Every Wednesday (well, most — sinus infections will knock you back a couple of days) features a new newsletter from Nathan Graber-Lipperman on how culture influences business, the future of the media, and the pods, songs, and memes you should be paying attention to! This week features the seventh edition of “The G-L Review”; to get the full thing delivered directly to your email for free, you can subscribe here.

“A Company’s Purpose (and Responsibility)”

I recently read an interview with Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard over at Fast Company, where the entrepreneur broke down in detail what’s next for the billion-dollar brand. He talked about the silliness of investing in interplanetary travel (looking at you, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos) when there’s still work to be done on our planet, as well as his Buddhism and how it affects his day-to-day life.

The thing from Chouinard that really stuck out to me, however, is that the 81-year-old still tinkers with his brainchild in pursuit of a more sustainable world. Just eight months prior to the time of writing, Chouinard rewrote their mission statement: “Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.”

A big thing when creating a company is defining what your purpose is. Why exactly do you exist? What are you really trying to accomplish? It seems simple, but without those internal driving motives — usually in the form of what’s known as “mission” and “vision” statements — it’s hard to truly build towards something greater than the work of any one employee.

Lots of companies propose lofty goals when they’re formed, and yet the reality of most founders remains pretty cut-and-dry: they just want to make money. And if that’s not the case, chances are that investors and stakeholders will push them out down the road if the founder in question does not agree with a dollar-minded focus.

That’s why we should admire Patagonia as the shining jewel of the B-Corporation movement. A B-Corp is a company that’s been certified by B-Lab, a nonprofit dedicated to the concept that business must be a force for good, rather than profit alone, and allies working toward that goal. The trend has caught fire, with over 60,000 companies spanning the globe committing to the rigorous standards necessary to become certified.

In the context of Patagonia, the company aims to be fossil-fuel-free by 2025, as well as switching to plant-based fibers for their clothing and encouraging their suppliers to transition to clean energy. These steps ensure they satisfy their responsibilities as a B-Corp, though Chouinard never finds himself satisfied. The dude is even investing in a massive state park in South America that will sequester more carbon than almost anywhere in the world!

Now, it’s easy to look at the outdoor clothing company and say Well, they can afford to do things like this. They are a billion-dollar brand, after all! Thing is, their transparent values, the authenticity of their mission…these are the things that create a brand customers have kept coming back to for almost 50 years. For example, in April, Patagonia made it known that they were revamping their corporate sales program in order to only sell to “mission-driven companies that prioritize the planet.” They knew Wall Street Bros and VC Types were flocking to their merchandise simply because it’s what was in, and they attempted to erase this association. While ostracizing some, moves like this almost certainly embolden their core fanbase, the customers they want purchasing their products in the first place.

After thinking about all of this, I reached out to Dave Costello, a recent Kellogg graduate and the founder of Scoots Footwear, the first-ever sneaker made completely from plants. Dave raised over $50,000 on Kickstarter over the summer, allow him to pursue his venture full time. When I talked to him last week, he was in the process of shipping out his first batch of kicks.

“I think that in 2019, it’s the responsibility of companies to better the world and provide some sort of social benefit,” he told me over the phone. For Scoots, it means creating a sustainable shoe disposal program, paying their Portuguese workers a fair, living wage, and planting a tree for every pair of shoes purchased. Dave also pointed out that younger individuals identify with brands that act as an agent of positive change; he’s right, particularly with Gen Zers, who I’ve written about before as a generation of people who spend their money with these things in mind.

Look, I’ll never argue that capitalism is without its flaws. Nevertheless, the greatest driving force in our economy comes back to the consumer, and if we can support companies with good intentions, pretty soon, said companies can — and will — become the norm.

Even if that means repping that Pata vest and looking like a Startup Bro in the process.

Speaking of mission statements, I’ve rewritten ours! Our purpose is to engage thoughtful ideas and different perspectives through good-faith dialogues among Gen Z. In considering the problem we identified among us and our peers — that we no longer have spaces to engage in authentic conversations — our solution is a platform dedicated to bringing people together through small, intimate unplugg’ds. The grand vision is to set up a website and app where anyone can organize an unplugg’d in their local area, and other users can join the organizer by logging on and signing up.

But I’m getting ahead of myself — go check out our new website (now in its third iteration; shout-out Karim Noorani for all of the hard work) and keep paying attention as we roll out new events! Also, as always, if you’re interested in supporting us, consider becoming a patron over on Patreon for as little as $1 a month! Finally, if you enjoy this newsletter, consider sharing it with one other person. A lot of work goes into it, and I will be writing one weekly over the next twelve weeks. I would love to talk to you about any of the ideas presented here, so feel free to drop an email to ngl@powderbluemedia.com or DM me on Twitter @bynategl!

That’s all I got for our journey. Until next week!

Links (and Other Things)

Use This Gospel…For Evangelism

Kanye West’s latest project, Jesus is King, finally launched last week after months (years?) of speculation…and the result was, well, tepid.

Unless Christian Rap is your jam, of course.

Look, this is who Yeezy is now. No matter what stupid crap he says or pulls off, the one thing you always have to come back to and respect with Kanye is that he’s just gonna be himself. And if Christian Rap Kanye is the latest iteration, then Christian Rap Kanye is what we’re gonna get both now and in the near future.

I find it funny, though, that we rarely see interviews of the man. He’s really only in the spotlight nowadays when he’s making the rounds in promoting new music. He did the whole late-night-talk-show-thing with various different hosts as the G.O.O.D. Music team rolled out JIK, but it was this one with Kimmel that stuck out the most to me:

“I wanna say…I love the fact that my daughter wants to go to church,” West says at the two-minute mark when Jimmy asks about his first-born, North. “She has such a positive thought association with church because it’s outside of the traditional four walls, and pews. And now that God has called me and I’ve given my life to Jesus Christ and I work for God…now we have Christian innovation in our time.”

