Shapers summary

Patagonia is one of the world’s most successful outdoor brands. Their success is fuelled by their devoutly loyal customer base, who are drawn to the company because Patagonia doesn’t only pay lip service to caring about the environment – it also encourages customers to repair their clothes rather than simply purchase new ones. And even better, it does so by offering free repairs for all its products. In fact, in 2018, Patagonia repaired over 100,000 items of clothing. It has also raised over 200 million dollars for environmental organizations.

But it isn’t just Patagonia’s reputation as a brand that invokes sustainability and corporate ethics. The company’s workplace culture is also famously inviting. And a company’s culture is perhaps its most important element. But fostering an authentic and inviting company culture doesn’t only create a devoted customer base – it also attracts the best talent.

Everyone is familiar with the stereotypical “bad boss” from the movies: he’s authoritarian, moody, and always shouting at his employees. Sadly, these kinds of leaders are all too common in real life as well. The traditional structure of the workplace is very hierarchical, with workers expected to defer to their all-powerful managers when it comes to decision-making.

These kinds of setups aren’t only bad for employee morale, but also inefficient, and they prevent companies from getting the most out of their employees. Think about it: If most of the people on your payroll are just waiting for others to tell them what to do, then you’re missing out on their innate creativity and point of view. 

Legendary Jazz musician Miles Davis had a special trick: if one of his band members played a note off-key, Davis would just go with it and improvise a riff based off of the note. He treated the “mistake” as an opportunity to create something completely new and unexpected. 

Like Davis, today’s workplace shapers need to be constantly improvising, fluidly adapting to changing circumstances. In 1984, a typical job lasted thirty years. Today, it’s closer to five. People typically pursue several different careers in their lifetime, and with the rise of the internet, freelance contracting is rampant. That brings lots of opportunities but also lots of competition. 

Do you reach for your smartphone as soon as you wake up in the morning and then spend the rest of the day sifting through a seemingly endless pile of emails? If so, you’re not alone. Studies have shown that most people spend an enormous 60 percent of their work week replying to email or browsing the net. And in addition to making everyone feel very busy and stressed, this also undermines productivity. 

Almost a century ago, John Maynard Keynes predicted that advances in technology and automation would allow people to work a 15-hour work week. But that hasn’t happened. In fact, most Americans work more than 47 hours a week. The truth is, advances in technology haven’t translated into more leisure time. People are busier than ever. So why isn’t this translating into an increase in productivity? 

In one hospital, a cleaner took it upon herself to expand the scope of her job. Instead of just routinely cleaning the halls and toilets, she started doing extra tasks like cleaning the ceilings so that patients wouldn’t have to stare at cobwebs. She even started bringing patients water when no nurses were around. And sometimes she went so far as to beautify the rooms of coma patients – all in the hope that doing so might stimulate their recovery. 

Nobody expected any of those things from her – she just did them. And, yes, they did take time. But they also gave her an immense amount of satisfaction. She’d expanded her role from cleaner to caretaker. And in the process, she completely transformed her work relationships and the satisfaction she derived from her job.