Tony Hsieh owner of Zappos has this to say about Business and Poker

BUSINESS IS A GAME

Everything I know about business I learned from poker:

Financials, strategy, education, and culture.

 

FINANCIALS

• The guy who wins the most hands is not the guy who

makes the most money in the long run.

•The guy who never loses a hand is not the guy who makes

the most money in the long run.

• Go for positive expected value, not what’s least risky.

• You will win or lose individual hands, but it’s what

happens in the long term that matters.

 

STRATEGY

• Learn to adapt. Adjust your style of play as the dynamics

of the game change.

• The players with the most stamina and focus usually win.

• Hope is not a good plan.

• Stick to your principles.

 

EDUCATION

• Never stop learning. Read books. Learn from others who

have done it before.

• Learn by doing. Theory is nice, but nothing replaces

actual experience.

• Just because you win a hand doesn’t mean you’re good

and you don’t have more learning to do. You might have

just gotten lucky.

 

CULTURE

• To become really good, you need to live it, breathe it, and

sleep it.

• Be nice and make friends. It’s a small community.

• Have fun. The game is a lot more enjoyable when you’re

trying to do more than just make money.

 

Tony Hsieh is the CEO of Zappos.com and the author of the soon to-

be-published book Delivering Happiness.

 

Steve Harvey: His Biggest Obstacles, Time Management and Best Career Advice

 

How do you manage your time currently?

Well, actually what makes me able to do the things that I do is, and here’s something that people kind of wince a little bit when they hear me say it, but I actually care about every single minute of the day. Every minute of every hour matters to me, and I try to make those minutes as productive as possible. Even when I take the moments out to eat, or to socialize, or to sit down and just have a moment to myself to collect my thoughts, I got those minutes accounted for, and that’s the only way that you can manage your time. You have to care deeply about your day and every minute in it, and that’s how I’m able to manage all the things that I do.

What are your top three career tips for young professionals?

Well, I don’t know if people will embrace this, but here we go.

1. Realize that where you’re heading to is going to take time, so it requires some patience. You will not be the CEO of the company in a week. Understand that there is no shortcut to the top. Going up the ladder of success takes time; you’ve got to step on every step.

2. I don’t know any other way to be successful, except to wake up every day and put out a maximum effort. If you put out an ordinary effort, you’re going to get ordinary results. If you put out an extraordinary effort, you’re going to get extraordinary results.

3. Realize that on your way to where you’re trying to get to, that there is joy in the process. Too many people get frustrated because they haven’t arrived at their destination yet, but remember that life is okay, take a look at the journey because it can be a pretty nice ride. There’s joy in the journey itself.

 

Read the rest of the article at forbes magazine