In just his early thirties, Blake Mycoskie has already had an “amazing race” of a life. He started his first business (a campus laundry service) when he was attending college at Southern Methodist University. The business was successful and, after selling it, Blake continued to create successful businesses—five altogether. It was after competing on the CBS prime time show, The Amazing Race, however, that Blake realized his true passion. He returned to all of the countries he had raced through on the show and was struck by the extreme poverty of Argentina. He decided then that he needed to do something to help. In May 2006, Mycoskie used the skills and experiences he had acquired—creating and owning a company—and took a risk by doing something he had no knowledge of: making shoes. TOMS: Shoes for Tomorrow was created, a shoe company which promised that for every pair of shoes purchased, TOMS would give a pair to a child in need. His initial pledge of 250 shoes to children in Argentina quickly outpaced his expectations, and on that first Shoe Drop, TOMS gave 10,000 pairs of new shoes to children Mycoskie had met during previous visits. As of April 2010, TOMS has given over 600,000 pairs of new shoes to children in need around the world. TOMS has been honored with many prestigious government awards, and has helped spread numerous successful community movements, including “One Day Without Shoes.” Mycoskie has said that his favorite quote is by Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” By thinking critically about his different areas of knowledge and passions, Mycoskie was truly able to understand how he could affect the change he wanted to see in the world.

1. How did Blake Mycoskie use the principles discussed in this chapter during his creation of TOMS: Shoes for Tomorrow? Would the company have been as successful if Mycoskie was unable to make the initial connection between his prior skills and his developing passion and new mission in life?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Yes the company would have been successful if Mycoskie was unable to make the initial connection bet... View the full answer