Let's Be More Like Tony Hsieh
Tragically, former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh died this weekend at 46. Here's how I'll remember him and what we can learn from his example.
When I was 16, I cold-emailed Tony Hsieh.
Within 24 hours, I sat down for dinner with him and ~8 other entrepreneurs in Miami, where he was visiting to speak at a conference.
Actually, I first bumped into Tony while waiting for the bathroom, giddy to meet one of my early entrepreneurial heroes. Wearing his trademark-yet-heartwarming social awkwardness to match my teenage shy self, he greeted me right as I got to the front of the line. And that’s how I met THE Tony Hsieh.
Just the day before, I’d mustered the courage to send him an email asking for coffee because I was still in high school and wouldn’t be able to make the day-time events.
At first, his trusty assistants told me he wouldn’t be available to connect.
But then, Tony emailed me back personally and invited me to dinner.
I was way out of my league at the time, but drank in the personalities around the table. Listened to their advice for me, whatever it was…Seated at the opposite end of the table from Tony, we didn’t share much direct banter, but I’m guessing he ended up paying for everyone’s meals. As we were leaving that night, I asked him…
"What keeps you going?”
“Escaping boredom,” he told me as he got into his car and drove off.
It wasn’t the first life-changing cold-email I’d sent.
A few months earlier, I’d contacted David Hassell, “The Most Connected Man You Don’t Know In Silicon Valley” according to Forbes, and began working for his startup 15Five as an unpaid intern shortly thereafter. That cold email truly changed my life…
But Tony’s generosity during my teenage years gave me even an equally potent confidence boost. I was still breaking out of my shell and making the early connections that would lead to what many consider a “world-class” network for my age which I enjoy today. With great outcomes from early cold emails, I’d become fearless in contacting potential mentors, book contributors, and marquee clients in my late teens and 20s.
These days, I don’t have to send as many cold emails, and I have Tony to thank for that among others for giving me their time, attention, and interest earlier in my career.
I checked in with Tony again as I prepared to spend a summer in San Francisco working for 15Five, where I’d transition from unpaid intern to early employee for a startup that’s now 200+ employees, $100M+ in valuation, and growing like crazy.
Looking to offer value in return, instead he continued to give me opportunity.
With a quick email reply, he looped in his team at the Downtown Project and invited me for a few days to stay in Las Vegas and tour Zappos HQ, meet fellow entrepreneurs from around the country, and learn about his efforts to renovate downtown Las Vegas through a $350M revitalization effort centered around “co-learning, collisions, and connectedness,” with the same playfulness and service the world had come to expect from Zappos.
At the time, I was a relative NOBODY.
But Tony treated me with his full attention whenever I bumped into him that trip to thank him for having me as a guest in Las Vegas.
Thousands of entrepreneurs would take part in these monthly tours and group sessions, but Tony was as generous with me as he was with hundreds of other entrepreneurs flooding my Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn feeds the last 72 hours with their stories, praise, and celebration of Tony’s life.
In fact, when Stacey Ferreira and I were putting the finishing touches on our first book 2 Billion Under 20: How Millennials Are Breaking Down Age Barriers and Changing The World, Tony was one of the first people to endorse the book, saying:
“2 Billion Under 20 poses a challenge to all young people across the globe to be learners and leaders from a young age, to follow their passions with unwinding devotion and to create a better world.”
Behind the scenes, I’ll have you know that Tony had a small team consisting of his assistant and perhaps two other employees who filtered book blurb and promotion requests from thousands of authors since he wrote his own bestseller, Delivering Happiness.
And yet, by endorsing my book along with hundreds of other authors’ works, Tony lended his credibility to our growth and success.
And he did so happily.
I was not “close” to Tony Hsieh.
To be honest, even today I sometimes revert to my teenage shy self when I reconnect with my early entrepreneurial heroes and mentors in-person.
The last time I saw Tony, I was at Sundance in 2017 with my now-fiancee.
Tony remembered me, some 2 years after he endorsed the book and likely 6+ months since my last email check-in. That alone should be impressive given his penchant for receiving almost 1000 emails daily and likely interacting with tens of thousands of entrepreneurs annually. I thanked him again for all the opportunities and support he’d given me in those early years, and we went our separate ways.
Those that know Tony better than I do share heartfelt stories of all-nighter parties, starting new companies with his partnership and/or investment, and the genuine nature of their interactions. Billionaires and young entrepreneurs alike posted their stories, photos, and gratitude for Tony across social media this weekend. While the news was incredibly sad to hear, the collective celebration of his life is even more inspiring. I hope I’m remembered in similar fashion when I die one day.
As I shared on Facebook on Saturday morning after learning of the news…
“We should all strive to be so original, caring, fun, generous, and ambitious.
RIP Tony.”
-Jared
P.S. - if you haven’t read Tony Hsieh’s book yet, I implore you to read Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.
And, if you have your own Tony Hsieh stories, I’d love to hear them. Comment below or shoot me an email reply.
Jared Kleinert is the founder of Meeting of the Minds (motm.co), as well as a TED speaker, 2x award-winning author, and USA Today's "Most Connected Millennial".
Meeting of the Minds curates "super-connectors" and subject matter experts as invite-only attendees to 3 day summits in places like Napa Valley, Bermuda, and elsewhere, as well as “deep dives” such as this Marketing and Biz Dev strategy & implementation workshop. Members of the MOTM network include CEOs of 7, 8, and 9-figure businesses, creators of globally-recognized brands and social movements, New York Times bestselling authors, founders of pre-IPO tech unicorns, c-suite execs from Fortune 500 companies, and others.
Jared's career began at 15 years old when he started his first company, and took off at 16 while working as the first intern, and then one of the first 10 employees, for an enterprise SaaS company called 15Five, which today has raised over $40M and has almost 2000 forward-thinking companies as monthly recurring clients.
Later, Jared would become a delegate to President Obama's 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Malaysia, write multiple books including the "#1 Entrepreneurship Book of 2015", and speak at TED@IBM the day before he turned 20.
As a highly-sought after keynote speaker and consultant, Jared’s clients range from organizations like Facebook, Samsung, Bacardi, Estee Lauder, IBM, Cornell, Berkeley, AdAge, and the National Speakers Association. His insights on entrepreneurship, networking, marketing, and business development have been featured in Forbes, TIME, Harvard Business Review, Fortune, NPR, Entrepreneur, Mashable, Fox Business and more.
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