After five decades of doing business on its own terms, Patagonia publishes "The Future of the Responsible Company".
Patagonia publishes "The Future of the Responsible Company: What We've Learned from Patagonia's First 50 Years"written by the company's director of philosophy, Vincent Stanleyand its founder, Yvon Chouinard. The book includes a detailed explanation of Patagonia's new ownership structure, which made headlines around the world more than a year ago.
"The Future of the Responsible Company" provides an insider's view of the essential elements of Patagonia's business and offers lessons for the future learned from its management. Stanley is responsible for many of the campaigns and initiatives that have made the company one of America's best known and most trusted brands, and his latest book presents readers with an approach to corporate responsibility at a time of growing cultural divides and a worsening climate and ecological crisis.
"A company's fundamental responsibilities to its stakeholders have not changed in the last ten years," said Vincent Stanley, emphasising the need for a radical revision of the original book. "But the world has changed. Threats to environmental and social health have accelerated. So has our understanding of what needs to be done, both by business and the public sector."
The book is based on its original version ("The Responsible Company", published in 2012), which illustrated how a company can reduce the damage it causes, improve the quality of its business and provide meaningful employment for its employees. "The Future of the Responsible Company" includes a 75% of new content, photos and a brand new chapter on the jobs needed to save our planet and our society.
Since its founding in 1973, Patagonia has dedicated its influence and resources to conserving the natural world. From an essay urging climbers to rethink their gear to protect rocks to pioneering the use of organic cotton, the company has explored how to use business to do good. In 2018, Patagonia changed its purpose to "We are in business to save our planet" and in September 2022, Chouinard and his family relinquished ownership. Now, the Patagonia Purpose Trust manages the company, taking care to hold firm to its values. All money not reinvested in the business is given as a dividend to the Holdfast Collective, a non-profit organisation, to combat the climate and ecological crisis.
As natural and commercial landscapes change and face an increasingly chaotic climate, "The Future of the Responsible Company" offers business leaders a vision for minimising environmental impact and implementing policies that prioritise corporate health and longevity over the often destructive pursuit of short-term profits.
