Book Notes and Main Takeaways: “Let My People Go Surfing” by Yvon Chouinard
(LM → my personal comments)
On our current economical model that necessitates fast growth and the alternative route Patagonia took
With all these problems of global warming, the unsustainability of our resource usage, and the inequality of wealth worldwide, we have the perfect scenario for a very disruptive correction in our economic and environmental model. All through history the collapse of empires has followed the same scenarios. If you consider that globalism and capitalism are one giant “empire,” the consequences are profound.
We believe the accepted model of capitalism that necessitates endless growth and deserves the blame for the destruction of nature must be displaced. The root causes of this situation include basic values embodied in our economic system, including the values of the corporate world. Primary among the problematic corporate values are the primacy of expansion and short-term profit over such other considerations as quality, sustainability, environmental and human health, and successful communities.
when we consider the purchase of anything, to ask ourselves, both as producers and consumers: Is this purchase necessary? Do I really need a new outfit to do yoga? Can I do well enough with something I already have? And will it do more than one thing?
LM: not consuming is the ultimate sustainable act
The most responsible way for a consumer and a good citizen to buy clothes is to buy used clothing. Beyond that, avoid buying clothes you have to dry-clean or iron. Wash in cold water. Line dry when possible. Wear your shirt more than one day before you wash it.
LM: used clothes do not make economical sense if you leave out the environmental cost. Because we are not used to adding up that cost, it’s hard to make that decision.
When you look closely at some companies, it may be a surprise to find that not all of them are in business to produce a tangible product or service. The real product may be the company itself, which is just being grown to be sold one day.
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. However, a company needs to be profitable in order to stay in business and to accomplish all its other goals, and we do consider profit to be a vote of confidence, that our customers approve of what we are doing.
At Patagonia, making a profit is not the goal because the Zen master would say profits happen “when you do everything else right.”
Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or a politician.
Neither government nor business uses full-cost accounting in its use of resources. In fact, the government’s indicator for the health of the economy is the GNP (gross national product), which does not factor in the cost of goods; it only indicates sales. So, when there is a national catastrophe like a forest fire, war, or flood and resources are destroyed, the GNP goes up because money was spent on labor and materials. No debit is made in the national ledger for the loss of those natural resources.
LM: 🤯 🤯 🤯 full-cost accounting must include environmental costs
In 1991, we began an environmental assessment program to examine our own products, and just as we had suspected, everything we make pollutes. But we all were surprised at how bad the news was; sustainable manufacturing is an oxymoron.
We’ve had a few employees who didn’t approve of the company’s political beliefs and were greatly offended by our giving grants to family planning organizations. My answer is that they shouldn’t be working for any company that they don’t believe in, whether it’s because of the product, like tobacco, or what the company does with its profits. And many new employees ask why Patagonia gives mostly to environmental causes, while, it would appear, we ignore social causes. The answer, I tell them (as well as the answers to nearly all the questions the company faces), can be found in the philosophies. In this case, the answer is found in the environmental philosophy itself. Focus on the causes, the philosophy tells us, not the symptoms.
LM: Consumerism and grow forever mindset as the root cause of our social problems
On culture and leadership
There are an infinite number of things that your dog can do wrong but only a few that he can do right. Why don’t you make life easy and teach your dog what right is rather than continually saying no to yet one more thing that is wrong?!
LM: focus on positive reinforcement
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.
When my son, Fletcher, was a teenager, I told him it didn’t matter to me what he wanted to do for work in the future as long as he also learned some sort of craft that involved working with his hands.
LM: Working with my hands as a way to slow down, disconnect from work and stimulate my creativity. eg. wood carving
“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.
We ended up with a checklist of criteria for Patagonia’s designers to consider, and the list applies equally to other businesses.
LM: Charlie Munger also talks about the importance of checklists
A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.
Remember, work has to be fun. We value employees who live rich and rounded lives.
A serious surfer doesn’t plan to go surfing next Tuesday at two o’clock. You go surfing when there are waves and the tide and wind are right. And you go ski powder when there’s powder snow!
LM: flexibility to go with the flow. The flow of nature but also the rhythm of our own bodies. -> work when you feel energized to work. Sleep when you need to sleep. Move when you need to move.
Animals and humans that live in groups or flocks constantly learn from one another.
LM: live co-working sessions with friends as a tool learning and knowledge sharing. Best model so far seems to be remote work + quarterly week long work together sessions just like Nubank does
I believe that for the best communication and to avoid bureaucracy, you should ideally have no more than a hundred people working in one location. This is an extension of the fact that democracy seems to work best in small societies, where people have a sense of personal responsibility. In a small Sherpa or Inuit village there’s no need to hire trash collectors or firemen; everyone takes care of community problems. And there’s no need for police; evil has a hard time hiding from peer pressure. The most efficient size for a city is supposed to be about 250,000 to 350,000 people, large enough to have all the culture and amenities of a city and still be governable — like Santa Barbara, Auckland, and Florence.
I’ve learned from a lifetime of being outdoors that nature loves diversity. It hates monoculture and centralization. A thousand activist groups, each working on a specific problem that it’s passionate about, can accomplish much more than a bloated organization or government.
