Learning from the “Responsible Company”

TODAY, founder and owner of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, and co-editor of its Footprint Chronicles, Vincent Stanley, will discuss their new book, The Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned from Patagonia’s First 40 Years. They will focus on articulating the elements of responsible business, including how to reduce a company’s environmental footprint, create lasting products, understand a company’s supply chain, and earn the respect of customers, employees and communities.

This last issue may include a discussion of Patagonia’s recent conversion to a California Benefit Corporation. As we discussed in our LA Lawyer article, Patagonia was in line at the Secretary of State’s Office the first day this new corporate form was available. Chouinard explained this decision, stating that his company made the switch to “create the legal framework to enable [his company] to stay mission driven through succession, capital raises, and even changes in ownership by institutionalizing [] values, culture, processes and high standards . . .”

The discussion will be livestreaming this afternoon between 1:30pm-3:00pm PST at YALE LIVE.