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Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman [Paperback]

Yvon Chouinard (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Like the carefully engineered dies which created his company's first products--steel pitons and carabiners which climbing enthusiasts would recognize as primitive forerunners of today's sleeker gear--Yvon Chouinard is if nothing else an original. How many other shy French-Canadian boys become surf-and-climbing bums, then blacksmiths forging their own play tools, and eventually founders of world-renowned sports equipment and apparel companies like Patagonia? How many other heads of multi-million dollar enterprises open their memoirs by stating bluntly, "The Lee Iacoccas, Donald Trumps, and Jack Welches of the business world are heroes to no one except other businessmen with similar values. I wanted to be a fur trapper when I grew up." The proverbial mold from which Chouinard was cast got broken.

In Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman, readers get a fascinating look inside the history and philosophy of both Patagonia and its irascible, opinionated founder. From its beginning, the book shares a sense of Chouinard's strong-willed personality and his love of the outdoors. He recounts a mostly happy childhood spent in a still-unspoiled southern California, climbing, diving, fishing, and surfing. The narrative soon moves into Chouinard's early entrepreneurial efforts, which were less focused on market-share domination than on earning a basic living to finance his own sporting habits. As his company's first catalog noted, delivery could be slow in the summer months, when Chouinard typically left the "office"--a dilapidated shack converted into an ironworks--for climbing adventures across the American West.

Eventually, though, the story settles into a pattern familiar to business audiences: Patagonia grows rapidly, takes on more employees and product lines to sustain hungry demand from customers, but overreaches with over-ambitious expansion plans and suffers a hiccup in its adolescence. This make-or-break juncture of a business's development often contains the most interesting material, and here Chouinard and his beloved company are no exception. He describes a series of wrenching decisions through which he and Patagonia management team navigated in 1991, as sales growth stalled while capital and operational expenses sprinted ahead. From this crisis emerged Patagonia's first-ever layoffs, affecting a hefty 20% of the workforce, and a serious re-examination of the business's core principles and methods.

The historical part of Chouinard's book largely ends at this point, and gives way to an exposition of philosophies which emerged at Patagonia during its dark moments in the early 1990s. The rest of the book serves as a kind of primer to business, the Patagonia way: one chapter each on product design philosophy, production philosophy, distribution philosophy, image philosophy, financial philosophy, human resource philosophy, and so on. Fans of Patagonia can revel in the company's working details, as can those who support or want to build businesses with self-consciously cultivated soulfulness. Readers who enjoyed Gary Erickson's story about Clif Bar, for example, should definitely find this a welcome addition to their bookshelves. --Peter Han --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Chouinard, founder and owner of Patagonia Inc., presents his philosophy for a "new style of responsible business" along with a chronicle of his personal and company history in this sincere if self-congratulatory creed. A Californian of French-Canadian descent, Chouinard started forging climbing hardware and selling it out of his car in 1957 and published his first catalogue, a one-page mimeographed sheet, in 1964. Today, his sporting goods company has annual revenues of $230 million, but he nonetheless identifies himself as more of "a climber, a surfer, a kayaker, a skier and a blacksmith" than a CEO. In this vein, he lays out his alternative vision of business, detailing eco- and people-conscious philosophies on aspects of the supply chain from product design and production to human resources and management. Chouinard has backed up his rhetoric with action: Patagonia pursues sustainability, gives 1% of annual net sales to environmental groups and has set benchmarks with its employee-friendly policies. Patagoniacs and socially conscious businesspeople may appreciate this account despite its wooden writing, especially as an antidote to headlines of corporate fraud. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Yvon Chouinard
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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To young kid growing up ever dreams of someday becoming a businessman. Read the first page
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clean climbing, civil democracy, soda pop bottles, organic cotton, rugby shirts, grown cotton, unnecessary harm
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Courtesy of Patagonia, Chouinard Equipment, United States, Tom Frost, Doug Tompkins, Rick Ridgeway, San Francisco, New York, Stand Up Shorts, North America, Planned Parenthood, Royal Robbins, Snake River, Los Angeles, Stony Point, Ventura River, Yvon Chouinard, French Canadian, Harold Leffler, Kitamaat Village, Mount Fitzroy, Tom Brokaw, Yosemite Valley
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Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman
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Customer Reviews

61 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (61 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars just drop everything and read the book, February 1, 2006
This review is from: Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman (Hardcover)
This is one of those drop everything books that you want to buy and give to all your friends and relations who will read and gain from it.
I don't even know how the book came to my attention to buy i the first place, it sat in my TBR pile for several weeks until i had the time to read the first chapter and skim the rest, my usual routine with new books as they come into the house. However it is so good, from the first sentence that i just set aside my other reading and finished it.