LM: small groups with clear goal will accomplish more. Examples:
- squads in a company
- grassroots activist groups
On design, function and form
The first precept of industrial design is that the function of an object should determine its design and materials. Every design at Patagonia begins with a functional need. A piece of thermal underwear must wick and breathe and dry quickly. A paddling jacket has not only to repel and seal out water but also to allow a full range of arm movement. Function must dictate form.
LM: I’m a true believe in this. Architecture and interior design have been the main areas where this belief showed up recently
Buy less; buy better. Make fewer styles; design better.
LM: similar idea to Steve Jobs mindset when getting back at Apple and cutting down the product line
Because the overall durability of a product is only as good as its weakest element, the ultimate goal should be a product whose parts wear out at roughly the same time and only after a long life.
LM: counter examples are cellphones nowadays, where a button breaks or hardware slows down after only 2/3 years.
Technically, those shorts, as well as the electronics equipment, can be repaired, but because the cost of repair is too high relative to the original purchase price, the product usually gets junked. Someone once said that the poor can’t afford to buy cheap goods.
At Patagonia we pattern our sizes to our core customers, who are active and in better shape than the average snowmobiler or bait fisherman. This may mean we lose potential customers in order to keep our core customers happier. So be it.
LM: Focus on your core customers
“Simplify, simplify.” — H. D. THOREAU
“One “simplify” would have sufficed.” — RALPH WALDO EMERSON, IN RESPONSE
Complexity is often a sure sign that the functional needs have not been solved.
LM: if it’s complex, it probably means that the functional need is not right yet. If you can’t explain your business rules in simple terms, revise and refactor until you can.
My relationship with Leffler taught me how important it is for the designer to work with the producer up front. This applies to every product. Building a house proceeds more smoothly and less expensively when the architect and contractor work out the real-world problems of a blueprint before the cement truck shows up to pour the foundation.
LM: strong correlation with software development. Product owner and developer should work together during all phases of the project.
On the Patagonia Catalog
Patagonia’s image is a human voice. It expresses the joy of people who love the world, who are passionate about their beliefs, and who want to influence the future.
Just as Patagonia makes products for a deeper, less distracted experience of the world and its wild places, our image has to convey refuge from, and offer an alternative to, a virtual world of fast-moving, mind-skimming (and-numbing) pictures and sound.
LM: The catalog is still printed on (recycled) paper due to philosophy. It’s also where the main message for the season is first crafted before being replicated to other media (websites, ads, etc.)
The catalog is our bible for each selling season.
To show its impact, far beyond a business tool, that catalog was reviewed as a mountaineering book in the American Alpine Journal. A 1991 introductory essay, “Reality Check,” reminded customers that every product we make causes environmental harm and encouraged people to buy better and to buy less.
Other topics
I never forget Thoreau’s advice: “I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes….”
I also prefer to believe that in the most basic terms, evil is a stronger influence than good. By evil I mean something morally bad and destructive. Over and over I’ve seen so many institutions, governments, religions, corporations, and even sports become more evil when they could easily be doing more good. But believing this keeps me on my toes, keeps me from getting bit from behind, keeps me from becoming a victim. Thinking these dark thoughts doesn’t depress me; in fact I’m a happy person. I’m a Buddhist about it all. I’ve accepted the fact that there is a beginning and an end to everything. Maybe the human species has run its course and it’s time for us to go away and leave room for other, one hopes, more intelligent and responsible, life forms. I’ve found the cure for depression is action, and action is the basis for the environmental philosophy at Patagonia. Since our main reason for being in business is to work on changing the way governments and corporations ignore our environmental crisis, action is absolutely necessary.
We are the last generation that can experience true wilderness.
So if you define wilderness as a place that is more than a day’s walk from civilization, there is no true wilderness left in North America, except in parts of Alaska and Canada.
LM: how can I experience true wilderness?
If you want to die the richest man, then just stay sharp. Keep investing, Don’t spend anything. Don’t eat any of the capital. Don’t have a good time. Don’t get to know yourself. Don’t give anything away. Keep it all. Die as rich as you can. But you know what? I heard an expression that puts it well: There’s no pocket on that last shirt.
“In pleasant peace and security how suddenly the soul in a man begins to die.”
Main takeaways
=> our current society don’t account for the environmental costs of goods => the long term systemic cost
==> when a tragedy happens in a country, GDP grows because we spend more to fix it, but that doesn’t account for the environmental and social losses
==> buying new clothes only makes financial sense when you don’t add up the environmental cost. If we had to pay the full price, it wouldn’t make sense from a cost perspective.
==> not consuming or encouraging others to consume is the ultimate sustainable act
===> if consumption is necessary
====> buy used items (clothes, furniture, construction materials, etc)
====> choose durability and versatility (item should last long and fill more than one purpose)
=> Consumerism and grow forever mindset as the root cause of our social problems
==> By focusing on fixing the root cause it’s possible that our other social problems (symptoms) might naturally improve -> systemic thinking
=> Complexity is often a sure sign that the functional needs have not been solved.
==> if it’s complex, it probably means that the functional need is not right yet. If you can’t explain your business rules (or product) in simple terms, revise and refactor until you can.
