"Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away"
https://bit.ly/4p9mcHe
I wanted to write about this book because of the endless stream of CEOs... People have this idea that Patagonia has always been smooth-sailing, but that is not the truth. Yes, the company was started by Yvon Chouinard, but what people don't realize is this visionary is a mercurial man who has contempt for his workers... Yes, you hear all about the surfing breaks, but Chouinard keeps believing his workers are slackers and don't deliver.
Meanwhile, he doesn't want to be hands-on. He's always off on extended wilderness trips and then he comes back and cocks up the works, having no idea how the company is run, never mind not always having good ideas.
There's this belief that the success of these companies is linear, once they catch fire it's onwards and upwards, but not with Patagonia.
Chouinard was a climber who was dissatisfied by the day's pitons who became a blacksmith so he could make better ones. But once he gained traction, he was horrified at the results...scarring of the rock walls, so he killed his own business, just like Clayton Christensen said to do in "The Innovator's Dilemma" and switched everybody to chocks... Putting his business in jeopardy, but changing the entire sport for the better in the process.
Not that every innovation was linear. He decided to use organic cotton... Which gummed up the works, literally, and colors faded and... God, you read this book and all the failures of Patagonia are pointed out and you almost wonder how the company survived (and at one point it almost didn't), since Patagonia prides itself on quality products sold at a premium price.
I first heard of them in Utah, back in '75, my housemate had these pants he got from the Great Pacific Iron Works... He couldn't stop testifying about them, even though they were baggy and the opposite of the skiwear of the day, and Tom kept saying this guy Yvon Chouinard was a visionary manufacturer but I thought he was just another Frenchman yet it turned out he grew up in Southern California...
And then I heard about Synchilla. The initial fleece. Which I bought in the early eighties, when almost no one had heard of Patagonia... In truth, the jacket was boxy and not exactly form-fitting, but I testified about its warmth even when wet and then a few years later fleece was everywhere...still is.
And I've bought a lot of Patagonia stuff, but it's become somewhat of a cult, and I'm not enamored of all its members... You see them on the slope, they wear this boxy stuff that is layered... I guess it would be okay if they didn't look down on the rest of us. I mean the stuff is functional...but far from the height of style...
But I was hiking at Vail a summer ago and it started to rain and I was kind of enjoying it, figuring my Marmot jacket was protecting me, but when I got back to the condo...I couldn't warm up. Hard to believe, but I had symptoms of hypothermia, I started to freak out, I jumped into the shower and had to stand there for minutes before my body temperature rose. That's when I decided I needed a better rain jacket.
So I did the research. And all agreed that this Patagonia jacket was definitive. And it was in stock in Vail, but not sure what color I wanted I went to the website to see the range of possibilities and found out it was ON SALE ONLINE! List was $179, but it was offered for $124.99 and I clicked to buy it and I've been pondering writing about it ever since, telling you about it, and here is my opportunity.
Unlike the lightweight Marmot jacket I had and the North Face one before, this Patagonia Torrentshell 3L actually keeps the water out. (However, it is a bit thicker, a bit stiffer, so not as squeezable/packable as the competitors, but it keeps you DRY!)
https://www.patagonia.com/product/mens-torrentshell-3-layer-rain-jacket/85241.html
I guess I've got one foot in the cult.
Anyway, Chouinard famously "gave away" Patagonia, but I was more interested in what came before.
And reading this book I realized Chouinard was a rock star. He had a vision and it had to be done his way. He refused to go public, take outside money, because he knew it would mess with the business. And how much money did he need anyway? He's the opposite of the titans you see in the news, accumulating ad infinitum. And at this point people know the story, but they don't know how difficult, even headstrong Chouinard is.
And people don't like controlling, headstrong people. Which is why if you are one, you can't play nice, you've got to find a lane where you can operate unhindered. In a country where everybody wants you to get along. And to play by the rules. Chouinard is the antithesis of this. He's all about conservation, saving the planet, and if his minions get arrested protesting corporation/government overreach, he supports them...even when it's bad for his business.
Don't read this book to learn how to emulate him. Chouinard is one of a kind.
But know you don't have to do it their way.
Then again, Chouinard seems to be the only person doing it his way.
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