Patagonia knows who they are
I have been listening to the audio of the book, Let My People Go Surfing, by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia.
A company that, through each challenge on the path, goes back to first principles. The Pattern Integrity of the business.
Why they exist, what they value.
That to make and sell a jacket that they guarantee for life, is good business.
Where the main stakeholder that they serve is their resource base – Earth, the environment. Without which we humans do not exist. And clearly in their design thinking, wanting to demonstrate to other businesses that building a company with its values as sacred ground, is good for business.
The tragedy is that there are few companies in the world who persistently model their own integrity as Patagonia.
The opportunity is that we can work to have there be many more models. Because we want that to be so. In a world drowning in fake, cheap, nasty, extractive, exploitative – we want the artisan, the care, love, quality, endurance, cradle-to-cradle design. Humanity and dignity restored.
It means to challenge our own thinking, constantly. To create environments that are deliberately designed to challenge the thinking and development of the entire company.
Nature, our penultimate teacher, is never static. Yet it is always seeking equilibrium, never arriving. For equilibrium = stasis = death.
Yet through the emergence that is nature, and natural, is the thread…the impulse…the creative desire. The Pattern Integrity.
Patagonia knows who they are. Everything they do is to serve the expression of this, even when this defies ‘business as usual.’
It takes commitment, love, high fidelity listening to the Pattern Integrity of the business as a practice, and aligned and consistent action.
July 7th 2018
Photo Taken July 12th 2015
