I took a dozen of our top managers to Argentina, to the windswept mountains of the real Patagonia, for a walkabout. In the course of roaming around those wild lands, we asked ourselves why we were in business and what… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
While our managers debated what steps to take to address the sales and cash-flow crisis, I began to lead week-long employee seminars in what we called Philosophies. We'd take a busload at a time to places like Yosemite or the… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
A real capitalist knows that $10 given today does a lot more good than $100 given 10 years from now. — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
Doing risk sports had taught me another important lesson: never exceed your limits. You push the envelope and you live for those moments when… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
But I'm really trying to run this company like it is going to be here a hundred years from now. That's what's important. — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
Who are businesses really responsible to? Their customers? Shareholders? Employees? We would argue that it’s none of the above. Fundamentally, businesses are responsible to… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
It's okay to be eccentric if you're rich; otherwise you're just crazy. — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
Evil doesn’t have to be an overt act; it can be merely the absence of good. If you have the ability, the resources, and… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
The whole purpose of climbing something like Everest is to effect some sort of spiritual and physical gain. But if you compromise the process… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
At Patagonia, making a profit is not the goal because the Zen master would say profits happen 'when you do everything else right'. — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
Everything we personally own that’s made, sold, shipped, stored, cleaned, and ultimately thrown away does some environmental harm every step of the way, harm… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
We've teamed up with some Japanese companies to, basically by 2010, make all our clothing out of recycled and recyclable fibers. And we're going… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
