Happy at Any Cost: The Revolutionary Vision and Fatal Quest of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh

by Kirsten Grind, Katherine Sayre

From award-winning Wall Street Journal reporters, an in-depth look at Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s short life and untimely death—and what it means for our pursuit of happiness.

Tony Hsieh—CEO of Zappos, Las Vegas developer, and all-around beloved entrepreneur—was famous for spreading happiness. He lived and breathed this philosophy, instilling an ethos of joy at his company and outlining his vision for a better workplace in his New York Times bestseller Delivering Happiness. He promoted a workplace where bosses treated employees like family members, where stress was replaced by playfulness, and where hierarchies were replaced with equality and collaboration. His outlook shaped Silicon Valley and the larger business world.

Hsieh used his position at work to integrate levity into a normally competitive environment. He aspired to build his own utopian cities, pouring millions of dollars into real estate and small businesses, first in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada—where Zappos was headquartered—and then in Park City, Utah. He gave generously to his employees and close friends, including throwing infamous Zappos parties and organizing gatherings at his home, an Airstream trailer park.

When Hsieh died suddenly in November of 2020, the news shook the business and tech world. Wall Street Journal reporters Kirsten Grind and Katherine Sayre quickly realized the importance of the story because of Hsieh’s stature in the industry, but as they dug into the details of his final months, they realized there was a bigger story to tell. They found that Hsieh’s obsession with happiness masked his darker struggles with addiction, mental health, and loneliness. In the last year of his life, he spiraled out of control, cycling out of rehab and into the waiting arms of friends who enabled his worst behavior, even as he bankrolled them from his billion-dollar fortune.

Happy at Any Cost sheds light on one of the most venerated, yet vulnerable, business leaders of our time. It's about our culture’s intense need to find “happiness” at all costs, our misguided worship of entrepreneurs, the stigmas still surrounding mental health, and how the trappings of fame can mask all types of deeper problems. In turn, it reveals how we conceptualize success—and define happiness—in our modern age.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Business, Audiobook, Biography Memoir, School, Technology

320 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 2022

About the author

I live in New York City, but I'm a West Coaster at heart. I love the outdoors - running, biking, hiking, backpacking - and I am deeply obsessed with the ocean, particularly Swami's in Cardiff, Calif. I've always been a newspaper journalist, covering a variety of business topics until I landed on finance, now at The Wall Street Journal. I am a huge bookworm - when I was 13, my father feared I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown from reading too much.

Reviews

[Mbgirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

He was just never comfortable in his own skin.

And he was so very generous and giving— but was that, in the end, even a mask of sorts to cover his fear and discomfort of not knowing himself truly?

So many factors here that all coalesced and the intersection of mental health and COVID and his terrible Inability to be on his own really did him in. Like Wharton’s Lily Bart, it seemed he really feared loneliness, and his inner emptiness was terrifying and unbearable to himself.

I was disgusted at all those who leeches off him, or manipulated him, proferring fake friendship for his money. There were, of course, genuine friends too. Like Jewel

Prosopagnosia (facial blindness) diagnosis, extreme social anxiety disorder, a strict Taiwanese upbringing, full dependency on Fernet- Branca to relax, then NMDA/e, ketamine, nitrous—- all the factors—-

All such a terrible terrible waste of the life of someone so incredibly bright.

It was actually super painful to read through all of his decline. And I was so hopeful when he began hiking all of the ski runs in Park City.

Tried to imagine being trapped in the house with him the night he destroyed the rental home with the two girls inside—- not to mention all the candles—— it was like a nightmare.

His hotly contended $550MM estate remains— as well all those pesky post-it “contracts “, I wonder just what a total mess of properties and headaches to manage, since there was no will. And, all of the many many lawsuits with individuals trying to get some of Tony’s money, citing those stupid post-its.

A totally frustrating and salacious, tragic, admirable, marvelous, pitiful, and psychedelic read.

How could I not cry watching Jewel’s elegy to him. He was, in the end, a lost soul who chased happiness, but happiness eluded him. He simply could not stop. And be at peace… which is a wake-up call for so many.

[Belle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Round up to 3.5.

“Happy people are those whose minds are focused on some object other than their own happiness.” John Stuart Mills. 1873.

