as I did: hoping to run a successful business only out of passion is foolish, but it's doesn't mean you should do something boring. (I know, that's what's MJ really meant, but it doesn't hurt to repeat it)

Despite the tragic ending, there's another insight to gain from Tony Hsieh's story.
Many people close to him reported that he thrived as an entrepreneur because he was passionate and excited about the business, despite not being interested in shoes.
Picking other people's trash can be a great business as long as you find something exciting in the process (like, um, making lots of cash for instance).

So, to sum up:
  • Beware of taking any book's word as the be-all and end-all of a subject (Tony Hsieh on happiness for instance).
  • "Follow your passion" is a bad advice taken in isolation, but don't do boring stuff either. I prefer the advice "Do things others want, with enthusiasm."
 

csalvato

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First, in case somebody was still wondering, you can be worth high 9 figures and still struggle finding happiness, just like any average Joe.
Good lesson for a lot of people who think that the pursuit of wealth is the same as the pursuit of happiness. Those two things are two totally different pursuits.

Just having 700M where you pay people to be your friends isn't anything close to happiness.
 
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Fox

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Go easy on your bodies folks.

This guy had everything to live for but with that much heavy substance abuse it was never going to end well. He sounds like a good guy who had the best of intentions who just went that bit too far with the partying. Maybe he had some inner demons or maybe not but past a certain point the drugs will make their impact either way.

I went a bit hard on the partying myself in Uni and the years after and sometimes it can just turn on you. The good nights turn into dark days and you start thinking all sorts of nonsense. Our minds can only take so much abuse and once things turn they can turn fast.

On another note these lock downs are going to cause a lot of tragic stories like this. People need freedom and creativity and positive momentum. You keep good people locked up for months/years and it’s not hard for things to go south.

If anyone is feeling down/off right now I’d say cut back on the biz and make sure you are solid first. Watch the basics - sleep, rest, diet, fitness etc. Even with how dumb things are right now just doing a bit everyday will help a lot. Things will get back to normal soon and the dark times will pass. There is always another day to make more money but there is only one of you.

It sucks to see great guys like this go out for zero reason. He did so much for others but for whatever reason didn’t get the help he needed himself.
 

MTF

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If anyone is feeling down/off right now I’d say cut back on the biz and make sure you are solid first. Watch the basics - sleep, rest, diet, fitness etc. Even with how dumb things are right now just doing a bit everyday will help a lot. Things will get back to normal soon and the dark times will pass. There is always another day to make more money but there is only one of you.

100%. Sometimes the hardest work is taking care of yourself, not the business.
 

harlansjobs

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everyone has demons. check up on each other!!

if you haven't heard from a fastlaner in a while, tag them and chase them down and check on them!
If you have not heard from people you know personally, check up on them.
 
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Solomon Kim

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Just like @Fox said, you need to check up on yourself. Money is fleeting. Experiences are fleeting. Life is fleeting. Always maintain self awareness to ensure that your trajectory in life is what you really want.

We're all scared and tired so don't hesitate to reach out to people to chat. There will always be someone that will relate with you. At the same time, don't get yourself trapped into an echo chamber of negativity/no action. Don't get stuck in trauma. Once you vent out everything, get small wins and rebuild positive momentum. Let's leverage this pandemic to become more self reflective. To gain more mental clarity and to operate business coming from a place of love, positivity, and inspiration to share.

RIP Tony Hshieh
 
D

Deleted68316

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I noticed for the first time that meeting people is actually beneficial.

We were having a hard time at home for no clear reason.

How everything went away? A light party with friends. A couple of glasses of wine. Some board game :) .

I felt like I was high on something because there were people around me and we were communicating.

I am sure that I had a release of dopamine or something similar. At a certain point I thought someone put something in my drink (which of course didn't happen). Never experienced something like that before.

To conclude: Throwing a light party can be a good idea to break a certain pattern.
 
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