<p dir="ltr">A playbook for finding financial success without compromising your values.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">David Gelles is a bestselling author and a climate correspondent for The New York Times. His new book, "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dirtbag-Billionaire-Chouinard-Patagonia-Fortune/dp/1668032260/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ODWHWUHiCNV60hsy1OT1Zrh2wwu_k69k97qCnHC5J1Ok0et8XMR9ke_T6zaP9KWpVxoP5nf6sFWlDcvwKMbv8mr1at4n9yB8N8_I0YyklN8_5apQjQorwf_g6wMyHEqlQdMMhPEKHaE_97Y2XRuZ6wY31z7wozQMG6o0AdCz7e9Ob8ux32msCiXi_I22-r76897phZg3IO5-3t7aXpHDDltGq8uLKalK0twh4ts18bo.q07YOUZ4IlKTWKeRKL5Rn2IJXI36OgHlsHAIPrbUZEw&dib_tag=se&hvadid=677030155814&hvdev=c&hvexpln=0&hvlocphy=9004403&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=6182782077314196331--&hvqmt=e&hvrand=6182782077314196331&hvtargid=kwd-2404491507000&hydadcr=22189_13517498&keywords=dirtbag+billionaire&mcid=56bf9d79c10b3fb7bf9ce26a5136d413&qid=1759235975&sr=8-1">Dirtbag Billionaire</a>," reveals how Yvon Chouinard turned Patagonia into one of the world's most remarkable companies. </p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">In this episode we talk about:</p> <ul> <li dir="ltr">What a 'dirtbag' means </li> <li dir="ltr">The innovative ways in which Chouinard ran his company </li> <li dir="ltr">The question of whether or not capitalism can be "done right"</li> <li dir="ltr">How to talk to your kids about about capitalism </li> <li dir="ltr">Whether or not capitalism and the Dharma can co-exist</li> <li dir="ltr">Advice on how to live in a capitalist system</li> <li dir="ltr">How much time the species has left before we need to get our shit together on climate</li> <li dir="ltr">And more</li> </ul> <p><strong><br /> <br /></strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Join Dan's online community <a href="http://www.danharris.com/">here</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Follow Dan on social: <a href="https://bit.ly/3tGigG5">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://bit.ly/3FOA84J">TikTok</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Subscribe to our <a href="https://bit.ly/3FybRzD">YouTube Channel</a></p> <p><strong><br /> <br /></strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Additional Resources: </p> <ul> <li dir="ltr"> <p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.danharris.com/p/david-gelles-779?utm_source=publication-search"> David's first 10% Happier interview</a></p> </li> </ul> <p><strong><br /> <br /> <br /></strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Get ready for another Meditation Party at Omega Institute! This in-person workshop brings together Dan with his friends and meditation teachers, Sebene Selassie, Jeff Warren, and for the first time, Ofosu Jones-Quartey. The event runs October 24th-26th. Sign up and learn more <a href="http://eomega.org/workshops/meditation-party-2025">here</a>!</p> <p><strong><br /> <br /></strong></p> <p dir="ltr">To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit <a href="https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris">https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris</a>.<br /> <br /> <strong id="docs-internal-guid-1522cb85-7fff-a1b4-8d62-127b7be6b077">Thanks to today's
Actionable Insights
1. Renounce Fortune for Purpose
Structure your company to legally transfer ownership and profits to trusts and non-profit organizations, ensuring 100% of profits not reinvested are donated to conservation or other causes, thereby renouncing personal fortune.
2. Maintain Private Ownership for Values
For companies aiming to prioritize values and ethics, maintain private ownership to avoid being beholden to shareholders and quarterly earnings reports that often prioritize short-term profits.
3. Scrutinize Supply Chain Ethics
Deeply investigate your company’s entire supply chain, including tier two and three suppliers, to ensure ethical working conditions and product sourcing, discontinuing use if conditions are unacceptable.
4. Embrace Self-Inquiry & Correction
When discovering imperfections or harm caused by your products or practices, engage in extensive, even expensive, efforts to remedy the situation, including public disclosure and accepting financial hits.
5. Practice Right Livelihood
Choose work that does no harm and aligns with ethical principles, understanding it as a core Buddhist precept for correct or wise living.
6. Support Working Mothers Extensively
Offer generous maternity benefits, on-site childcare, and pay for travel companions (like nannies) for new mothers on work trips to comprehensively support their careers and family needs.
7. Fund Grassroots Environmentalism
Use company profits to support local grassroots environmental activists and conservation efforts, starting small and scaling up over time for greater impact.
8. Practice Mindful Consumption
Reflect on what material goods are truly essential, be clear-eyed and deliberate about spending money, and question compulsive consumption to align purchases with actual needs.
9. Regularly Connect with Nature
Spend time in nature, such as woods or mountains, to foster presence, deepen your connection, and experience profound personal and Dharmic benefits.
10. Respond Actively to World Problems
Acknowledge the validity of global concerns (e.g., capitalism, climate) but focus on taking action and helping others rather than being passive or fatalistic.
11. Prioritize Purpose Over Profit
As a founder or entrepreneur, prioritize purpose and mission over personal financial gain, being willing to renounce fortune to ensure the company’s values endure.
12. Draw Inspiration from Zen Simplicity
Use Zen Buddhism’s focus on simplicity and getting to the essence of things to inspire product design, problem-solving, or other creative and life endeavors.
13. Embrace Human Complexity
Recognize that individuals are a ‘jumble of contradictions’ and may work at cross-purposes, avoiding a ‘Manichean view’ of purely good or bad people.
14. Accept Short-Term Financial Hits
Be willing to deliberately throttle sales, reduce product lines, or limit growth to prioritize ethical sourcing and responsible practices, even if it means short-term financial losses.
15. Build Value-Driven Companies Early
For new companies, build in value-driven principles from the outset and protect control to prevent external investors from compromising ethical decisions.
16. Teach Responsibility to Help Others
Remind yourself and your children of your blessings and the less fortunate, and take every opportunity to help others through your work or charitable acts.
17. Act Ethically Within Capitalism
Recognize you are born into a capitalist system and have agency to choose how to behave within it, using your position to do good and influence commerce positively.
18. Find Right Livelihood in Context
Understand that your ‘work in the world’ is tied to your specific context; seek to figure out what ‘right livelihood’ looks like organically within that environment.
19. Prioritize Employee Well-being
Implement policies that allow employees flexibility, such as surfing when waves are good, to prioritize their well-being and personal lives over rigid work schedules.
20. Acknowledge Climate Suffering
Be clear-eyed about the accelerating pace of climate change and the inevitable suffering it will bring to people, animals, and communities.
21. Find Opportunity in Crisis
Even in scary situations like climate change, look for opportunities to help out and create common cause with others.