Yes, I think so. The more we try to look inward to produce happiness I think the more unhappy we can become. I don’t think asking myself if I’m happy has ever resulted in a yes. If I’m asking I’m probably not too happy.

Tony struggled with so many things EXCEPT money. It really was the perfect storm for tragedy. When you’re that rich and extra smart who can you trust to tether you to the ground?

This movement for optimism in all things is not realistic.

Happiness at all costs is not real.

Without sadness, how can we ever be happy?

In the end, I think this story is a cautionary tale of not believing everything the media delivers to our smart-ass devices. It’s okay to be sad. Let the sad waves wash right over you. Cherish them. Do not fear them. This too shall pass.

RIP Tony.

[Mystic Miraflores · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think my jaw dropped to the floor for most of this book. It was truly unbelievable what Tony accomplished so early in his life and yet threw it all away with his drinking, drug addiction and inablity/refusal to get help. As an Asian-American (and the authors are not), I can give a particular view of the even larger stigma attached to mental illness in our culture. Being raised by "Asian Tiger Parents" means a child can show absolutely no weakness or interpretation. If an Asian-American child is having an emotional problem or mental illness, the parents don't believe in taking them to therapy. The child has to tough it out. Why? Because the family will seem less than perfect, will be criticized and humiliated and LOSE FACE. The "loss of face" is a very important cultural phenomena in Asian cultures. This is layered upon the Western cultures' standard denial or ignoring of mental illness, addictions or other problems. So for Asian-Americans, the pressure to deny and ignore is doubled. As my Asian mother always told us: "Shhh, don't tell anybody. Don't let other people know that our family is less than perfect."

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like juicy reads. I would have enjoyed this book more had the authors not said up front that they left out the salacious bits. Throughout the book, I kept wondering what wasn't there. If you're leaving stuff out it might be better not to report that you held back.

[Sharon Orlopp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tragic story about the CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, early death in a shed in New Haven, CT.

Kirsten Grind and Katherine Sayre, WSJ reporters, researched Tony's life and death. This book is a great call to action to speak out and say something if a person is struggling with mental health issues, drugs, alcohol, etc.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was intrigued as I live not far from Tony’s ‘Ranch’. The neighbors were buzzing about what was going on at this place that they needed so many security guards milling around. We never heard any of the tragic backstory. Very sad.

[Brandur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good insight into Tony Hsieh's meteoric rise and even more sudden crash. Although Tony's later year projects may have been more questionable, I'd contend that his work to revitalize downtown Vegas as to produce a vital urban community may be one of the better things a billionaire (or near billionaire in his case) has ever spent their money on. There's the obvious story of substance abuse, but there's a subplot here of how Covid-related lockdowns were extremely harmful to people prone to abuse — Hsieh's case is one that'll have a book written about it, but it makes you wonder of the untold millions for whom nothing will ever be said.

[Jeremy Anderberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story kept me going, but I didn't love the structure or somewhat repetitive writing. The lens into mental health, especially how it relates to CEOs and those in tech, was really insightful and enjoyable though. The endless pursuit of happiness isn't all it's cracked up to be.

[Natalie Park · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Net Galley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I followed Tony Hsieh early in his career and loved his book Delivering Happiness. With his success with Zappos and the redevelopment of downtown Las Vegas, it seemed he was doing amazing things. I lost track of his career and then heard that he had died in a strange and tragic accident. So, this book really interested me. The author's put together this book through research and many interviews with people that knew Tony Hsieh. It was very informative - if you read Delivering Happiness, there's alot of overlap during this period. There were many things that Hsieh kept hidden, looking to please everyone, face blindness and struggles with addiction. It sounds like he had troubles just being himself with people. It's a terribly sad story and, for some reason, the telling felt very gossipy and unclear if others' perceptions really tell the true story of Tony Hsieh's life and struggles.

[Elizabeth Tai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tony Hsieh was the kinda guy you want to emulate - successful entrepreneur with millions in the bank. He was also a wonderful business leader and boss, and managed to attract a host of he a loyal employees and friends who loved him, among them Jewel, the American folk singer.

But behind the Ted Talk speaker, behind his charisma and reputation was a man wrestling with the demons of addiction and mental health problems.

