Octagon Speakers

Yvon Chouinard is one of the most successful, unorthodox CEO’s in all of business.  He hates the typical structure of the corporate world, but still considers himself a businessman.  He has built a renowned company around the outdoors by founding the clothing company Patagonia, Inc. in 1973.  Chouinard was originally building his own rock-climbing equipment because he felt there needed to be more sturdy devices made in the U.S.  He even took up blacksmithing and would sell the equipment out of his own trunk.  Living in California, he wanted to develop the type of employees who could feel free to go surfing if a big swell came in, or hit the slopes if there was a big snowfall.  You can even go barefoot around the office.  The company is said to exist on challenging conventional wisdom and present a new style of responsible enterprise.  Chouinard is frequently asked to impart his wisdom as a businessman and environmentalist through his fascinating and colorful character.

"Yvon Chouinard is a mountain climber in both the literal sense and the metaphorical sense, and no mountain he ever climbed literally was more daunting or important than the one he is climbing in his business: ' Mount Sustainability'. Here he tells the story of that climb, not only the what and how of it, but also the why. What an important and inspiring read! Thank you, Yvon, for your story."
— Ray Anderson, Chairman, Interface, Inc., on Chouinard’s biography, Let My People Go Surfing