The Responsible Company, by Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of Patagonia, and Vincent Stanley, co-editor of its Footprint Chronicles, draw on the their 40 years' experience at Patagonia and knowledge of current efforts by other companies to articulate the elements of responsible business for our time. Patagonia, named by Fortune in 2007 as the coolest company on the planet, has earned a reputation as much for its ground-breaking environmental and social practices as for the quality of its clothes. In this exceptionally frank account, Chouinard and Stanley recount how the company and its culture gained the confidence, by step and misstep, to make its work progressively more responsible, and to ultimately share its discoveries with companies as large as Wal-Mart or as small as the corner bakery. In plain, compelling prose, the authors describe the current impact of manufacturing and commerce on the planet’s natural systems and human communities, and how that impact now forces business to change its ways. The Responsible Company shows companies how to reduce the harm they cause, improve the quality of their business, and provide the kind of meaningful work everyone seeks. It concludes with specific, practical steps every business can undertake, as well as advice on what to do, in what order. This is the first book to show companies how to thread their way through economic sea change and slow the drift toward ecological bankruptcy. Its advice is simple but powerful: reduce your environmental footprint (and its skyrocketing cost), make legitimate products that last, reclaim deep knowledge of your business and its supply chain to make the most of opportunities in the years to come, and earn the trust you’ll need by treating your workers, customers and communities with respect.

The Responsible Company: What We've Learned From Patagonia's First 40 Years

Business & Money

CHOUINARD, Yvon

Stanley, Vincent

Biography & History

Patagonia Books

Visitation: Journal of a Plague Year

Arts & Photography

Ekedal, Ryk

Photography & Video

Blurb

In Let My People Go Surfing (Revised and Updated), Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard lays out his business and environmental philosophies, which are the foundation of this always iconoclastic, visionary, and increasingly influential company. The Responsible Company and Patagonia's Tools for Grassroots Activists present the practical applications, strategies and tools to execute those philosophies, in both the workplace, and in environmental organizations. Together the three books provide readers what they need to operate responsibly and effectively in both arenas today: business and activism. By packaging all three books together, Patagonia is emphasizing that the lines between business and environmental activism can be blurry, as demonstrated for its over 40-year history. Businesses today must be conscientious about their environmental footprint, always working to minimize it, and activists groups should apply business principles to their organizations in order to succeed. These three best-selling books together provide a primer for the future of sustainable business. This collection, a great value, is indispensable to any company operating today.

The Patagonia Business Library: Including Let My People Go Surfing, The Responsible Company, and Patagonia's Tools for Grassroots Activists

Economics

Patagonia

Simple but powerful advice on how and why to rethink your business structure in a time when traditional capitalism is no longer working for people or the planet. 
Vincent Stanley, Patagonia's Director of Philosophy, with Yvon Chouinard, founder and former owner of Patagonia, draws on 50 years' experience at Patagonia to challenge all business owners and leaders to rethink their businesses in a time of cultural and climate chaos. 
Patagonia over and over throughout the years has been recognized as much for its ground-breaking environmental, social practices as for the quality of its clothes. And then, in an unprecedented action, in 2022, the Chouinard family gave their company away, converting ownership to a simple structure of trusts and non-profits, so that all the profits from the company can be used to protect our home planet and work to reverse climate chaos. In this exceptionally frank account, Stanley with Chouinard recounts how the company and its culture gained the confidence, by step and misstep, to make its work progressively more responsible, and to ultimately challenge other companies, as big as Wal-Mart and as small as the corner bakery, to do the same. 
In plain, compelling prose, the authors describe the current impact of manufacturing, commerce, and traditional capitalism on the planet’s natural systems and human communities, and how that impact is forcing business to change its ways. The Future of the Responsible Company shows companies how to reduce the harm they cause, improve the quality of their business, and provide the kind of meaningful work everyone seeks. It concludes with specific, practical steps every business can undertake, as well as advice on what to do, in what order. 
This is the first book to show companies how to thread their way through economic sea change and slow the drift toward ecological bankruptcy. Its advice is simple but powerful: reduce your environmental footprint (and its skyrocketing cost), make legitimate products that last, reclaim deep knowledge of your business and its supply chain to make the most of opportunities in the years to come, and earn the trust you’ll need by treating your workers, customers, and communities with respect. It also describes the threats of traditional capitalism and why the owners of Patagonia chose to hack the system to ensure that the company will still exist and have impact in 100 years. An explanation of Patagonia's revolutionary new business organization, The Patagonia Purpose Trust and The Holdfast Collective, rounds out this captivating business book.

The Future of the Responsible Company: What We've Learned from Patagonia's First 50 Years

Business Culture

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Books by Stanley, Vincent