It is about doing good and having an adventure while doing so. Partly biographical, partly a history of the company's beginning, mostly a philosophic discussion of how to interact with an increasingly polluted and destroyed planet in a responsible corporate way. It's a story about a man, from all indications one of those rare individuals who consciously walks through life (perhaps climbing is a better word for his travels) aware of what is around him and how he is responsible for his wake through the world.

From the decision to end pinions and switch to clean climbing chocks to the 1% of sales to progressive environmental activist groups, his philosophy not only interacts with his outdoor activities but with the wider world. This book ought to be required reading for every MBA, every business student in the world. And recommended reading for everyone else.

I'm not a very hopeful person, perhaps being in contact with people like the author would turn me around. He is realistic, a little pessimistic but puts his money, his deeds where his words are, in action. An excellent book, just drop everything and get a copy and read it tonight.

thanks for reading this short review.
if you can offer suggestion like this book, please email rwilliam2@yahoo.com subject amazon review.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible insights from incredible man, October 15, 2005
This review is from: Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman (Hardcover)
Yvon Chouinard takes all current and accepted business practices and turns them on their ear! Being involved in the "corporate world" I am witness to all sorts of techniques, behaviours, policies, practices etc. The driving force is always the bottom line. While Chouinard is, and has to be concerned with the bottom line his path to that bottom line is both bold and unique. Clearly this is a very practical guide to a more healthy and sustainable business culture.
Chouinard is clearly a wonderful man leading a wonderful charge. Hey, I want my boss to let me go surfing!!A must read!
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A leader with vision, October 22, 2005
This review is from: Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman (Hardcover)
There is no better place to work than one where the employees share the vision of the company, and believe in the leadership of the company. "Let My People Go Surfing" is a detailed mission statement for a company whose purpose is to take care of its employees, and do one's best within the 'business ecosystem.' There's no question that Patagonia is a tremendously successful enterprise, and there's no question that Yvon Chouinard's vision has captivated many. He's living proof that you can lead with the customer's and employee's best interest in mind, and reap the benefits of success which transcend the dollar. I'd encourage anyone who is in management to read this book, and take what you can from the teachings within, and incorporate them into your own leadership. It's also an interesting read for anyone who has a hard time believing that you can't follow your dreams and also be financially successful.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Book
This book is pretty fantastic. This guy really seems to have it all figured out. It's basically part autobiography, part treatise on the environment. Read more
Published 9 days ago by G. Roberts

2.0 out of 5 stars No need to buy
'Let my people go surfing' is one of the most insincere books i have ever read. The story told in that book is most of the time uninteresting and dull. Read more
Published 1 month ago by okan

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast, interesting read
Interesting story of an interesting man. I would have enjoyed more depth, but the book makes for a fast and fun read.
Published 1 month ago by btb35

5.0 out of 5 stars Why can't I work at Patagonia!
This book is great, but it will make you want to leave your job and work for Patagonia. This is a tale of ingenuity, sustainability and a general respect for the environment that... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Dennis Healy

5.0 out of 5 stars Different Way to Approach Business
As a business major and activist, this book was insightful to the successes and hurdles of a business. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Panda Bear

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Excellent service. Book was packaged nicely.
I highly recommend this seller!
Published 6 months ago by Juliana K. Anderson

5.0 out of 5 stars If only more companies worked this way
Great book showing how some "dirtbags" have changed business paradigms. Great read for any socially responsible entrepreneur who wants to create a great company.
Published 10 months ago by E. Lainez

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
I love it! Being a great leader does not necessarily mean you have to compromise your values!
Published 11 months ago

5.0 out of 5 stars Pioneer
This was an awesome book that came at an awesome price that was about an awesome man. It came really promptly and was in perfect condition.
Published 12 months ago by Sarah A. Cunliffe

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Business Model = outstanding quality products & service
After 30 years in business - 20 of them running my own Consulting Company - Chouinard captures the essence of a successful company, attracting and then retaining outstanding... Read more
Published 13 months ago by John Baxter

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