Book Club: "Let my People go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman" by Yvon Chouinard

The bottom line on this one is that it’s an absolutely fascinating read. that being said if you read the first third carefully (a detailed history in the perspective of the founder) the rest of the book isn’t completely necessary and I found myself glossing over it.

Let me explain.

Our author Yvon Chouinard tells the absolutely fantastic story of the early days of his company (if you can even call it company) and his youth. You really gain an excellent perspective into what he and his company are all about. The great detail he goes into during this story is precisely why you don’t need to read the rest of his ‘business philosophy’ because the early history pages are dripping with it already

That being said I truly do admire him and took away many maxim’s of business and life that I will incorporate into my own in my pursuit of happiness and fulfillment. The main points he makes (and absolutely lives by) are:

Make great things Whatever your product or service, take pride in it and do whatever it takes to produce the highest quality product you are capable of. One of the reasons Patagonia was successful early on was that they simply made the best gear. Customers tolerated slow shipping/production times and ignored the fact that the products were made in a shack by some kids because they were simply the best gear around. This is hugely powerful and lets you skimp on the other ‘business’ type things that many people obsess over like marketing.

Treat your employees well (Profits aren’t the end all goal) The title of the book says it all, Chouinard never considered himself a businessman, especially in his early days. As he writes in his book, summers were mostly taken off to do climbs, only coming back to building climbing equipment in the winters (so he could afford to climb again next summer). This philosophy was extrapolated to even the large incarnation of Patagonia we know today. Employee happiness is key, and certainly their lives are put ahead of all else.

From how Yvon writes, master the above two things and everything else will fall into place. So there you have it, there’s much more depth in the book but for my purposes it wasn’t all necessary. The first 75 pages were well worth the purchase in my opinion, anything else you can learn from the remaining philosophy of business is gravy. Here’s the link to grab a copy.

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