Chapter 11: The Evolution Revolution
Chapter 13: The Power of Zappos Adaptive
Rather than write a traditional foreword here at the beginning, I decided to sprinkle random color commentary throughout the book instead. You’ll see my comments in thought bubbles like the one you’re reading right now. Think of these as text messages I’m sending you at various points in the book.
In addition to all the Zappos employees who contributed to this book, we partnered with Mark Dagostino, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of various books, including The Magnolia Story, to interview us, write, and help weave all of our stories together.
Without further ado, let’s start with Mark’s story of how this whole project came to life . . .
—Tony Hsieh
CEO, Zappos.com
INTRODUCTION: A HIGHER PURPOSE
Ten years ago—coincidentally, right around the same time Zappos was finalizing its partnership deal with a little company called Amazon—I published my very first book, My Life Outside the Ring, with legendary wrestler Hulk Hogan.
I wrote that book while juggling a relentlessly busy, more-than-full-time day job at one of the biggest magazines in the world with my family duties of helping to raise two young children. Which means I wrote it in my “spare time,” toiling away at my laptop from midnight to 3 A.M., every day.
It was exhausting. It was invigorating. It was challenging. It took a toll on my family and my sleep—but the effort paid off. My first book became a New York Times bestseller and would eventually serve as the launch pad for the biggest, most daring decision of my adult life: to leave my steady job behind and take on the life of a full-time coauthor; a life of working from home, doing what I love, but never knowing where my next paycheck might come from.
My leap of faith worked pretty well at first. In my first few years I wrote books with a US presidential candidate, a legendary sports figure, an army general, TV stars, and more. I loved what I was doing—but something was off. As time went by, some of these books weren’t selling as well as I’d hoped. After more than half a decade, I was just sort of getting by (financially speaking). And I was starting to question whether I’d made a bad decision, mostly because the potential new book projects that kept coming my way seemed increasingly driven by less-than-thrilling subjects. They were ego-driven projects by businesspeople who wanted to capitalize on my prior successes, or books from celebrities who wanted to entertain with gossip and fun stories (and not much else) to make some money.
Those sorts of books may have filled up my bank account just fine, but as I considered whether or not to take them, I realized they did nothing to fill my heart and soul. They felt shallow. They felt like something less than what I ought to be dedicating my life to creating.
What I loved most about writing books, and what I tried to infuse into every book I had tackled so far, was coaxing out the best, most inspirational stories from my subjects. I loved finding out how these everyday people actually made it to the top. How they overcame obstacles. How they rose above challenges to chase and achieve their goals.
So I made a decision: I only wanted to write books that inspire—the kind of books that make people wake up in the morning and go out and chase their dreams. I want to dedicate myself to writing books that remind people that the world is full of amazing possibilities, and that all of us have a chance to make life better for ourselves and others every day.
To follow through on that commitment, I chose to back out of a potentially lucrative book deal that didn’t serve that purpose. Was I nervous to let go of a project that was already in process? Yes. Did I know where my next paycheck would come from? No. But I knew it was the right thing to do. So I did it.
It was a leap of faith—the same sort of leap that businesses like Zappos have to sometimes take when they want to transition from good to great.
As fate would have it, just a few weeks later I got a call about a book project that struck me as having the potential to live up to my new goal. So I chased it. I gave it my all. I flew all the way from New Hampshire to the middle of Texas for a fifteen-minute pitch meeting, and, in that meeting, while listening to this couple’s goals for their book, I mentioned my big decision: “I only want to work on books that inspire.” I shared a bit about my personal journey, and they shared a bit about theirs. Despite our geographic differences, it seemed we had a lot in common. We’d all been through some struggles, and we were able to laugh about those similarities. Before we knew it, our meeting had gone well over an hour.
This couple was in a position to hire just about any writer in the world to write their book. But they chose me. And I’m positive that my decision to focus on inspiring others was a big part of the reason they did so.
Those people were Chip and Joanna Gaines, the stars of the HGTV show Fixer Upper, and our book, The Magnolia Story, would go on to become a runaway #1 New York Times bestseller. It sold more than a million copies in its first three months, and more than two years after its initial publication, it still managed to climb back onto some bestseller lists during the holiday shopping season. It’s still selling in hardcover to this day.
The amazing thing is that it wasn’t a fluke. I’ve coauthored three other books that have hit the New York Times bestseller list since then, and every one of them has adhered to the same set of inspirational values I purposefully set out to follow. Putting my focus on something bigger than myself,