Yvonne Chouinard; One of America's best leaders

"Corporations are real weenies," he says. "They are scared to death of everything. My company exists, basically, to take those risks and prove that it's a good business." This is Yvon Chouinard, founder and CEO of Patagonia, the $ 270 million USD outdoor clothing talking to U.S. News who just included him in their 2009 list of America's 25 Best Leaders. Yvon knows about risk. Both personal (climber, skier, white water paddler, surfer). And corporate. In 1972 Yvon told rockclimbers there was a more environmentally sound way to protect themselves on rock routes that didn't require bashing metal pitons in and out of the rock. At that time he was making his money selling pitons. In 1994 he discovered the perils of conventional cotton and gave his staff just 18 months to move Patagonia's entire cotton clothing line to organic cotton. At the time 20% of his sales came from cotton sportswear. Since then Patagonia has managed to persuade companies like Nike, Timberland, and even Wal-Mart to begin switching to organic cotton.