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Brought to you by Penguin

Wonder Boy is a riveting investigation into the turbulent life of Zappos visionary Tony Hsieh whose radical business strategies revolutionized both the tech world and corporate culture based on rigorous research and reporting by two seasoned journalists

Tony Hsiehs first successful venture was in middle school selling personalized buttons At Harvard he made a profit compiling and selling study guides In 1998 Hsieh sold his first company to Microsoft for 265 million About a decade later he sold online shoe empire Zappos to Amazon for 12 billion

The secret to his success Making his employees happy

At its peak Zapposs employeefriendly culture was so famous across the tech industry that it became one of the hardest companies to get hired at and CEOs from other companies regularly toured the headquarters But Hsiehs vision for change didnt stop with corporate culture Hsieh went on to move Zappos headquarters to Las Vegas and personally funded a ninefigure campaign to revitalize the citys historic downtown area There he could be found living in an Airstream and chatting up the locals But Hsiehs forays into communityrevival projects spun out of control as his issues with mental health and addiction ramped up creating the opportunity for more enablers than friends to stand in his mercurial good graces

Drawing on hundreds of interviews with a wide range of people whose lives Hsieh touched journalists Angel AuYeung and David Jeans craft a rich portrait of a man who was plagued by the pressure to succeed but who never lost his generous spirit

2023 Angel AuYeung amp David Jeans P2023 Penguin Audio