June 2010

The Long View

Wednesday, 06/23/2010 21:22  |  by Erin Payne

A new book, Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder, just published by Harvard University Press (and recently reviewed in this post in the New York TimesEconomix blog) makes the case for why workforce best practices should include engaging employees at the bottom of the ladder (in other words, entry level workers).  In a six year study of a handful of medium sized firms from several countries around the globe, researc

Delivering Happiness: The Zappos.com Story

Monday, 06/28/2010 19:56  |  by Erin Payne

Over beach vacation last week, I hijacked my dad's copy of Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. You may have heard about it on NPR. Hsieh built and sold a company right out of college and, with the proceeds, as well as a venture fund he raised called Venture Frogs, did some early stage investing. Hsieh ended up investing in, and later helping to build, Zappos.com as CEO.