Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman - Including 10 More Years of Business as Usual

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audio) I mean, I already wanted to wear nothing but Patagonia for the rest of my life but now I don’t know if I CAN wear anything but Patagonia for the rest of my life? But still, a corporation which - though reluctantly - ends up harming the planet and overexploiting its finite resources.

Patagonia’s emphasis on quality and distinctive style have made it enormously popular, and the company experiences runaway growth through the 1980s until the 1991 financial crisis. Which is why Dean was able to say in all seriousness: “At Patagonia, we consider our kids our best product. It was in those formative years, that Yvon took up the skill of blacksmithing to make climbing hardware for him and his friends. These friends, by the way, were some of the greatest climbers of the day—Tom Frost, Royal Robbins, and many more. Yvon’s story of dirtbag to boardroom and his commitment to business ethics motivated and inspired me to make my small spec on the timeline a positive one.

I realize now that what I was trying to do was to instill in my company, at a critical time, lessons that I had already learned as an individual and as a climber, surfer kayaker, and fly fisherman. Ever since Patagonia encountered it’s “Black Wednesday,” Yvon set the requirement that in everything they did or pursued, they had to think about whether this would be something that helped or hurt the company being around 100 years from now. The signature benefit at Patagonia does not directly address the question of how to help the environment — it addresses the question of why. With all that has happened, it seems natural that Patagonia’s moral leader would have something to say. If you have the ability, the resources, and the opportunity to do good and you do nothing, that can be evil.

And Patagonia doesn’t have childcare because it’s trendy — in fact, the percentage of companies offering that benefit remains small (8%) and static.Without being preachy, Chouinard explains the various company philosophies of Patagonia from production to people. This was a nice skim for when I didn't feel like reading something dense, and he does lay out his business modus operandi clearly and convincingly. From my feeble attempt at simplifying my own life I've learned enough to know that should we have to, or choose to, live more simply, it won't be an impoverished life but one richer in all the ways that really matter" -Y.

Still, if you're going to read a hyped up book that mentions surfing by a middle aged California guy, then it has to be Barbarian Days. So, after you’ve been a year at the company, you can take up to two months off, with pay, to volunteer with an environmental organization or project. I thought all was lost until I picked up a copy of Yvon Chouinard’s 10th anniversary update of his book Let My People Go Surfing: 10 More Years of Business Unusual.You push the envelope and you live for those moments when you’re right on the edge, but you don’t go over. Yvon Chouinard wanted to make a little extra cash so so he could support his rock climbing hobby and decided to create his own climbing equipment. Second, people love to say that Patagonia only supports environmental causes bc it’s advertising and will help them sell more. Legislation that would mandate paid maternity leave and subsidize universal early childcare and education have sputtered at the national level. Some of the content is a bit dated (published in 2005) but the general message continues to ring true.

In the updated version, however, the outdoorsman-turned-business leader focuses more on why the company takes on many of the benefits discussed lately, starting with the retailer’s mission: “to use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis. Yvon even explicitly juxtaposes their 18-month product design timetables with the rapid turnover of “fast-fashion” brands that release new products weekly. This book also includes dozens of beautiful pictures of Patagonia employees enjoying themselves in nature as well as incredible scenery from around the world.In 2005, Chouinard’s approach to his workforce was in stark contrast to the onset of a new trend that popped up regarding employee wellness programs — one that was best characterized by another employer that entitled its workforce philosophy as “Get better or else. As soon as you title your employee handbook “Let My People Go Surfing,” you’re deeply committed to flexibility.