I was actually really shocked to see how far he plummeted towards the end. Heartbreaking. In the end all the money in the world couldn't bring happiness to a man who wanted happiness for everyone.

[Jabiz Raisdana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew little to nothing about Hsieh and/or Zappos, even though we grew up in the same area only years apart. A friend recommended this book and I was ready to take the ride a few pages in. What a wild crazy story about wealth, mental health, drugs and the search for happiness.

It is worth your time, but be warned you will not be able to put it down. It reads like a bingeable docu-series.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a great admirer of Tony Hsieh for many years. Obviously, there were some missteps with the whole holacracy thing, and it was clear that he was a bit weird and marched to the beat of a different drummer, but news of his death was a shock to me and many others. This book lays out the unfortunate circumstances of his downward spiral and sheds light on the seriousness of his problems, which were well hidden from the public. It's a decent book and serves as a cautionary tale about the mental health challenges of those we label "genius."

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Annoys me so much, that I lost one whole rambling review of this as I was writing it and almost finished- then the app collapsed and didn’t save. Dammit. Oh well. Trying to redo what I even wrote.

Basically that this was a sad read, detailing how this great business figure deteriorated, but I felt the author made clear their intentions that this was not a salacious gossip retelling type of work, but more highlighting the need for mental health awareness and compassion and space needed for people struggling, that could’ve saved Tony’s life at multiple junctures over the years. I appreciated the business Silicon Valley hive mind weirdness moments detailed, like the biohacking, the executives jetsetting around the world spouting corporate buzzword key points trying to reinvent the world and save the world, the excess like the parties, day drinking at work, one mention of employees diving into a tub of scorpions to win free gift cards? Things like that, reporting of this genre of business nonfiction books diving into these companies that I will continue to read, that I’ve read before like No Filter, Fall of WeWork, Bad Blood, etc. Would also want to potentially read Tony Hsieh’s own book Delivering Happiness at some point, to read more in his own words and appreciate the great parts of him with the intelligence and vision that did make him so successful in life, as a counterbalance to this being more focused on how his mental health downward spiral caused his death throughout the last couple years of his life, though this book did detail quite a bit on his businesses. Might still find a lot of it business hokum, the kind that would’ve led him to even heavily gentrify downtown Las Vegas and Park City Utah in the first place and call it a revolutionary experiment towards making the whole world happy, etc, in the first place. But I did appreciate a lot of his character that was illuminated here- a lot I could empathize with and relate to with him having been this prominent first generation immigrant Asian American force in corporate America, too.

[Dennis Hinkamp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think there are spoilers since it is a non-fiction book and the details have been in the news..


(audio book) -- There is a playbook and epitaph for this common story though this one has some unique turns. Nerdy kid goes to Harvard and codes his way to a great idea and start up company which he sells for $200 million by age 25. He takes his cut of that and makes even more money creating the company Zappos. Along the way he writes the best selling book "Delivering Happiness" believing he can change corporate culture. He should have stopped there.

Like many people who keep telling you how damn happy they are, he secretly wasn't... drugs, booze, indulgences and enablers ensue. I did not know you could be addicted to whippets, but that was his LAST drug of choice. The book kept my interest because there are many elements of Burning Man, Park City, Airstreams, big art and social experiments that I have personal experience with.

He built a lot of great things and mostly lived humbly until the last years in Park City. He died of smoke inhalation eight days after being rescued from burning shed in New London, CT Nov 2020. Not officially a suicide. He was 47.

[Janice Coy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reads like a Wall Street Journal feature article and tells the tragic story of Tony Hsieh. He brought revolutionary ideas to running a business and made billions. With those billions came lots of so-called friends and an addiction to drugs and alcohol.

If you enjoy reading about businesses and the application of new human resources techniques, you will like this book.

[Julie O'Donoghue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book I would have typically picked up, but one of the authors (Katherine Sayre) is a former coworker.

I enjoyed the book a lot more than I thought I would, even if it also filled me with frustration. I'd recommend reading it, even if like me, you don't think it will interest you at first.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is terribly sad - you can't help but feel angry at the sycophantic dingleberries who glommed onto Hsieh and watched him deteriorate. The author does a decent job of balancing Hseih's agency and respecting his legacy, while also highlighting the myriad of ways that people let him down.

