HEROES-Yvon Chouinard

If I had to pick the coolest dude on the planet, Yvon Chouinard would be it. He has had a remarkable life so far, and he is definitely one of a kind. He is an entrepreneur, an avid outdoorsman, a blacksmith, and an environmentalist who puts his money where his mouth is. His impact on climbing is huge. Yvon Chouinard is a hero.

THE OUTDOORSMAN

Chouinard climbs, surfs,and fly fishes. He is a vigorous outdoorsman which is more remarkable considering he was born in 1938.

THE BLACKSMITH

Chouinard is also blue collar. He is a blacksmith, and he got his start as a businessman by making steel pitons to use for climbing.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Chouinard started Chouinard Equipment which is known as Black Diamond today. He also started Patagonia--the outdoor apparel maker.

THE REVOLUTIONARY

Chouinard is an environmentalist, but he is not a hypocritical environmentalist. Patagonia contributes money to causes and runs itself according to its principles. The result is a very balanced approach to environmental issues. Chouinard is more Sierra Club than Greenpeace. And the goal is a selfish one. Chouinard loves the outdoors and wants to preserve the environment for entirely selfish reasons. But Chouinard's most lasting influence was changing over to clean climbing and leading a revolution to get other climbers to adopt these clean practices.

Chouinard was like all the climbers before him hammering steel pitons into rock faces. The problem with this approach is that it mars the rocks and is a shitty way to leave things. No species ever died from a defaced piece of granite, so this is more aesthetic than environmental. But without lobbying congress or getting a single piece of legislation passed, Chouinard used a catalog and new inventions to get climbers to adopt these clean practices which are standard today.



Needless to say, I admire the hell out of this guy. He is a Renaissance man, a revolutionary, a blue collar man, and forever young. If you need a person to emulate, Yvon Chouinard is the man. He is without a doubt the coolest dude on the planet.




The Quotable Chouinard:

ON NATURAL BUSINESS GROWTH:

Growth isn't central at all, because I'm trying to run this company as if it's going to be here a hundred years from now. And if you take where we are today and add 15% growth, like public companies need to have for their stock to stay up in value, I'd be a multi-trillion-dollar company in 40 years. Which is impossible, of course.

So all of these companies that are going for the big growth, if it continues for any length of time, will outlast their resources and outlast their customers and go belly-up. And that's why these huge companies have massive layoffs all the time.

Since I'm trying to run this company like it's going to be around a hundred years from now, we have to limit our growth and keep it to what we call "natural growth." In other words, I don't advertise on billboards in inner cities so that kids buy our black down jackets instead of The North Face's. In fact, we hardly advertise at all.

We grow by letting the customer tell us. So when the customer tells us that they're frustrated, that they just got their catalogue and we're already out of a product they wanted, then it tells me that we're not making enough. We let the customer tell us instead of creating an artificial demand for our products. Any time you're making products that people don't need, you're at the mercy of the economy, you're at the mercy of whatever is going on. So we tried to avoid that situation.

ON LIVING IN THE MOMENT:

I live for the moment. I'm basically a Buddhist-type person. I'm just here right now, and I don't think about what's going to happen a hundred years from now. I try to concentrate on what's going on right now.

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.

ON RECYCLING PRODUCTS:

...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 to us and we'll make more shirts and pants out of it.

Which is a different idea about consuming. Right now the world runs on consuming and discarding, and we're saying that we're taking responsibility for our products from birth to birth. Can you imagine if a computer company said, "When you're done with your computer, we'll buy it back from you and make more computers out of it." Instead, they sell you computer and you can't even get service from them!

It's a different way of accepting responsibility.

ON PROFITS:

If you focus on the goal and not the process, you inevitably compromise. Businessmen who focus on profits wind up in the hole. For me, profit is what happens when you do everything else right.

ON PR:

...we don't produce glossy PR kits or throw elaborate parties at trade shows. We believe the best way to get press is to have something to say.

ON CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY:

...it's always been difficult for us to lead an examined life as a corporation. I've always felt like a company has the responsibility to not wait for the government to tell it what to do, or to wait for the consumer to tell it what to do, but as soon as it finds out it’s doing something wrong, stop doing it.

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