Unexpected Gifts

When I created the Random Acts of Kindle Kindness to celebrate the one year anniversary of the events that became Don't Die with Your Song Unsung, I had some strategic goals for the book and the campaign. 

I did not achieve those goals.

Instead, the campaign is achieving goals I could never have planned to achieve -- that is why success is so difficult to define.  This is a note I received today:

Hi Andrea . I wanted to share with you what fun we had today at school.  In keeping with our delivering happiness core value, I was sharing with my students our chance meeting, synchronicity, Gary's video and about the book.  

We had a few guests visiting and decided to give them a wow experience by telling them the story and gifting them with the electronic book that you were so kind to donate.  I even ironed the dollar bills so they would look nice and crisp!!  We then asked them to pay it forward and deliver a smile to someone else.   

They loved the experience!  It was a great day!  Thank you Thank you Thank you a hundred (or two :) times over!

May God Bless You have blessed us and more.

What can I say to such a note but bach at you with a bigger Thank You!  Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
The photo of the hummingbird was taken by Gary Little(c) all rights reserved. 
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Happiness Delivered

I have invested a lot of energy spreading the word of how to apply the findings in positive psychology – specifically the science of optimism and happiness – to daily life and business success.
On Wednesday, October 20, 2010 I will be presenting a book on the morning show AM Arizona that recounts the story of how a company was built -- and thrives -- by employing those same principles and findings. This is no small company; this is Zappos.com a billion dollar plus company!

Delivering Happiness is part autobiography, part how-to build a company culture, and part well deserved youthful bravado. As you know, I do not promote books. I promote the message in books that discuss how to apply the principles of positive psychology. I like this book for three simple reasons:

1. It’s the first complete example of how a company can implement the teachings of positive psychology. This includes allowing them craft the story of what the culture is really like. They create an annual culture book. Not all the entries are inspiring, but they are sincere. Crafting your story is a part of creating a story that works for you.

2. Tony allowed a strong community to be built in the workplace. Social interaction has been shown to surpass other indicators for feeling happy.

3. Tony allowed a culture to develop that gave employees the power to serve customers until the customer felt well served. There are no time restrictions on how long an employee can or can’t stay with a customer. I believe this allowed employees to feel as though they were contributing to something and someone greater than themselves.

You will notice I wrote “Tony allowed”. Delivering Happiness is CEO Tony Hsieh’s story, told from his experience and his perspective. I am not offended by his less than subtle bravado. It was a lot of Hsieh’s net worth that kept Zappos alive long enough to get financing, product and customers so there could be a Zappos. Delivering Happiness can feel like the Tony Hsieh show, but in business the show is all about how you deliver profit, develop people, and deliver customer satisfaction. Hsieh and his team not only did that, they did it while delivering happiness.
Thank you,
Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
Dr. Success™
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