Vinny’s Top 10 Books of 2018 — #6
This is my first published ranking series of books. To provide some context, I’ve read about 50 books in 2018, most of which were memoir-based or self-development in nature. I record the start and finish date of each book, as well as take copious notes with page markers for referencing. Every month, I post about 3–5 books that I am reading. Feel free to follow along and share your feedback. It’s always welcome.
Little Black Stretchy Pants by Chip Wilson
Categories: Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Product Design, Goal-Setting, Billion-Dollar Brands
Year Published: 2018
In the interest of full disclosure, this book was not supposed to be on this list. Amidst other obligations, I just didn’t think I would get to read it in time to review it before the end of the year. As it turns out, once I started, I couldn’t stop. Inside of two days, I blazed through the 400 plus pages centered on the life of Chip Wilson and the founding of lululemon. And here’s why — he reminds me of me. He does things differently. He thinks differently. He acts differently. He manages differently. He leads differently. And that’s very relatable for me. I’ve always opted to go against the grain and zig while everyone zags, and that’s exactly what Chip did, even if (at times) it lead him into murky waters.
He reminds me of a softer Steve Jobs…less ego. He is a visionary. He saw the curve in the road miles ahead of everyone else and navigated accordingly. The foundation upon which lululemon was built was unconventional, and in a sea of redundancy across the retail industry, it stood out more than ever (and still does today). Perhaps the best way to describe why this book landed in my Top 10 can be summed up by a direct quote from the book…
“The little company that I founded in Kitsilano, Vancouver would go on to redefine how a generation of people dressed and lived. The financial rewards for my family and me would be enormous, but at the time I was rolling the dice. I could have just as easily lost everything multiple times. The journey was exhilarating and terrifying. I was forty-two, I had a young family, and I bet the farm.” (p. 22)
Another principle that guided their innovative process and helped establish them as a category killer was to view everything as though “nothing works.” “Within this context, we never rested on our laurels, and we were willing to abandon what looked good to perfect a better future.” (p. 388)
I really empathize with his stance on time. “Don’t waste a second of your life. You only have 40,000 days to live. The longer you live, the quicker time goes. To a toddler, ten minutes feel likes ten years. To a ninety-year-old person, ten days feels like half a second. Examine who in your life is eating up your precious seconds. Who around you complains but doesn’t act? Ask yourself, “What is my real passion?” Where do I thrive? Where can I give the most back to the world?” We get too hung up on what our social values and morals say we should do, what our parents or friends say we should do. For this reason, I’m always impressed by people who live their own great life.” (p. 413)
If you’re at all into entrepreneurship, product design, unconventional management/leadership principles, family values, and time — this book should be your next read. This book is equal parts entertaining and relatable, even if you’re not on the fast (or slow) track to building a billion dollar brand. Get it here!
