Patagonia's Vision Statement

You can walk into any great company and the difference is that the people who work there know what they’re doing, know where they’re going and love what they’re doing.

My favourite definition of a Vision Statement:

A vision is a tool, and one many Procurement teams never develop.

A vision statement is a tool that can be used, should be used and is meant to help you build.

Patagonia use their vision statement extremely effectively.

Patagonia was founded by a mountain climber who became dissatisfied with the equipment available to him.

Every time he was going out on a mountain to climb, he knew the equipment he used was defacing the mountain he was exploring.

So he was ruining the mountain for his future self, his friends and future generations of climbers.

He didn’t like that so he decided to innovate. Innovation is another important tool.

He made his own mountain climbing equipment that was respectful of the environment and would not deface the mountains on his climbs.

His friends found out about his equipment and they wanted him to make some for them, their friends then wanted to get hold of the equipment and that turned into a shop, that snowballed into one of the most recognisable global outdoor brands on the planet.

What’s important is what they’re doing as one of the most recognisable brands. They’ve founded “One percent for the planet” which is an alliance of businesses all committed to giving back 1% of their annual sales to environmental causes.

They’ve also donated millions of dollars themselves to environmental causes.

20 years ago they switched to entirely organic cotton and they work hand in hand with Fairtrade to try to solve the wage gap crisis in the world.

This is Patagonia’s Mission Statement:

When I read this statement, it means something to me. I feel something, not just in its simplicity but also its honesty.

And when our vision statement is honest, it creates a true moment of vulnerability.

It creates alignment and cohesion and forces the company into transparency.

And just as important as the employee engagement, it builds customer loyalty.

If you make your vision statement honest, it will be received honestly.

I don’t know why so many companies don’t spend time creating a vision statement. It’s the most important tool that binds business owners, employees and customers.

But as Procurement leaders we have an opportunity to define our own vision.

We’re all the protagonists in our own stories.

We’re not the narrator, passively standing by and making snide comments and we’re definitely not the author because we didn’t write ourselves or the environment we’ve found ourselves thrust in.

But seeing ourselves as the protagonists within our own stories gives us a huge advantage.

We have the opportunity to build for ourselves our own vision statements.

And here’s the thing…it’s not an actionable plan.

It’s not “we’re going to do A, we’re going to do B…”

It’s not step 1, step 2 or step 3…

A vision statement is a tool you can build for yourself or for your team.

You can start to use it when you don’t know what’s next, you don’t know what decision to take or what path to take or what strategy to use.

It should be used in Procurement to create powerful, impactful teams.

As an individual too, you can use a Vision statement to help you live a meaningful and impactful life.