We grow by letting the customer tell us. So when the customer tells us that they're frustrated, that they just got their… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
I never wanted to be a businessman; I was a craftsman and good at working with my hands. At some point, I… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
Hiring people with diverse backgrounds brings in a flexibility of thought and openness to new ways of doing things, as opposed to… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
Mainly, my job is to be on the outside and bring ideas into the company and forge change. Most people hate change—it’s… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
I'm the company philosopher and the burr in the saddle. I'm the one who says we need to try harder, improve the… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
Hire extremely independent, intelligent, and passionate people, not necessarily "experts." Maybe three or four of my employees have MBAs, and those guys… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
I purposely try to hire people who are really self-motivated and good at what they do, and then I just leave them… — 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 you’re right on the edge, but you don’t go over. You have to be true to yourself; you have to know your strengths and limitations and live within your means. The same is true for a… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share
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 to accept ownership of our products from birth to birth. So if you buy a jacket from us, or a shirt ,or a pair of pants, when you're done with it, you can give it back… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share
