Patagonia Founder: Keep It Simple

The brand Patagonia is probably more famous than the place. It’s a bit ironic since company founder Yvon Chouinard is anti-consumerism and pro-environment, but more people today are familiar with his clothes than the pristine expanse of land in South America that he loves. That shows his prowess as a businessman, and for him life comes down to one thing — something all firms should seek. “One of the things I really believed in is the idea of simplicity, that life should always be moving towards more simplicity rather than more complexity,” wrote Chouinard in Good magazine. “And when I see somebody, you know, riding a finless surfboard and surfing better than 99% of the surfers out there, I think, ‘This is fantastic. This is the way to go.'”