In 2011, Patagonia faced the same pressure that every retailer faces on Black Friday: maximize sales on the biggest shopping day of the year. Instead, they took out a full-page ad in the New York Times with the clear message: “Don’t buy this jacket.” The ad detailed the environmental costs of making their best-selling R2 fleece, such as 135 gallons of water during the production process and 20 pounds of carbon dioxide for transporting it to the company’s warehouse.
This wasn’t a clever marketing ploy. The ad directly urged customers to think twice before buying, to repair existing items before replacing them, and to buy and sell used items. This was a true commitment to the values that had driven Patagonia since Yvon Chouinard founded the company in 1973: putting environmental protection above profit maximization, even when market logic demanded otherwise. As a result of staying true to their deepest values, today Patagonia has a fiercely loyal customer base and enjoys annual revenues of more than $1 billion.
Patagonia is a striking example of a company that has thrived not by giving in to pressure to change, but rather by doubling down on its core ideas. Another example of this is the fast food favorite In-N-Out Burger, which has been around for 75 years refuse to take a franchisequickly expand or add more items to the menu. Unlike McDonald’s, which tried to reinvent itself as a purveyor of healthy food a decade ago, In-N-Out has stuck to making burgers, fries and milkshakes. The result? Cult-level customer dedication and some of the highest revenues per store in the fast food industry.
Patagonia and In-N-Out Burger are not dinosaurs that haven’t adapted. They are billion-dollar companies with a kind of customer engagement and employee loyalty that money can’t buy. And a big part of the reason for this success is that they’ve internalized a counterintuitive truth: the more things change, the more you have to stay the same.
The virtue of remaining steadfast
To thrive in change, we need the ability to resist change. This ability, which I call fortitude, is essential for two reasons.
First, organizations release enormous energy by committing to their identity and purpose in times of change. This commitment gives people a reason to endure change and turmoil. As the German philosopher Nietzsche once said, those who have a why can tolerate almost any how. This reason, and the energy and power it unleashes, becomes a crucial resource for organizations facing change – and in our current era, that means all organizations, all the time.
Second, it gives you a fixed point to navigate, which is especially important in times of change. When an organization sticks to its core identity and purpose, it is better able to understand how to respond to the changes it faces. In-N-Out’s core mission is to make great burgers, and sticking to that will allow the company to deal with major changes in the business landscape by asking a simple question: How can this change help us make great burgers?
Steadfastness should not be confused with the kind of dangerous rigidity that can run a company into the ground. Kodak didn’t fail because it stayed true to its purpose of helping people capture and share memories; it failed because its leaders became too committed to the business model of maximizing profits by selling film. The crucial distinction is this: be firm on your why (your purpose), but be flexible on your how (your methods). Patagonia’s goal is to protect nature, not to sell as many fleece jackets as possible. In-N-Out’s goal is to make great burgers and not resist technology. When you make this distinction clear, fortitude becomes a source of strength rather than a path to aging.
The dual question of organizational resilience
Understanding the difference between purpose and methods points to a deeper challenge: organizations must somehow find a way to be both immobile and infinitely adaptable at the same time. They must be unwavering about their “why” while being fully willing to reinvent their “how.”
This is what makes building resilience so difficult. It requires keeping two contrasting powers in perfect tension. Most organizations fail at one extreme or the other. Some chase every trend and lose their identity in the process, while others stick to outdated methods and confuse their current business model with their raison d’être.
But there is a group of people who have mastered implementing both sets of capabilities simultaneously: entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial journey requires both an unwavering commitment to a vision and a constant willingness to change tactics. This entrepreneurial mindset – this ability to be both stubborn and flexible – isn’t just for startups. It is the key to building resilience in any organization. And it relies on four specific qualities that enable leaders to navigate the tension between steadfastness and flexibility.
Four entrepreneurial traits that increase resilience
1. Love. Entrepreneurs don’t fall in love with their products; they fall in love with the problem they solve and the people they serve. This distinction is crucial. If you love your product, you resist necessary changes. If you love your goal, you will do whatever it takes to achieve it. Love of purpose creates both the commitment to persevere and the freedom to change. It’s what allows organizations to ask the question, “Does this method still serve what we love?” rather than protecting methods that have become comfortable but ineffective.
2. Embrace suffering as growth. Every entrepreneur knows the special pain that comes with seeing a cherished strategy fail. But they learn to reframe suffering as a source of learning, a source of hard-won data about what doesn’t work. This reframing serves a dual purpose: it allows you to quickly abandon failing tactics while strengthening your commitment to the goal that makes the suffering worth it.
3. Building partnerships. Entrepreneurs know that the right partners share not only your current strategy, but also your purpose. This distinction is crucial for resilience. Partners who only agree on methods will abandon you if these methods fail. Partners who are purposefully aligned will help you find new methods when the old ones no longer work. True partners act as both innovation catalysts (prompting you to try new approaches) and guardians of purpose (keeping you honest about your why). They give you permission to change everything except what is most important.
4. The power of saying no. The most difficult entrepreneurial skill is saying no, both to opportunities that don’t serve your purpose and to methods that no longer work. This double discipline creates resilience. Every time you say no to a profitable distraction, you strengthen your commitment to the goal. Every time you say no to a failing approach, you free up resources for innovation. This discipline ensures that organizations can be both focused and agile. It is the skill that prevents both mission drift and tactical stubbornness.
Building a resilient organization
At the corporate level, the challenge is to manage the tension that comes with being steadfast on purpose while being flexible on methods. Here are three ways to build this capability:
- Define your non-negotiables. Write down your organization’s core purpose (the reason why it will never change, regardless of market pressures) and explicitly separate it from your current methods, products and business models. Make this distinction visible throughout the organization so everyone understands what needs to be protected and what can be reimagined.
Distinguish between purpose and method in every decision. When faced with changes or challenges, ask explicitly, “Is this about our why (that we don’t compromise on) or our how (that we can reimagine)?” Make this question a standard part of strategic discussions and encourage leaders who consistently make this distinction well.
Practice strategic fortitude. The next time you’re under pressure to follow a trend or copy a competitor, pause and ask if it serves your core purpose. If not, say no publicly and explain why. Each time you purposefully hold your ground while adapting methods, you build organizational muscle memory for true resilience.
Change is inevitable. The organizations that will thrive are not those that resist all change or embrace every trend, but those that know exactly what to preserve and what to transform.
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