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“Brett, Tony Hsieh died,” Blossom said to me.
“What?” I was just waking up, and this news wasn’t registering with me.
“Tony Hsieh died. I know you really liked him,” my wife said to me.
“How?” I asked.
“The house he was staying at caught fire, and he died.”
I took a big sigh, and then I said, “He was so young, not even 50 I bet.”
“He was 46,” Blossom said to me.
“That’s so sad,” I said.
I started reflecting on Tony Hsieh, and his impact on me. I never met Tony, but he had a huge affect on how I thought about managing customer relationships.
The first time I became aware of Tony, I was flying on American Airlines to Chicago. I was bored, so I picked up the copy of American Airlines magazine, American Way, that was in the seatback in front of me. As I thumbed through the magazine, I found an article about Hsieh and his company, Zappos.
The article focused on how Hsieh had made Zappos a dominant seller of shoes online through a unique focus on customer service. I was intrigued, so I bought Hsieh’s book, Delivering Happiness.
