Today’s Chapter is based on the book “Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman” by Yvon Chouinard.
Yvon Chouinard is an American rock climber, environmentalist, and business, best known for founding Patagonia, a leading outdoor apparel company. He is renowned for his commitment to environmental activism, exemplified by Patagonia’s sustainable practices and his decision to donate the company’s ownership to address climate change in 2022.
Here’s what I learned:
Focus on Quality
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
— Steve Jobs
From the beginning, Yvon Chouinard has been driven by a passion for creating high-quality yet functional products. As a matter of fact, his early experience as a blacksmith taught him the importance of craftsmanship and attention to detail. This commitment to quality later became a cornerstone of Patagonia’s product development process.
Chouinard’ entrepreneurial story started when he founded Chouinard Equipment where he focused on creating climbing hardware that was stronger, lighter, and more reliable than what was available on the market. This dedication to innovation and quality was born out of necessity, as the company’s founders were also their own best customers. As such, they understood first-hand the importance of having gear that could withstand the rigors of climbing in demanding environments.
This approach to making high-quality product followed Chouinard when he started Patagonia where the main business philosophy quickly became “make the best product”. As Chouinard once explained, “‘Make the best’ is a difficult goal. It doesn’t mean ‘among the best’ or the ‘best at a particular price point.’ It means ‘make the best,’ period.”
“The first part of our mission statement, ‘Make the best product,’ is the raison d’être of Patagonia and the cornerstone of our business philosophy. Striving to make the best quality product is the reason we got into business in the first place.”
— Yvon Chouinard
Furthermore, in Chouinard’s view, the best products are those that are functionable yet simple in design. As a matter of fact, Chouinard explains that “function must always dictate form.” Patagonia’s designs begin with solving a specific need. He mentions, “The best products are multifunctional, however you market them. If the climbing jacket you bought to ski in can also be worn over your suit during a snowstorm in Paris or New York, we’ve saved you from having to buy two jackets, one of which would stay in the closet nine months of the year. Buy less; buy better.”
Following a Zen simplicity approach, Chouinard was a believer that the less design the better. He was inspired by Dieter Rams, head of design at Braun, who once said, “Good design is as little design as possible.” This philosophy of Yvon Chouinard also started when he was building Chouinard Equipment; he mentions that “Where other designers would work to improve a tool’s performance by adding on, Tom Frost and I would achieve the same ends by taking away—reducing weight and bulk without sacrificing strength or the level of protection.”
Finally, the idea of building the best product possible obviously requires Patagonia to be consistently innovating. In fact, Patagonia often invested heavily in research and development working closely with mills to create innovative fabrics. This proactive approach to fabric development allowed Patagonia to stay ahead of the competition and deliver cutting-edge products to its customers.
“Some companies are based on having proprietary designs and patents, but far more successful ones are based on innovation. Just compare the success of the classic inventor country, the United States, with the ultimate innovator, Japan Inc.”
— Yvon Chouinard
This approach of designing through simplicity and functionality reminds me of what we have previously learned from Steve Jobs. Similarly to Chouinard, Jobs built Apple products based on his own personal needs. As he once said, “We build the products that we want to use ourselves.” And, just like Chouinard, Jobs realized that the best designs weren’t those that looked aesthetically pleasant, but those that were functional and easy to use. And as such, it was important to make them simple and elegant. Here’s what he had to say about design:
“Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works. The design of the Mac wasn’t what it looked like, although that was part of it. Primarily, it was how it worked. To design something really well, you have to get it. You have to really grok what it’s all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that.
Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.
Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.”
— Steve Jobs
Focus on Sustainability
“There’s no such thing as sustainability. It’s just kind of a path you get on and try — each day try to make it better.”
— Yvon Chouinard
As mentioned previously, Patagonia’s mission statement is "Make the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis." As such, it is clear that one of the most defining aspects of Patagonia is its deep commitment to environmental responsibility. Chouinard recognized early on the impact that businesses can have on the planet and made a conscious decision to become a pioneer in the industry in terms of sustainability.
Chouinard explains, “Patagonia exists to challenge conventional wisdom and present a new style of responsible business. We believe the accepted model of capitalism that necessitates endless growth and deserves the blame for the destruction of nature must be displaced. Patagonia and its thousand employees have the means and the will to prove to the rest of the business world that doing the right thing makes for good and profitable business.”
"At Patagonia the protection and preservation of the natural environment aren’t just something we do after hours or when we finish our regular work; they’re the reason we are in business."
— Yvon Chouinard
This commitment is evident in every aspect of Patagonia's operations, from its use of recycled materials to its support for environmental conservation efforts. The company has implemented numerous initiatives to reduce its waste, conserve water, and minimize its carbon emissions. Patagonia also uses its platform to advocate for environmental protection. The company has launched campaigns to raise awareness about pressing environmental issues and has donated millions of dollars to environmental organizations. In fact, Patagonia has committed to donate an annual tax of one percent of its gross sales or ten percents of its profits, whichever is greater to the local community and environmental activism.
As such it is clear that for Yvon Chouinard, business is not merely a vehicle for generating profit—it is a platform for creating meaningful change. As a matter of fact, profit growth was never a factor in Chouinard’s business philosophy. He mentions, “Our mission statement says nothing about making a profit. In fact, Malinda and I consider our bottom line to be the amount of good that the business has accomplished over the year.”
