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Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual

Book by Yvon Chouinard · 11 quotes · Ifs, Company, Dies

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Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual Quotes

“There is a beginning and end to all life - and to all human endeavors. Species evolve and die off. Empires rise, then break apart. Businesses grow, then fold. There are no exceptions. I'm OK with all that. Yet it pains me to bear witness to the sixth great extinction, where we humans are directly responsible for the extirpation of so many wonderful creatures and invaluable indigenous cultures. It saddens me to observe the plight of our own species; we appear to be incapable of solving our problems.”

HumansEndsProblemPainDiesCultureGrowsBreakWonderfulBearsCreaturesResponsibleSpeciesWitnessEvolveEmpiresExceptionEndeavorIncapableExtinctionIndigenousFoldsInvaluablePlightBeginnings And EndsIndigenous Culture
Book:Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual
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“The goal of climbing big, dangerous mountains should be to attain some sort of spiritual and personal growth, but this won't happen if you compromise away the entire process.”

IfsShouldBigsHappensSpiritualProcessGoalGrowthDangerousMountainPersonal GrowthCompromiseClimbing
Book:Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual
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“Doing risk sports had taught me another important lesson: never exceed your limits. You push the envelope and you live for those moments when you’re right on the edge, but you don’t go over. You have to be true to yourself; you have to know your strengths and limitations and live within your means. The same is true for a business. The sooner a company tries to be what it is not, the sooner it tries to ‘have it all,’ the sooner it will die.”

KnowsTryingMeanImportantMomentsDiesSportsCompanyRiskTaughtLessonsLimitsEdgesBeing TrueLimitationOver YouExceedBe True To YourselfTrue To YourselfEnvelopesImportant LessonsPatagonia
Book:Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual
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“If you want to understand the entrepreneur, study the juvenile delinquent. The delinquent is saying with his actions, ‘This sucks, I’m going to do my own thing.’”

IfsWantActionMy OwnStudyEntrepreneurJuvenileDelinquents
Book:Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual
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“Hiring people with diverse backgrounds brings in a flexibility of thought and openness to new ways of doing things, as opposed to hiring clones from business schools who have been taught a codified way of doing business.”

PeopleWayHas BeensSchoolTaughtBackgroundsOpennessDiverseNew WaysFlexibilityHiringBusiness SchoolNew Ways Of Doing Things
Book:Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual
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“Evil doesn’t have to be an overt act; it can be merely the absence of good. If you have the ability, the resources, and the opportunity to do good and you do nothing, that can be evil.”

IfsEvilOpportunityAbilityResourcesAbsence
Book:Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual
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“When I die and go to hell, the devil is going to make me the marketing director for a cola company. I’ll be in charge of trying to sell a product that no one needs, is identical to its competition, and can’t be sold on its merits. I’d be competing head-on in the cola wars, on price, distribution, advertising, and promotion, which would indeed be hell for me. Remember, I’m the kid who couldn’t play competitive games. I’d much rather design and sell products so good and unique that they have no competition.”

NeedsTryingWarPlayKidsRememberDiesGamesCompanyHellDesignProductsDirectorsUniqueDevilSellsCompetitionMarketingAdvertisingMeritCompetingDistributionPromotionIdenticalGo To Hell
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“One thing I did not want to change, even if we got serious, work had to be enjoyable on a daily basis. We all had to come to work on the balls of our feet and go up the stairs two at a time.”

IfsWantTwoOne ThingFeetSeriousBallsBasesEnjoyableStairsSerious Work
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“I took a dozen of our top managers to Argentina, to the windswept mountains of the real Patagonia, for a walkabout. In the course of roaming around those wild lands, we asked ourselves why we were in business and what kind of business we wanted Patagonia to be. A billion-dollar company? Okay, but not if it meant we had to make products we couldn't be proud of. And we discussed what we could do to help stem the environmental harm we caused as a company. We talked about the values we had in common, and the shared culture that had brought everyone to Patagonia, Inc., and not another company.”

IfsKindRealHelpingWantedValuesCultureCoursesCommonBusinessCompanyLandProductsProudMountainOkayDollarsEnvironmentalHarmBillionsManagersDozenStemBe ProudArgentinaRoamingPatagoniaRoaming Around
Book:Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual
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