The Compass and the Nail

How the Patagonia Model of Loyalty Can Save Your Business, and Might Just Save the Planet

Rare Bird Books, 2015

15 min read

10 take-aways

Audio & text

What's inside?

Align your company’s and your customers’ principles for financial and environmental sustainability.

auto-generated audio

1×

auto-generated audio

Editorial Rating

Qualities

Innovative
Applicable

Recommendation

If you’ve ever argued with a colleague about why the details of each point of communication with your customers really matter, read this and pass it around the office. Branding expert Craig Wilson’s engaging text explains the importance of forging strong relationships with your customers and of aligning your company’s principles with those of your clientele. Wilson, a branding expert, shares his observations and shows how to convert prospective customers into ardent, loyal fans – all while running an environmentally and financially sustainable business. He provides actionable resources to ensure long-term, profitable customer relationships. Some of his language is moving and effective, though it may feel more poetic than practical, and the book’s structure can be clumsy. But the content overrides any minor issues. getAbstract recommends this manual to entrepreneurs, business students and professors, brand managers, anyone in customer relations or marketing, and those who prioritize environmental or social issues.

Summary

“True North”

How does your organization define its true north – the principles that motivate everything it does? Businesses, brands, political groups and charities secure strong, loyal constituent relations by defining their true north and following it. Stay focused on understanding your customers, not data. Guard against brand erosion or deviation from your principles and mission.

Author Craig Wilson bonded with Patagonia when he found one of the company’s jackets in his sailing team’s bin of lost items. He found that the fleece top was the only article of clothing that protected him properly while he sailed. His love of sailing paired with Patagonia’s “reverence for nature” and “stories of adventurers.” When he applied for a marketing job with Patagonia Sailing in 1998, he explained how his beliefs and values matched Patagonia’s. Their shared true north united the company and the individual. Wilson worked for Patagonia for eight years.

The Imperative of “Sustainability”

A sustainable company considers all of the resources and costs – environmental, ethical, financial and social – that combine to make up its products. Corporate sustainability also...

About the Author

Entrepreneur Craig Wilson worked at Patagonia in product marketing and joined its Internet Group. He consults on brand development and strategy, direct marketing and consumer loyalty.

Comment on this summary

Sign in to share your opinion
M. N. 2 years ago

good one
D. S. 2 years ago

Well define true north channelize the right track

More on this topic

In our Journal

2 years ago

Journal Article

How to Give Back

Embrace corporate social responsibility from the inside out. Businesses understand that having a mission that is greater than the bottom line pays off in many ways. The shift toward conscious capitalism was encapsulated in the “Davos Manifesto 2020,” in which the World Economic Forum calls on organizations to “engage all its stakeholders” by making the […]

3 years ago

Journal Article

Great Expeditions

Managing organization-wide change is daunting but the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. During an earlier age, explorers like Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan led grand expeditions to discover the world and its riches. In the current era, hailed by the World Economic Forum as the Fourth Industrial […]

3 years ago

Journal Article

Saving the World Through Business

Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard led his company down the road less traveled and became a model for businesses to do well while doing good. Patagonia is a world-renowned, robust clothing company with reportedly $1 billion in yearly sales and approaching 50 years in business, but you won’t find the word “profit” in the company’s mission […]