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Making a Living in the Anthropocene, Vincent Stanley

On April 24, 2024, Vincent Stanley, Director of Philosophy at Patagonia and CBEY Resident Fellow, joined SOM’s Social Impact Lab to discuss the ways that businesses can contribute to restoring living systems.

Vincent Stanley
Vincent Stanley, Director of Philosophy at Patagonia and CBEY Resident Fellow.

On April 24, 2024, Vincent Stanley, Director of Philosophy at Patagonia and CBEY Resident Fellow, joined SOM’s Social Impact Lab to discuss the ways that businesses can contribute to restoring living systems. The talk aligned with Yale SOM’s mission to educate leaders for business and society and came at the right time for students pondering post-graduation employment.

Stanley underscored the benefits of working within business to drive social and environmental change, emphasizing the nimbleness and financial self-sustainability of the private sector in comparison to the public and non-profit sectors.

He then opened the discussion reflecting on three key lessons he learned throughout his time at Patagonia:

  • “Tell a story and bring your customers along”—In the company’s early days, Patagonia learned that their pitons (rock-climbing equipment) were degrading the environment by damaging the rock faces their customers loved to climb. Patagonia revolutionized the American climbing landscape when they made a bold new investment in chocks, an innovative and less invasive European rock-climbing tool, while urging customers not to buy their best-selling product despite dominating the American piton market with a 70% share. Over time, the chock technology came to dominate the climbing landscape.
  • “Nature is bigger than playing outdoors”—Stanley described the inspiration for Patagonia’s philanthropic practices. At a town council meeting to approve a dam project by the Army Corps of Engineers in a local community, a biologist passionately explained the vast array of organisms living under the water, persuading the community to vote down the project. This story continues to drive Patagonia’s preference to give to local people and organizations connected to their communities.
  • “Accepting responsibility for your supply chain”— Patagonia began investigating the use of chemicals in cotton cultivation after an incident in which formaldehyde off-gassing from cotton products in a storeroom made employees sick. Enlightened by this harmful practice, Patagonia strove to create organic cotton products despite an absence of consumer demand. The company made a choice to accept responsibility and build out a new supply chain of farmers and spinners of organic cotton, reducing the use of chemicals. The company embraced a crucial pillar of its mission statement: "cause no unnecessary harm" when creating products.

Finally, before opening the floor to questions, he highlighted a few key areas of future work for students interested in the intersection of business and the environment: electrification, regenerative organic agriculture, 30 x 30 conservation initiatives, circularity, and reconciliation ecology.

Stanley was asked about evaluating employment opportunities outside of responsible businesses such as Patagonia, and how to drive social and environmental impact in less impact-focused companies. Stanley advocated for students to look at employment opportunities within B-corps. “Don’t waste any time, exercise your values,” he advised.

Stanley closed the talk on an optimistic note, stressing that the human beings who work in business have human values, they just “need to be given permission” to drive impact.