He is/will be missed.

[Marinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely heartbreaking, the way humans will seek out weaknesses in others and take and take until everything is gone. Tony seemed like a really good person, right up until the drugs. After those got a hold of them, the monsters came out and pulled him under.

[Pat Lampe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tiny Hsieh was a brilliant entrepreneur who wanted to provide opportunity and reward to his friends and employees. He was generous and quirky and liked to be surrounded by people although he seemed to be uncomfortable interacting with them. A true original.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellently reported by WSJ reporters Sayre and Grind. Shocking and sad.

[Brian Knox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astonishing read.
I dashed through it in 4 days. A totally captivating yet tragic story.

[Kalysta]

A very interesting and sad story. I appreciated that the authors handled this tragic story respectfully.

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was heartbreaking

[Lisa Ahlstedt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the book Delivering Happiness so I was shocked to hear about the death of Tony Hsieh a few years ago. I was hesitant to read this book since I didn't think it would be especially uplifting and that proved to be the case. After becoming wealthy while still young, Tony Hsieh continued on his quest to bring happiness to people. His strict upbringing meant that he was always pushed to work hard and study, so he seemed to miss out on typical childhood friendships and activities. In later life, this meant that he surrounded himself with people, many of whom sadly didn't have his best interests at heart. As he attempted to do good things, such as extensive plans to revitalize a run-down area of Las Vegas, his vision attracted a group of followers who took over the day-to-day management of his life so he could concentrate on the big picture. Unfortunately, his struggles with mental health and substance abuse issues spiralied out of control. Those who were closest to him, including a large number of people in his daily orbit, were more concerned with keeping the party going and having easy access to money and drugs rather than ensuring that Tony got any help. When some people did become alarmed and try to help (such as his parents and the singer Jewel), the hangers-on blocked their access to him. His eventual death seemed, at that point, to be inevitable as he had been on a downward spiral for a while. It's very sad that there wasn't a way to get him evaluated by a disinterested medical professional before it was too late. Law enforcement and public officials who were contacted seemed more concerned that they might be ousted from their jobs rather than trying to actually do them. So many people failed Tony Hseih but hopefully his legacy of trying to spread happiness in the workplace and beyond will live on.

While the authors did a great job of interviewing many people and have copious notes at the end of the book, the feeling still persisted that this book was somewhat rushed. It came from a major publisher, so I was surprised that there seemed to be some editing problems. Some sections had to be read multiple times to figure out what they meant, and there were clunky sentences such as, "In September 2014, to cut costs, Downtown Project had laid of thirty people, to cut costs, . . . ." I'm guessing the layoffs were to cut costs? But I could be wrong.

[Relena_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

The authors managed to get interviews with most of the people in Tony's pre-Park City inner circle, which makes for some fascinating insights, but there are some stark problems here. 1) the structure just doesn't make a lot of sense. Most chapters start somewhere in the past, then jump back to Park City partway through. 2) there's a lack of insight from folks about Tony's pre-Park City shortcomings. The people who were interviewed have a vested interest in the success of DTP, so the book makes Tony seem like an unquestioned hero of Las Vegas, when any local can tell you that story has always been more complicated. The book was published in 2021, so I knew it would be missing the current battles with the Hsiehs to upkeep the massive amount of property DTP owns, but the criticism of a single-buyer isn't new. And the book would have you believe Container Park works, which means they didn't talk to owners there. 3) there was little discussion of how the Park City project directly impacted the ability of DTP to succeed, as Tony lured multiple partners to Utah, like Dan Krohmer--who never came up 🤷‍♀️ 4) the book buys into the idea that Tony's "if you can't fix it, buy it" habit in Utah was new, and it's not.

I think they just needed more sources who weren't close friends.

[Tatyana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is incredibly sad. Even depressing. How could someone so talented, so pure, perish in plain sight? It boggles my mind that those who could help him didn’t, prioritizing their egos and bank accounts. Tony set a utopian goal of creating world piece, but at the end couldn’t even save himself. His life teaches us all about the perils of hedonic treadmill, importance of who you call your “closest circle”, ability to ask for help, the devastating power of drugs, and that money truly never buys happiness.

