The Latest from Enthusiasts
“Tony Hsieh and the Quest for Happiness,” a five-part mini-series, is out now!
While this five-part series is about one extraordinary man who deserves as much name recognition as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, it’s also about the many overlapping contexts that explain his successes, his tragic downward spiral, and his evergreen comments on how to be happy.
Tony Hsieh spent his life studying and trying to create and spread happiness, implementing elements of rave culture, the Silicon Valley lifestyle, Howard-Hughes-level renovation ideas, and outside-the-box theories. The results: a shoe company where meetings were more like pep rallies, Tony’s llama obsession was apparent, and decor and toys abounded; a Vegas project set on creating the happiest city on Earth in just five years; a “Happiness Tour” that spread fun and games nationwide; and even more pursuits. However, Tony’s ambitious projects also brought chaos, misery, loneliness, and confusion to many - including, unbeknownst to some, himself.
Each episode in this mini-series covers both Tony Hsieh’s life story and seemingly unrelated stories that took place simultaneously. At the end, the different puzzle pieces form a clear picture, one that shows what happiness is, was, and could be.
Part one: Tony Hsieh’s early years, during which he pulled off one clever and amusing marketing gimmick after another and tried everything from selling buttons to running a restaurant; the comeback of a “ghost town;” two bizarre characters’ published ramblings from when they were high on laughing gas; turn-of-the-century, over-the-top bashes that kept outdoing each other; and a new idea for a workplace overhaul.
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Part two: Tony Hsieh’s years at the helm of Zappos, a company that made its mark by taking a “The customer is always right” approach to the extreme; a bus tour featuring happy hours, animal-themed music, and games galore; major meetings with Jeff Bezos; and the answer to this question: What happens when places as zany as Zappos and Vegas collide?
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Part three: All about “The Downtown Project,” which gave downtown Vegas a makeover, gave entrepreneurs dream-come-true funding and opportunities, and created an atmosphere that was a party until it suddenly wasn’t. Plus: the sales of a recluse; a growing but stumbling “Happiness Industry;” and increased attention towards “Holacracy,” a system billing itself as bureaucracy’s antidote.
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Part four: Tony’s loss of interest in the “DTP,” replaced with a feverish urge to replicate the project in Park City, Utah; a serendipitous meeting with the singer Jewel; a new interest in “biohacking;” and eyebrow-raising reactions to increasingly scathing reviews of Tony’s past projects.
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Part five: A 2020 presidential campaign that no one seems to remember; the final months of Tony’s life; Tony’s tragic passing; and the messy fallout from him dying without a will. With Tony gone but not the ideas he was the face of, what has happened to those ideas? How did past friends and family members react to his passing? And did Tony ever find the happiness he spent his life seeking? Did ANYONE in this story?
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Sources and Further Reading
These books about Tony Hsieh’s life and legacy
A write-up about Tony’s creation of an ahead-of-its-time virtual study group while at Harvard!
Some of the many books and perspectives that influenced Tony
About the Delivering Happiness company
Information about the “Fail Fast” approach of many startup founders
The 10 Principles of Burning Man and their influence on Vegas
About the study of “positive psychology”
The Happiness Industry: How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Well-Being by William Davies
Articles about MrBeast that shaped my argument that his story has more in common with Tony’s than it seems
Articles about what it was like to work at Zappos during Tony’s years there (this video sums it up well too!)
About Tony Hsieh’s “Downtown Project”
A summary of Tony’s SXSW interview about the “Downtown Project”
“Jody Sherman, Ecomom, and a Grave Financial Error”
Some of the tragedies that came out of the “Downtown Project”
“Is Tony Hsieh downtown Las Vegas’ savior or conqueror?”
Some context behind the creation of “Holacracy”
A presentation breaking down the basics of “Holacracy”
Confusion as “Holacracy” came to Zappos
Tony’s memo to staff about changing to a full-on “Holacracy” structure
A scathing critique of Tony’s decision to implement “Holacracy”
Zappos’ leadership’s responses to questions about their changing management style
“How Park City Survived the Ghost Town Years”
“The Rise of Adaptive Reuse in Las Vegas”
“Antipublic Urbanism: Las Vegas and the Downtown Project”
An assessment of what it really takes to revitalize a community in a lasting way
The wildly over-the-top Dot-Com-Bubble party scene
About the rave scene of the nineties
The mental health of startup founders
“Are Entrepreneurs ‘Touched with Fire’?”
“The prevalence and co-occurrence of psychiatric conditions among entrepreneurs and their families”
Influential psychologist William James and his rambling writing
The dangers of using “Whippits” and nitrous oxide
“Downtown Las Vegas: A Dream Deferred?”
Tony’s “Downtown Project” regrets
“My Final Letter to Tony Hsieh”
The lawsuits that followed Tony’s death
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