It's that time of year again in N. America. The mornings are crisp, afternoons are hot; the sky has a golden glow to it, thanks to the refraction of light from turning leaves and trees in various shades of fall. Above 9 thousand feet there's snow and it's not going to melt anytime soon from now on... I love it. If you're reading this blog you likely do too.
The new SKI, Boulder based ski magazine, has just arrived and the last page is adorned with thoughts from Patagonia Founder Yvon Chouinard. I am captured by what he offers in very simple terms:
"Everytime I'm stumped in a business problem, it doesn't matter what it is, the answer is always, "Increase the quality. Always." He goes on, "And that's not common in business." Sales are low decrease the quality, make it cheaper." "If you increase the quality you never go wrong."
Chouinard then offers a quote that exhilarates me, "Whether its the quality of the employee benefits or the product itself".. ("if you increase the quality you never go wrong.") I appreiate his reiteration that People ARE important! The WE is important to my production and execution as a company! Duh!
When asked about sustainability he screams of the less than intelligent use of the term... and offers you and me to be responsible, as responsible as we can be in any given situation. This offers us the opportunity to ask a VALUES driven question in any work, guiding a client, in the back country ourselves, or in a boardroom with our own team... "How do we be the most responsible we can be here?" More so, What does being responsible look and feel like here and now. With THIS issue? (what ever the issue is.)
Is Chouinard an optimist? He says resolutely, "NO." He states in so many words because the next generation is scared there is where his hope and optomism sit.
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As I read Chouinard's message, thanks "SKI", I find myself all the more saying to myself and to anyone with whom I'm in bounds or out, in a board room or dining room, BE responsible; make the choice to BE conscious instead of unconscious. To Chouinard's point raise the bar rather than lower it. What ever gear were riding, wearing or using, use it wisely, be awake.
Each decision I or you make impacts a pond of people. Each choice I make creates a ripple. And the impact of my actions, our actions IS apparent somewhere. For this winter season coming, I hope you can join me in consciousness, leadership that holds the whole of "WE" at the same time it holds "I".
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One quick plug in support of all the above, I'll be taking leaders and leadership groups into the high country beginning January, February and March 2012 in the Frazer Valley at Winter Park, Colorado. Join me and my amazing team! ... drop a line or give me a call for more specific info!
You make a difference! Own it.
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