Part 3 of 4 With Vincent Stanley, Patagonia’s ‘Chief Storyteller’

Vincent Stanley, co-author with Yvon Chouinard of The Responsible Company, has been with Patagonia on and off since its beginning in 1973, for many of those years in key executive roles as head of sales or marketing.

More informally, Stanley is Patagonia’s longtime chief storyteller. He helped develop the Footprint Chronicles, the company’s interactive website that outlines the social and environmental impact of its products; the Common Threads Initiative; and Patagonia Books. He serves as Patagonia’s director of philosophy and is a visiting fellow at the Yale School of Management. Stanley is also a poet whose work has appeared in the Best American Poetry series. He and his wife, the writer Nora Gallagher, live in Santa Barbara.

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Vincent Stanley

Here are some highlights from the third in a four-part series of LIFT Economy podcast episodes with Stanley:

  • How Patagonia’s approach to marketing has evolved over time.
  • An explanation of the thinking behind Patagonia’s feature-length films.
  • How Patagonia intentionally cultivates its brand community.
  • Why standing up for a cause or belief might mean alienating potential customers and strategic partners.
  • Why doing what’s right and authentic is good business.

LIFT Economy is an impact consulting firm with a mission to create, model and share a locally self-reliant economy that works for the benefit of all life.

B the Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.


Patagonia Mini-MBA: The Strength of Strategy was originally published in B the Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.


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