“We don’t want to be a big company. We want to be the best company, and it’s easier to try to be the best small company than the best big company. We have to practice self-control. Growth in one part of the company may have to be sacrificed to allow growth in another.”
— Yvon Chouinard
And yet, counterintuitively, Chouinard genuinely believes that profit usually happens when a business focuses on doing the right thing instead of earning profits. As he once said, “At Patagonia, making a profit is not the goal because the Zen master would say profits happen 'when you do everything else right'.”
This concept of businesses not focusing on profit reminds me of what we have learned from Henry Ford who believed that it is wrong to assume that businesses only exist for profit. In his opinion, business exists to provide services. In fact, after working in business for so many years, he came to these three conclusions:
(1) That finance is given a place ahead of work and therefore tends to kill the work and destroy the fundamental of service.
(2) That thinking first of money instead of work brings on fear of failure and this fear blocks every avenue of business—it makes a man afraid of competition, of changing his methods, or of doing anything which might change his condition.
(3) That the way is clear for any one who thinks first of service—of doing the work in the best possible way.
As such, Ford reminds us to not be too greedy for money when running a business, as that is the surest way to not get any. He believes that when one focuses on providing great services, then money will abundantly takes care of itself. As he once said, “For the only foundation of real business is service.”
He explains that “The most surprising feature of business as it was conducted was the large attention given to finance and the small attention to service. That seemed to me to be reversing the natural process which is that the money should come as the result of work and not before the work. The second feature was the general indifference to better methods of manufacture as long as whatever was done got by and took the money.”
“ It is the function of business to produce for consumption and not for money or speculation.”
— Henry Ford
In Ford’s opinion, a business’s responsibilities to his customers do not stop once a sale is completed. As a matter of fact, that is only the start of it. For example, “In the case of an automobile the sale of the machine is only something in the nature of an introduction. If the machine does not give service, then it is better for the manufacturer if he never had the introduction, for he will have the worst of all advertisements—a dissatisfied customer.”
As such, when being a businessman, we must make sure to identify great products by the great services it provides to customers rather than by how much money we can earn by selling it.
Focus on Culture
"I love every day. I mean, I tap dance in here and work with nothing but people I like.”
— Warren Buffett
Considering Chouinard started Patagonia by hiring his friends as the company’s first employees, he managed to build a unique and supportive company culture which plays a significant role in Patagonia’s success. As a matter of fact, Chouinard recognized early on that creating a positive work environment was essential for attracting and retaining talented employees. He wanted to build a company where people enjoyed coming to work and felt empowered to pursue their passions. As he once said, “Why on earth would anyone run a company that was hard to work for?”
This vision translated into a company culture that values flexibility, work-life balance, and a shared love for the outdoors. Patagonia employees are encouraged to surf, ski, climb, or engage in other outdoor activities during the workday. This flexibility allows them to recharge and return to work with renewed energy and focus. Chouinard once said, “I also knew that I would never be happy playing by the normal rules of business; I wanted to distance myself as far as possible from those pasty-faced corpses in suits I saw in airline magazine ads. If I had to be a businessman, I was going to do it on my own terms.”
“One thing I did not want to change, even if we got serious: Work had to be enjoyable on a daily basis. We all had to come to work on the balls of our feet and go up the stairs two steps at a time. We needed to be surrounded by friends who could dress whatever way they wanted, even be barefoot. We all needed to have flextime to surf the waves when they were good, or ski the powder after a big snowstorm, or stay home and take care of a sick child. We needed to blur that distinction between work and play and family.”
— Yvon Chouinard
Furthermore, it was important for Chouinard to build a sense of community among its employees. In order to help employees who were parents of young children with the challenges of balancing work and family responsibilities, Patagonia built on-site childcare centers. As Chouinard explains, “We provided a cafeteria that served healthy, mostly vegetarian food where employees could gather throughout the day. And we opened, at Malinda’s insistence, an on-site child care center, Great Pacific Child Development Center, Inc. At the time it was one of only 150 in the country; today there are more than 3,000. The presence of children playing in the yard or having lunch with their mothers and fathers in the cafeteria helped keep the company atmosphere more familial than corporate. We also offered, mostly for the benefit of new parents but also for other employees, flexible working hours and job sharing.”
And more importantly, Chouinard always remembered to treat his employees as if they were his friends and/or family members, and to be fair, they mainly were, especially at the beginning of Patagonia.
“We had never laid people off simply to reduce overhead. In fact we had never laid anyone off for any reason. Not only was the company like an extended family, but for many it was a family, because we had always hired friends, friends of friends, and their relatives.”
— Yvon Chouinard
This reminds me of how corporate culture can become the ultimate competitive advantage. As we have seen previously, Richard Farmer, the founder of Cintas once said that “Our culture is rare, invisible, and difficult—if not impossible—to replicate. Competitors can copy our sales material, our products and even some of our systems, but they cannot copy our culture.”
“I swore that I would do whatever it took to develop obvious and authentic competitive advantages. Today, we recognize that our most significant competitive advantage is very rare, intangible, and impossible to replicate. I'm talking—again—about our corporate culture.”
— Richard Farmer
Beyond the Book
Read "The Laws of Simplicity" by Farnam Street
Read "Steve Jobs on Design" by Farnam Street
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