Vincent Stanley – Lessons Learned from Patagonia’s First Fifty Years

Vincent Stanley is the Director of Philosophy at Patagonia, and he holds the honor of being the company’s longest-serving employee. He is also an author, poet, and a resident fellow at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment. His most recent book, which he co-authored with Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard, is titled The Future of the Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned from Patagonia’s First 50 Years. 

The book recounts Patagonia’s evolution from its humble beginnings as a small offshoot of Chouinard Equipment for Alpinists to becoming the world’s premiere outdoor apparel brand into its current role of serving as a blueprint for how business can be a force for good in the world. In less than 200 pages, Vincent delves into Patagonia’s greatest business challenges, victories, and missteps, and he explains Patagonia’s never-ending quest to become more responsible, more thoughtful, and more effective in achieving its mission of “saving our home planet.”

My first real exposure to Patagonia’s business model was when I was a student in graduate school, earning my MBA. I read Yvon’s book Let My People Go Surfing, and realized that many of the business lessons and philosophies from Patagonia stood in stark contrast to those of mega-corporations. Patagonia’s approach opened my mind to a different way of thinking about business, one that led me to follow a much different path than I’d planned when I initially showed up at grad school.  So it was a real honor to have the conversation with Vincent and dig even deeper into the philosophies, ideals, and tactics that have made Patagonia such a legendary enigma in the world of big-time business– and a role model for me and countless other business owners.

Vincent and I connected virtually– he was in Maine, I was in Colorado– and we talked about all aspects of the book, as well as his long and storied history at Patagonia. You can check out the episode notes for a full list of everything we discussed, and I would highly recommend you pick up a copy of The Future of the Responsible Company– it’s chock full of actionable, applicable wisdom that anyone with a job would benefit from knowing.

Thanks to Vincent for taking the time to chat, thanks to you for listening, and I hope you enjoy.

Photos courtesy of Patagonia

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RESOURCES:

Topics Discussed:

• 3:00 – How Vincent became involved in Patagonia
• 7:00 – Why Vincent and Yvon decided to update The Responsible Company, and a history of changes at Patagonia
• 24:00 – When Vincent realized there was interest in and demand for the business model and values of Patagonia
• 28:00 – Differentiating between “responsible” and “sustainable”
• 31:00 – How Vincent and Patagonia approach the work of marketing
• 34:30 – The unconventional business performance indicators and evaluations that Patagonia employs
• 37:15 – Why books are important in Vincent and Patagonia’s work
• 41:15 – Who and what gives Vincent hope for the future
• 44:15 – Reconciling the guilt of “messing up”
• 50:15 – Vincent’s book recommendations
• 53:00 – Vincent’s parting words of wisdom

Information Referenced:

• Vincent Stanley
• Patagonia
• Yvon Chouinard
• The Future of the Responsible Company by Yvon Chouinard & Vincent Stanley
• All Patagonia Books
• San Joaquin Valley
• Wilkes-Barre, PA
• United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
• Laudato Si’ by Pope Francis
• Syrian Civil War
• Dr. Michael Kami
• Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard
• Milton Friedman
• Dylan Tomine
• Frances B. Ashforth
• DamNation film
• Patagonia Books
• Malinda Chouinard
• Doug Tompkins
• Kristine Tompkins
• Doug Peacock
• Rick Ridgeway
• Tom McGuane
• Jim Harrison
• Greenwich Village
• Hurricane Lee
• Daniel Goleman
• The End of Nature by Bill McKibben
• Wallace Stevens
• William Carlos Williams 
• Kate Raworth 
• Donut Economics
• John Fullerton
• The Capital Institute
• Middlemarch by George Eliot

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