Author: Guest Author

Delivering Happiness: Inside the Mind of Zappos’ Tony Hsieh

I first met Tony Hsieh a little over a year ago…

Jenn Lim, Tony’s friend and “backup brain” was in NYC and had asked to film an interview with me for a project they were working on. About halfway through filming, Tony walked over and sat down next to Jenn, wearing a t-shirt with a zipper hoodie and jeans. He sat quietly and, after the interview, we talked for a little while about what’s important in business, life and traded ideas on the health and fitness industry.

Tony’s an interesting guy. I’d heard him speak a bunch of times before and was always fascinated by his “regular guy” on-stage persona. At first, I wondered if it was just his shtick, but the more I heard him and came to know his approach to business and life, the clearer it became that what I was seeing was largely just Tony being, well, Tony.

Very unassuming, low-key when you first meet him, yet it’s pretty clear that he’s fiercely intelligent, quest-driven and curious. Very curious. Which I, in turn, found curious. Because a lot of guys sitting atop a company soon to be sold to amazon in a deal valued at more than $1 billion dollars lose that sense of genuine curiosity, the notion that every other person at every level can add to your knowledge base and experience of business and life.

I sense a big part of what’s made Tony so successful is this quest for knowledge and openness to the idea that those who might serve as sources of knowledge, insight and experience can and do come from all walks of life, all levels of education and all socio-economic backgrounds.

Pedigree is not a prerequisite to contribution.

And, in his new book, Delivering Happiness, you get a deeper look into how that curiosity and willingness to stand with rather than above those who’d eventually help build his empire formed what he views as the essence of success.

It’s not about the product, systems, logistics, branding or positioning, but rather culture.

Actually, it IS about all these things, but the culture and the mission define how each of these elements is brought to life. Delivering Happiness is chock full of business nuggets, but it’s not a heavily tactical book. It’s not a how-to book, full of checklists and strategies (there are some), but rather a look at the bigger picture core drivers.

You won’t learn to write copy, set up a marketing funnel, design systems or persuade customers to buy. But, you will learn how to focus on the deeper stuff that lays the foundation for doing all those things on a level that drives cult-like loyalty, evangelism and eventually, success on a much larger scale.

And, to me, that’s worth many times the price of the book

By Jonathan Fields, Awake @ the Wheel

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Today Is Yesterday’s Tomorrow

“The problem with waiting until tomorrow is that when it finally arrives, it is called today. Today is yesterday’s tomorrow. The question is what did we do with its opportunity? All too often we will waste tomorrow as we wasted yesterday, and as we are wasting today.

All that could have been accomplished can easily elude us, despite our intentions, until we inevitably discover that the things that might have been have slipped from our embrace a single, unused day at a time.

Each of us must pause frequently to remind ourselves that the clock is ticking. The same clock that began to tick from the moment we drew our first breath will also someday cease.

Time is the great equalizer of all mankind. It has taken away the best and the worst of us without regard for either. Time offers opportunity but demands a sense of urgency.

When the game of life is finally over, there is no second chance to correct our errors. The clock that is ticking away the moments of our lives does not care about winners and losers. It does not care about who succeeds or who fails. It does not care about excuses, fairness or equality. The only essential issue is how we played the game.

Regardless of a person’s current age, there is a sense of urgency that should drive them into action now – this very moment. We should be constantly aware of the value of each and every moment of our lives – moments that seem so insignificant that their loss often goes unnoticed.

We still have all the time we need. We still have lots of chances – lots of opportunities – lots of years to show what we can do. For most of us, there will be a tomorrow, a next week, a next month, and a next year. But unless we develop a sense of urgency, those brief windows of time will be sadly wasted, as were the weeks and months and years before them.

There isn’t an endless supply!

So as you think of your dreams and goals of your future tomorrow, begin today to take those very important first steps to making them all come to life.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn”

 

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How to Apply Perfectionism to Your Career and Life

In business school, if not earlier, we've all learned about Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs, and we've been told that what's called "self-actualization" is the highest, or rather, most pressing human need, on which all other "lower" needs serve as only building blocks. While Maslow's theories have earned their fair share of criticism, I'd like to defer instead to a broader set of ideas in moral philosophy collectively called "perfectionism" and then discuss how these ideas can be successfully implemented in your daily life as well as your career.

