Yvon Chouinard: The Visionary Founder
“A value is a way of being or believing that we hold most important. Living into our values means that we do more than profess our values, we practice them. We walk our talk—we are clear about what we believe and hold important, and we take care that our intentions, words, thoughts, and behaviors align with those beliefs.”
When the values of a leader align clearly with the company's activities and way of communicating, they are able to provide the kind of transparency that can set them apart. This is only one of the characteristics of Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, an American outdoor clothing company that strives to lead the way toward reversing the state of doing business. Harmonizing environmental and financial sustainability is at the center of the agenda of Patagonia, which has been in the industry for more than forty years. Chouinard had clear in mind the role of businesses in the environmental crisis going on ever since the time of birth of the company. He also was of the belief that organizations had the potential to reverse the status quo of doing things. And he enjoyed surfing, climbing, and Zen philosophy. He enjoyed surfing and climbing more than anything else, to the degree that Chouinard Equipment, the business selling pegs used in mountain climbing he started in the 50s "was just a way to pay the bills so we could go off on climbing trips" (Chouinard, 2010).
Patagonia was established in 1979, after Chouinard Equipment was sold. The mission statement of the company, at the beginning, went like this:
Patagonia strives to build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
Applying Zen philosophy to doing business, Chouinard strived to maximize for doing things right and focus on the process rather than setting constant targets and fall prey to the hedonic treadmill. "In Zen Archery, you forget about the goal — hitting the bull's eye — and instead focus on all the individual movements involved in shooting an arrow. If you've perfected all the elements, you can't help but hit the center of the target" (Chouinard, 2010). The founder of Patagonia is a businessman in his own terms. He disposes of ambitious vision and values, which are clear-edged, hence attracting a very specific base of followership, which deeply shares the same vision of Chouinard. "We've rushed through a lot of CEOs and management teams that didn't understand what we are about...the values here are so deep...it is hard to find a CEO that will grow with the company" (Chouinard, 2002). The environmental component of Patagonia's mission spurred the company to remove anti-odor chemicals from its products in 1998, due to environmental and public health concerns, despite the growing nature of the market for anti-odor clothing at the time.
Management by absence is the theory practiced by Chouinard, who is the visionary of the company, delegating decision-making to the board of Patagonia. As Patagonia's founder himself puts it, "I am the entrepreneur who comes up with the wild and crazy idea and then dumps it on people to let them figure it out" ("The Way I Work", Inc.com). "When you have a lot of independent people working for you, you can't tell them what to do, or you will get a passive-aggressive response. Instead, you have to build a consensus", he continues.
When it comes to emotional intelligence and valuing human relationships, Chouinard asserts: "If I'm not in my blacksmith shop or in my office, I'm walking around. The worst managers try to manage behind a desk. The only way to manage is to walk around and talk to people. But I don't just walk around asking, "How are things going?" I have some specific thing in mind that I want to talk to that person about. I meet most often with Casey Sheahan, our CEO, and Rose Marcario, our CFO and COO. I also get monthly reports from the heads of marketing, e-commerce, and other divisions. I always want to know what is not going well, so we can fix it." The seeming balance between delegation to "independent people", management by absence, and keeping constant human contacts to have a grasp of the situation of the business shows the peculiarity of Chouinard's leadership style, which is neither subject to micro-managing nor detachment from the "core" of the business activities.
"I love the idea of adapting myself to a situation rather than buying a lot of stuff. People don't need fancy stuff--they need gear that lasts and that works well. I've built my company based on that" (Chouinard). While the approach to business of Patagonia may feel revolutionary and mold-breaking, especially during the early years, the company has been around for many decades, and manages to strike a great balance between solid financial performance and social commitment to making the world a better place, one sustainable apparel at a time. As Chouinard affirms in his book Let My People Go Surfing, "It's okay to be eccentric, as long as you're rich; otherwise you're just crazy." This perfectly aligns with the vision of Patagonia, which wants to lead the corporate world toward a holistic approach to doing business, where the impact on the environment is fully accounted for. "If we wish to lead corporate America, we need to be profitable", the visionary founder mentions in his book. Or else, no one will believe that you can do business and be environmentally sustainable at the same time.
As Abraham Zaleznik argues in his 1977 essay, "business leaders have much more in common with artists than they do with managers." This is definitely the case of Yvon Chouinard, who is not merely setting a direction for his organization, but embodying that vision wholeheartedly, with emotional intelligence and business acumen.
If you find this post valuable, consider signing up to the Weekly Reflection newsletter, and receive one concise weekly issue on one essential idea to live a more examined life, in depth.
RESOURCES
this post is mainly based on an in-class university case study about Yvon Chouinard. Other sources can be found below.