It does the heart good to see Yvon Chouinard recognized for his leadership at Patagonia and for his efforts to inspire responsible and sustainable business practices, most recently in TV commercials for American Express. His story is often simplified, leaving out the setbacks and not-so-brilliant moments in favor of focusing only on mountain ascents and business victories. But the long arc is one o
f constant brand evolution based on rock-solid values, from product, to people, to purpose in everything Patagonia does. Chouinard is widely admired for keeping his company and its values on track, which meant avoiding the shiny traps of others outsize dreams. You can read about it in his book, Let My People Go Surfing. This is a great example of how staying true to your values and your brand are in perfect alignment with success and make it easy for people to love you.
Read the history of Chouinard and Patagonia.
If you don’t have time to read the entire history, read this, the last paragaph: “During the past thirty years, we’ve made many mistakes but we’ve never lost our way for very long. Although we first intended Patagonia as a way to free ourselves from the limitations of the original climbing business, precisely those limitations have kept us on our toes and helped us thrive. We still pursue climbing and surfing, activities that entail risk, require soul, and invite reflection. We favor informal travels with friends – doing what we love to do – to the camera-covered event. We can’t bring ourselves to knowingly make a mediocre product. And we cannot avert our eyes from the harm done, by all of us, to our one and only home.”