Entrepreneurial Core Values

I’ve been exploring entrepreneurial values looking at how they can be incorporated within my business and searching for a blueprint I can follow. 

In the previous post, Align Aspirations with Core Values, I report on two inspirational companies, Patagonia and Ben & Jerry’s commitment to core values and incorporate them within their business.

In this post, I investigate further to see how Patagonia does this not just in words but in deeds.   

Patagonia states its core values on paper and incorporates these values within its products.

They identified the best product as ‘useful, versatile, long-lasting, repairable and recyclable’.  and

‘Our ideal is to make products that give back to the Earth as much as they take.‘

Within those initial statements, their core values of Quality, Integrity, and Environmentalism are embedded.

Much of this is so inspiring that I want to quote directly their other core values of Environmentalism and Justice.

Environmentalism

“Protect our home planet. We’re all part of nature, and every decision we make is in the context of the environmental crisis challenging humanity. We work to reduce our impact, share solutions, and embrace regenerative practices. We partner with grassroots organizations and frontline communities to restore lands, air, and waters to a state of health; to arrest our addiction to fossil fuels; and to address the deep connections between environmental destruction and social justice.

Justice

Be just, equitable, and antiracist as a company and in our community.  We embrace the work necessary to create equity for historically marginalized people and reorder the priorities of an economic system that values short-term expansion over human well-being and thriving communities.

We acknowledge painful histories, confront biases, change our policies, and hold each other accountable. We aspire to be a company where people from all backgrounds, identities, and experiences have the power to contribute and lead.”

It’s very powerful to see a company set an example by acknowledging and being accountable for their part in a problem and then resolving to do better. 

Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia says, ‘Patagonia is committed to using our company to change the way business was done. If we could do the right thing while making enough to pay the bills, we could influence customers and other businesses, and maybe change the system along the way.  In 2018, the company’s purpose was changed to: We’re in business to save our home planet. 

Values That Sustain Entrepreneurs

 In an article, titled, The Values That Sustain Entrepreneurs, Ray Smilor writes:

“But entrepreneurship is not a values-free, amoral process. The very act of starting and building something of significance should require a consideration of values — of combining what is done with how it is done. There’s also a very practical reason for a values-based, morally rigorous view of entrepreneurship. That is usually the only viable way for an entrepreneur to do business in the long run.”

Let Our Words Speak

I have struggled for years with certain ideals of entrepreneurship that I fundamentally disagreed with but I still struggled to fit into. 

But through the process of this blog, I have been able to change and challenge those ideas that do not work for me. 

I think that as we strive to make ourselves financially better, we also consider how we can make this world a better place for all of us. 

Patagonia’s environmental core value that ‘We’re all part of nature, and every decision we make ….. impacts all of us.

Hopefully, this belief we can share and keep us striving to make our world a better place for ourselves, and a better future for our children’s children.

Please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you

Eleanor

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