Read Leader making a Difference - Chapter 6 : Yvon Chouinard.

Recent events have cast a bad light on the ethical behavior of today's CEOs. An exception to this view is Yvon Chouinard, founder and president of Patagonia. Chouinard realized early that everything his company did had a negative effect on the environment. In response, he redefined his company's mission to be proactive in terms of the environment. Since 1985, Patagonia has donated 1 percent of its annual sales to grassroots environmental groups and has gotten more than 1,200 companies to follow its lead as part of its "1% for the Planet" group.

Discuss the following:

• What can you learn from this leader making a difference?
• If you were the CEO of an organization, what would be some initiatives you would like to put in place to encourage social responsibility?

Yvon Chouinard is a self-taught blacksmith who, in 1957, started crafting mountain-climbing pitons he and other climbing enthusiasts used as anchors on risky climbs.33 His hardware became so popular that he would go on to found the outdoor-clothing company Patagonia. As his company grew, Chouinard realized that everything his company did had an effectmostly negativeon the environment. Today, he defines the company's mission in eco-driven terms: "To use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis." Chouinard has put environmental activism at the forefront of his company. Since 1985, Patagonia has donated 1 percent of its annual sales to grassroots environmental groups and has gotten more than 1,300 companies to follow its lead as part of its "1% for the Planet" group. He recognizes that "every product, no matter how much thought goes into it, has a destructive impact on Earth." But nonetheless, he keeps doing what he does because "it's the right thing to do." What can you learn from this leader making a difference?