Supplementary Reading

A sample from the 2011-2012 school year.

Annotations: Patagonia's Chouinard

Chouinard, Yvon. Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman. New York: Penguin, 2005.

Chouinard is the founder and CEO of Patagonia, the climbing/sports-equipment/clothing company that specializes in good relations between management and employees, between consumers and what's consumed, between humanity and the Earth. Here, Chouinard provides the history of the company from the first climbs and the first ironmongery offered for sale, even as he clarifies the philosophy, radical as it is, that a capable, competitive company and happiness really may go hand in hand in (corporate) America. A blueprint of sorts, a philosophical treatise, certainly: I've used sections of this book with students in the past. Chouinard tells stories well, and he has the stories well worth sharing.

A real adventure narrative, and yet all business, too, in the best sense.