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

Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

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."

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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

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• "The Future of the Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned from Patagonia’s First 50 Years"
• Vincent Stanely
• Patagonia Books
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/vincent-stanley/

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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

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