Even though Tony’s story is inspiring and disturbing simultaneously, the writing itself is repetitive and often carried away with too much detail of reporting. It attempts to be objective but feels strangely single sided. It could have been more engaging if parts of the narrative came from the people named there and playing big roles in Tony’s life. It also could have been shorter, if it focused on couple key messages it aims to carry vs reporting on all available info.

I’m glad I stumbled upon this book though. Tony’s legacy and his life lessons definitely deserve to live on.

[T.P. Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disjointed narrative, with flashbacks and flash-forwards, and I honestly didn't understand why each chapter had two different time periods. Had the feel of having been written by two authors . . .come to think of it, there were two authors. Distracting and confusing.
I left with quite a few questions - was there anything in Hsieh's early life that sent him on this path of self-destruction? His relationships with women were only briefly sketched out; names were named (some), but how deep were the relationships? Were any of them committed? His brainstorm for creating Zappos - how was it so revolutionary? How did it grow?
This was a very thinly researched book, seeming more like a long magazine article. I have the feeling that the authors couldn't dig too deeply since so many of the people Hsieh interacted with are still alive and could sue for libel. Nothing in credits to indicate who the authors spoke with or interviewed, or what resources they consulted. Very superficial effort.
Ultimately, I cared little for a drunk gas-head, no matter how much money he showered on his friends and how noble his goals were. Can't recommend.

[Shivesh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tony Hsieh was a man with a mission, or maybe just a man looking for one. This one person transformed a desolate stretch of Vegas into a front for innovation and growth in the dust of a massive financial crisis. The forces in his mind that compelled him to focus on others instead of himself are likely larger and more foreign to a typical American, so focused are we on our own needs.

This volume is one crack at a biography that is not entirely effective. It jumps around in his timeline a lot and doesn't explore his early successes enough. I posit that his LinkXchange and Zappos start up phases tell us more about his genius than the long discussions of happiness initiatives and his descent into a final madness a la Howard Hughes: alone, drunk on endless money and surrounded by leeches and sycophants.

Grind and Sayre also don't spend enough time on the shady motivations of Tony's counterparties to his lavish deals. Where did these people come from and how are they not held accountable at some point to the authorities? Some head-shaking details appear at the end, such as the absence of a last will and testment and the preponderance of Post-It notes as Tony's main information tracking method. This was a sad fate for an ostensible genius.

Most readers cannot relate to Tony's incessant focus on other people and their happiness. I would say from much experience that it is quite impossible to sustain externally obtained happiness; true joy and contentment has to come from within.

[Javier HG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este es un libro muy triste. Narra el ocaso de Tony Hsieh, el carismático fundador de Zappos que en 2010 inspiró a miles de directivos y emprendedores con Delivering Happiness. Si aquel libro transmitía entusiasmo, creatividad y una visión distinta de cómo gestionar una empresa, este muestra la cara opuesta: la caída en la adicción y la enfermedad mental.

La lectura se hace angustiosa, porque sabes desde el principio que el final será trágico. Lo más duro es ver cómo Tony, incapaz de reconocer su problema, fue alejando de su vida a cualquiera que intentara ayudarle, incluso a sus padres.

El contraste entre la figura pública que parecía haber encontrado la fórmula de la felicidad y el deterioro personal que se describe aquí es devastador. Es un retrato humano y doloroso de cómo el éxito no protege de las adicciones ni de los demonios internos.

Un libro que duele leer, pero que recuerda la importancia de hablar abiertamente de salud mental, incluso —y quizá sobre todo— en el mundo de los negocios y el emprendimiento.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through the interviews of many of Tony Hsieh's close friends and colleagues, I got a sense of how his life was one big walking contradiction—a very tragic one that cost him his life. It was painful to read at times because of his Peter-Pannish outlook on life, despite his brilliance. He initially set out on a path paved with good intentions, namely to cultivate joy and happiness all around him, only to have it come utterly crashing down at the end. There are so many cautionary tales in the telling of his life. Sometimes, people who have the most to offer to the world in terms of their time and resources can be the most at risk for a mental health crisis because you would think otherwise. Perpetual abuse of substances to mask loneliness and insecurity is, no doubt, a sure-fire way to get to a point of no return.