Skip to Main Content

Listen To An Excerpt

0:00 /

About The Book

“An invaluable operating manual,” says Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO and author of Delivering Happiness. Using brilliantly simple logic that illuminates the universal truths in common emotional challenges, popular motivational speaker and bestselling author Chip Conley has written “a fresh, original guide to an authentic and fulfilling life.”*

With a foreword by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos and author of Delivering Happiness

When Chip Conley, dynamic author of the bestselling Peak, suffered a series of devastating personal and professional setbacks, he began using what he came to call “Emotional Equations” (such as Joy = Love - Fear) to help him focus on the variables in life that he could handle, rather than dwelling on the parts he couldn’t, such as the bad economy, death, and taxes.

Using brilliantly simple logic that illuminates the universal truths in common emotional challenges, Emotional Equations offers a way to identify the elements in our lives that we can change, those we can’t, and how to better understand our emotions so they can help us . . . rather than hurt us. Equations like “Despair = Suffering - Meaning” and “Happiness = Wanting What You Have ÷ Having What You Want” have been reviewed for mathematical and psychological accuracy by experts. Now Conley tells his own comeback story and those of other resilient people and inspiring role models who have worked through emotional equations in their own lives. Emotional Equations arms you with practical strategies for turbulent times.

About The Author

Photograph (c) Lisa Keating, www.lisakeatingphotography.com

Veteran CEO Chip Conley has created more boutique hotels than anyone in the world. Founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, which he grew into America’s second largest boutique hotel company, he speaks around the world on how to find meaning at the intersection of business and psychology. The author of several books, including Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow, he was named the Most Innovative CEO in the San Francisco Bay Area, which he calls home. For more information, visit EmotionalEquations.com and ChipConley.com.

About The Reader

Photograph (c) Lisa Keating, www.lisakeatingphotography.com

Veteran CEO Chip Conley has created more boutique hotels than anyone in the world. Founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, which he grew into America’s second largest boutique hotel company, he speaks around the world on how to find meaning at the intersection of business and psychology. The author of several books, including Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow, he was named the Most Innovative CEO in the San Francisco Bay Area, which he calls home. For more information, visit EmotionalEquations.com and ChipConley.com.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio (January 10, 2012)
  • Runtime: 8 hours
  • ISBN13: 9781442351165

Browse Related Books

Raves and Reviews

"Rarely has a CEO bared his soul in a book as Chip Conley has in Emotional Equations. This powerfully authentic story makes for a compelling read and an invaluable operating manual for life. Chip’s stories are used to create emotional building blocks that define how we can understand and navigate our internal weather and emotions."
--Tony Hsieh, Zappos' CEO and author of Delivering Happiness

“If you want to understand (or persuade) your boss, sister, neighbor, or teenager, it helps to have an emotional equation. Chip Conley built one of the most innovative, customer-inspiring businesses of the last 20 years. He’s a leader who clearly understands the value of analyzing emotions.”––Chip Heath, co-author of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

“Emotional Equations offers a splendid menu of rules-of-thumb for a satisfied, meaningful life. Chip Conley has tried what he advises; his equations to live by are clever, useful, and profound.”––Daniel Goleman, author of Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence

“In this remarkable book, one of America's finest entrepreneurs shares the wisdom that’s helped him find personal and professional renewal in the face of some devastating life events. Chip Conley's equations are powerful tools for helping to make our emotions work for us, rather than against us, in business and in life.”
-- Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive

“Chip Conley makes the case that great business leaders don't have to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Rather than superhuman, the best leaders––at work and at home––are simply super humans who know how to use their internal resources effectively. Emotional Equations offers practical advice so you can make your emotions work for you rather than against you."––Marci Shimoff, author of Love for No Reason

"Emotional Equations is a fresh, original guide to an authentic and fulfilling life. Every line is based on good science and lived experience and rings truthful and invigorating. There ought to be a law against successful CEOs writing such good books...where does that leave the rest of us?"––Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow

Emotional Equations is a masterpiece by a master teacher. Philosopher/CEO Chip Conley peels away the thin veneer of let’s pretend organizational life and introduces us to the very raw and tender emotional core of our human experience. While reading, I felt joy, delight, curiosity, insight, inspiration, amazement and, most of all, a much deeper understanding of my own inner life. Simple, yet profound...you really must read this book.”
-- Jim Kouzes, co-author of The Leadership Challenge

“If you’ve struggled to understand how to get control of your emotions, Chip Conley’s Emotional Equations is the book for you. Conley makes elegantly objective the subjective realm of feelings through the prism of simple mathematical formulas that offer fresh insight into how we can more effectively manage our emotions.”
-- Anne Kreamer, author of It's Always Personal: Emotion in the New Workplace

"It's incredibly rewarding to see one of my former psychology students evolve first into a very successful businessperson and then into a thoughtful observer of human nature. Chip Conley's Emotional Equations is challenging, thought-provoking, insightful, and, ultimately, very practical."
-- Phil Zimbardo, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University, author of The Time Paradox

"You may scoff at the idea that all the complexity and subtlety of human emotion can be reduced to a handful of arithmetic operations. Scoff all you want, but read the book. There is something important to be learned from every chapter. Chip Conley has written a book that is both welcoming and challenging, simple and complex, abstract and concrete. Read this book and take it to heart and your emotional life will never be the same."
-- Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice

"Rarely has a CEO bared his soul in a book as Chip Conley has in Emotional Equations. This powerfully authentic story makes for a compelling read and an invaluable operating manual for life. Chip’s stories are used to create emotional building blocks that define how we can understand and navigate our internal weather and emotions."
--Tony Hsieh, Zappos' CEO and author of Delivering Happiness

“If you want to understand (or persuade) your boss, sister, neighbor, or teenager, it helps to have an emotional equation. Chip Conley built one of the most innovative, customer-inspiring businesses of the last 20 years. He’s a leader who clearly understands the value of analyzing emotions.”––Chip Heath, co-author of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

“Emotional Equations offers a splendid menu of rules-of-thumb for a satisfied, meaningful life. Chip Conley has tried what he advises; his equations to live by are clever, useful, and profound.”––Daniel Goleman, author of Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence

“In this remarkable book, one of America's finest entrepreneurs shares the wisdom that’s helped him find personal and professional renewal in the face of some devastating life events. Chip Conley's equations are powerful tools for helping to make our emotions work for us, rather than against us, in business and in life.”
-- Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive

“Chip Conley makes the case that great business leaders don't have to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Rather than superhuman, the best leaders––at work and at home––are simply super humans who know how to use their internal resources effectively. Emotional Equations offers practical advice so you can make your emotions work for you rather than against you."––Marci Shimoff, author of Love for No Reason

"Emotional Equations is a fresh, original guide to an authentic and fulfilling life. Every line is based on good science and lived experience and rings truthful and invigorating. There ought to be a law against successful CEOs writing such good books...where does that leave the rest of us?"––Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow

Emotional Equations is a masterpiece by a master teacher. Philosopher/CEO Chip Conley peels away the thin veneer of let’s pretend organizational life and introduces us to the very raw and tender emotional core of our human experience. While reading, I felt joy, delight, curiosity, insight, inspiration, amazement and, most of all, a much deeper understanding of my own inner life. Simple, yet profound...you really must read this book.”
-- Jim Kouzes, co-author of The Leadership Challenge

“If you’ve struggled to understand how to get control of your emotions, Chip Conley’s Emotional Equations is the book for you. Conley makes elegantly objective the subjective realm of feelings through the prism of simple mathematical formulas that offer fresh insight into how we can more effectively manage our emotions.”
-- Anne Kreamer, author of It's Always Personal: Emotion in the New Workplace

"It's incredibly rewarding to see one of my former psychology students evolve first into a very successful businessperson and then into a thoughtful observer of human nature. Chip Conley's Emotional Equations is challenging, thought-provoking, insightful, and, ultimately, very practical."
-- Phil Zimbardo, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University, author of The Time Paradox

"You may scoff at the idea that all the complexity and subtlety of human emotion can be reduced to a handful of arithmetic operations. Scoff all you want, but read the book. There is something important to be learned from every chapter. Chip Conley has written a book that is both welcoming and challenging, simple and complex, abstract and concrete. Read this book and take it to heart and your emotional life will never be the same."
-- Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice

"After Frankl's memoir, Man's Search For Meaning, got him through a very dark period, Conley concluded that its message was "despair = suffering - meaning," an elegant distillation of Frankl's insight that extremes of anguish need not destroy the soul if a sense of purpose, and of choosing the meaning of one's experiences, remains. At their best, Conley's equations prompt a revelation: by reducing an emotional problem to its core elements, you can glimpse new ways to address it. The formula provides clarity, which isn't to suggest the solution is easy."

– The Guardian

"Chip Conley gives a brilliant analysis of the absolute necessity of Maslow's hierarchical paradigm in unleashing the talent and commitment of customers, employees, owners—in fact, stakeholders. Great resource material for leaders, trainers, educators, even parents. Chip practices in his hotels what he teaches—most successfully!"

– Stephen R. Covey, author, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

"Chip Conley presents a creative and thought-provoking new approach to running a business. He brilliantly applies Abraham Maslow's theories to management and provides insightful prescriptions that will help you gain peak performance in your company. Conley's depth and candor make this book a must-read for everyone who wants to improve their organization."

– Bill George, former CEO, Medtronic and author, Authentic Leadership and True North

"One of the best business books I've read. A unique combination of organized intelligence and creative insight. I guarantee it!"

– George Zimmer, CEO and chairman, Men's Wearhouse, Inc.

"Strategy? Got one. Tactics? Check. But there's one more key element without which you won't get anywhere: Motivation. Peak will show you how to create motivated employees, customers, and investors, and tells the story of how one spectacular entrepreneur does it by treating people right—and how they return the favor."

– Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief, Wired magazine and author, The Long Tail

"Chip Conley's book is a perfect combination: part personal story, part business theory, and part how-to instruction. Peak combines head, heart, and soul for today's aspiring business leader. Don't just read this book—do it!"

– Alan M. Webber, former editorial director, Harvard Business Review and co-founding editor, Fast Company

"Conley filters his own readings in psychology and philosophy into his teachings, which may help some readers who can appreciate a rational, mathematical approach to managing their emotional lives."

– Publishers Weekly

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images

  • Author Photo (jpg): Chip Conley
    Photograph (c) Lisa Keating, www.lisakeatingphotography.com
    (0.1 MB)

    Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit

More books from this author: Chip Conley