I'm sure we've heard our friends, family, or perhaps even ourselves referred to as "perfectionists," with little thought to what that may actually mean. The image of the perfectionist in modern society is often marred with a hint of criticism. We think of perfectionists as compulsive, almost neurotic. This image should perhaps be more rightfully attributed to a person who struggles with some form of obsessive compulsive disorder, and it is not the image to which I am referring when I say "perfectionist." To give you a basic idea of perfectionism as a philosophy, Wikipedia offers the following: "…perfectionism is the persistence of will in obtaining the optimal quality of spiritual, mental, physical, and material being." Sounds tough, huh? Impossible, you say? Well of course, attaining perfection is certainly not possible in one lifetime, but a philosophical perfectionist completely understands this. The key word here is "persistence."

Of course, what counts as perfection will inevitably be based on what an individual values most, but in terms of your career, perfectionism is simply striving to do your very best, every single day, no matter what the size or import of your task at hand is. Surely, the bigger picture does matter, but the successful completion of the optimal life is all in the small things. The devil may be in details, as they say, but so is god, the personal god in each of us that longs to order our lives by standards of excellence.

Although it can be difficult to appreciate the necessity of doing the small things right, I usually defer to my favorite sport, golf. When I focused too much on the outcome of the total score—I'd constantly be adding up figures as I'd step up to the tee box—I'd get hung up on the big picture, and my final score would suffer. However, one day I tried something different. I focused on only each single shot, and told myself that this one shot was the only shot I'd have to take. When I placed greater importance on individual shots—on the small things—I noticed I was doing better on each hole. Still I didn't add up scores. I just marked the number of shots per hole, threw the scorecard back in my bag and moved on. By the time I finished up on the eighteenth hole, I had tallied the totals and—not kidding—it was the best round in my life.

In the final analysis, perfectionism is not an end goal, but a state of mind. If you strive for a systematic approach to perfection, one that keeps in mind the details with a steady, reasonable approach to the big picture, then you will find that unexpected aspects of your life—career and personal—will begin to fall into place as if by magic.

Guest Expert:

Angela Martin writes on job search topics at Job Search Websites. She welcomes your comments at her email angela.martin77@gmail.com.

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10 Confidence Boosting Tips for Interviewers

Job interviews can be intimidating and nerve-racking in a crippling way. But allowing your personality to show through –even if you’re faking it—is the only way to take charge of your interview and have any hope of landing the job. No matter what kinds of qualifications you have, employers want to sit down with an individual who can conduct themselves professionally and charismatically, and if you can’t even hold yourself together to keep up your side of the conversation, you may go unnoticed altogether. Instead, prepare to manage the interview session in a way that puts you in control and limits any awkward moments. Here are 10 confidence-boosting tips to help you do just that.

1. Understand the importance of an in-person interview. An interview is your opportunity to brand yourself in front of your potential boss and really lay down the line for how you’d like to be treated in the office. Don’t come across as cocky, but understand that acting meek and embarrassed during your interview will immediately make your boss feel like he or she can get away with dictating your every move.

2. Smile the very first chance you get. A warm, natural smile exudes confidence and sets the tone for a professional but friendly encounter.

3. Practice your handshake. A good handshake can be exhilarating and empowering, but an awkward fumbling or weak handshake dashes any hope of a dazzling first impression. Practice ahead of time so that it comes naturally.

4. Research the company. Be ready to talk about the company and position you’re applying for by doing a little web research ahead of time.

5. Come with questions. If you have a list of questions to ask, you’ll be ready in case of an awkward silence.

6. Realize that they probably already like you. The very fact that you’re even sitting in the interview seat means that someone liked your resume and believed you’d make a good candidate for the job.

7. Dress professionally. Wear something that makes you look professional and neat but is still comfortable. Something that’s too tight or too bulky will make you feel uneasy. A good tip is to wear something you’ve already worn few times, so you won’t be caught off guard by any wardrobe malfunctions.

8. Sit up straight. You want to appear alert and confident, so sit upright in your chair with your hands folded. Leaning back to far will make you appear arrogant, while hunching over will make you seem nervous and self-conscious.

9. Value the opportunity for what it is. The more you value the interview as its own learning experience and opportunity to practice your interviewing your skills, the more natural and confident you’ll feel asking questions and talking with the interviewer.

10. Review your resume. You may take it for granted that you know everything on your resume since it’s your experience, but understand that all the questions your interviewer will have for you are going to come directly from that resume. Take a few minutes to look over the skills and experience you’ll be expected to discuss.

Guest Expert:

Rose Jensen writes about the best online universities. She welcomes your feedback at Rose.Jensen28@yahoo.com.

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