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Let My People Go Surfing
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Jeff Miller
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May 30, 2006 06:51 PDT
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Hi everyone... greetings from a very hot and humid U.S. heartland.
Summer isn't even "officially" here, yet it sure feels like it.
The following is a periodic newsletter that I receive. This one has a
write-up on a most intruiging book. So I thought I would pass this
along to you as well.
Have a terrific week, and for those of you in the northern hemisphere...
a wonderful summer. To those of you below the equator... we wish you a
great fall and winter.
Be well... /jeff
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: "InnovationNetwork" <sta-@thinksmart.com>
Send reply to: sta-@thinksmart.com
Date sent: Mon, 29 May 2006 10:16:31 -0500
Subject: Let My People Go Surfing, 5/29/2006
Heads-up! on Organizational Innovation
Brought to you by the InnovationNetwork
http://thinksmart.com/
(Please feel free to forward.)
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***************************************************
Archived at http://thinksmart.com
Let My People Go Surfing
"He not busy being born is busy dying."' -- Bob Dylan
Imagine working for a place where you were *expected* to have fun
... where you were celebrated for surfing when the surf was up,
skiing when the powder was fresh, or kayaking when the river called.
Imagine focusing on being the best company, offering the best
products rather than focusing on quarterly results.
Imagine working in an environment of trust and respect, where the
bosses work in offices that look just like yours, where your
children are part of the mix as they progress from day care to after
school care offered onsite.
Imagine working in an environment where you and your co-workers are
the ultimate customer. Imagine going to work everyday seeing
yourself as part of the world's environmental solution rather than
as a contributor to the world's pollution.
If you have any difficulty imagining the above, it's because you
haven't experienced working for a place such as Patagonia, the
outdoor equipment and clothing company.
The Innovation Book Club selection for June is "Let My People Go
Surfing, the education of a reluctant businessman," by Yvon
Chouinard, founder and owner. Part biography, part management text
and part environmental summons, this book reflects a different way
of doing business. The founders' (Yvon and his wife Malinda)
dedication to the environment and a life close to nature requires a
careful balance of philosophies and profit. While they measure
their bottom line by the amount of good they do in a year, profit is
what allows them to contribute to the environment.
Patagonia's environmental philosophy guidelines have a definite
personal behavior quality about them:
1. Lead an examined life.
2. Clean up our own act.
3. Do our penance.
4. Support civil democracy
5. Influence other companies
Taking the first guideline: Lead an examined life, Chouinard calls
our current environmental crisis a failure of imagination and
states, "Uncurious people do not lead examined lives; they cannot
see causes that lie deeper than the surface. They believe in blind
faith, and the most frightening thing about blind faith is that it
in turn leads to an inability, even an unwillingness, to accept
facts."
This is an inspiring book that eventually asks us to reflect on our
own personal role ... are we part of the problem or part of the
solution?
Joyce Wycoff
621 W. Line St., #203
Bishop, CA, 93514
760-872-3628
------- End of forwarded message -------
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