At a time when religious participation is at an all-time low, if there’s anyone who could create hype around the concept of prayer, it’s gotta be Kanye West, right? If the artist finds his album can resonate with people, we’re looking at a money-making machine akin to the televangelists satirized on shows like The Righteous Gemstones.

So much for the Yanhdi leaks. Even if “Use This Gospel” slaps, the original “Chakras” was still way better, and you can’t change my mind.

Nike and Under Armour lose their CEOs in the Same Week

Another week, another bit of writing from me about the Swoosh.

Anyway, Mark Parker has officially stepped down from his role as CEO in Beaverton, the third-ever person to hold the position in the company’s history. Parker, who took the job in 2006, will still hang around as executive chairman, but the sportswear giant’s decision to bring on John Donahoe, a longtime tech exec, signals their commitment to a renewed vision in analytics-driven sales and a direct-to-consumer approach.

On the other hand, Under Armour’s founder, Kevin Plank, is retiring as CEO after he founded the company in 1996. He’ll also transition to the role of executive chairman as the Maryland-based company also shifts its focus to direct-to-consumer sales. As opposed to Parker, this move had its writing on the wall, as Under Armour lost over $200 million in recent years and had to lay off 400 employees. Also, after reports that the company was dealing with a “frat-like culture,” doing things such as wooing potential athlete endorsers by paying for strip club visits and using their corporate credit cards in the process, it’s no wonder that Plank was on his way out.

With the success of online retailers like Amazon, I think more and more apparel companies are rethinking their entire models as consumers become more comfortable with ordering online. I remember people used to think I was nuts when I’d purchase basketball shoes from Nike and ball in them straight out of the box, but as this increasingly becomes the norm, I can’t see how any company can rightfully justify a brick-and-mortar-first strategy. Plus, with size conversion websites such as SizeCharter helping you understand what size is right for you across brands and clothing lines, it’s never been easier to shop online.

More on Morey, LeBron and Hong Kong

I’ve found that a lot of the coverage surrounding (and following) Daryl Morey’s now-infamous retweet focused mostly on how it affected the NBA. After comments from figures such as LeBron, Adam Silver, and Nets owner Joseph Tsai, things only became more and more muddied. From my vantage point, what exactly people in Hong Kong have been protesting since March became pretty lost in the shuffle.

That’s why Jordan Ritter Conn’s recent piece struck me so much. The Ringer contributor traveled to Hong Kong to engage in the thick of the protest, on the ground with those demonstrating. Conn approached the protests through the Morey/LeBron/NBA lens, but that wasn’t the subject of the piece. No, even as he witnessed Hongkongers burning #23 Lakers jerseys, the focus was on the “five demands essential to the movement” and the people coming together against tear gas and violence.

Out of the whole piece, though, this quote from a protester stuck out the most to me. “‘You guys fought so hard to get the First Amendment so that you could say what you want in your own country,’ he says. ‘And now a foreign country is dictating what you can and can’t say on your own soil.’”

I opened this email talking about the power of the consumer, but damn, I don’t think there’s a better indictment of capitalism than that. Plus — to quote my boy John Winthrop — I think it speaks to the idea of America as a “city upon a hill.” Even with everything we’ve pulled over the years — Vietnam, Iraq, and now Syria — there’s still plenty of people who look to us as a beacon of hope in the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.

In that regard, I do think it’s upon us as a society to live up to the ideals propped up by the Framers. For us to continue influencing the world around us in positive means, sometimes, it means setting an example at home before invading who-knows-where and forcing Western culture onto a people.

TOTW: Discount Boba Fett is Here!

“Mandalorian…look outside. They are waiting for you.”

And with those words, The Clone…sorry, Streaming Wars began in full.

Disney+ will be dropping on November 12, and there may not be a piece of content they’re promoting more than The Mandalorian. Not only is the media giant touting their incredible library — filled with properties from the Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel universes, and the entirety of 20th Century Fox — they’re also putting out new premium content that looks on par with the Amazon Prime Videos and Netflixs of the world.

Even with Disney+ undercutting the market at just $7 a month, don’t think for a second that they have the title card locked up. Along with the two services mentioned above, HBO Max has made waves in showcasing what the entirety of the WarnerMedia conglomerate looks like on one platform, which includes everything from Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy to all of the Turner properties and more. Finally, NBC’s “Peacock” and Apple+ have a lot of catching up to do, but what’s quite evident is that there’s a lot of ground to be gained in this war.

Plus, when all of these properties are spending a combined $40 billion in 2019 (with that number likely to rise dramatically in the coming years), it really is more of a Cold War era arms race more than anything.

What I’m Watching: ‘The Great Hack’ (Netflix)

At one of our recent unplugg’ds, data and data rights became a topic of discussion. An open-ended question came up, too: what’s the breaking point with our data?

I’ve thought about this a lot, and I’m really not sure. In 2017, data — as in, all of that information big tech companies know about you — passed oil as the world’s most valuable resource. We know that the Googles and Facebooks of the world are collecting and selling our data; at the same time, however, is the trade-off worth it when we’re delivered these incredible means of communication for free? Is it even really free, though, when we sacrifice a shred of those American ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

These are the questions broached in the Netflix documentary The Great Hack, in which we follow the 2016 Cambridge Analytica scandal and trace the repercussions since. What I find about the events that transpired is that most people understand Cambridge Analytica = shady, and that Facebook, Russia, and Trump were involved and therefore it’s one cluster of bad actors.

Nonetheless, there’s nothing illegal about employing a data-driven campaign strategy — Obama did it to great success in 2012, after all. What Cambridge Analytica did was set up a Facebook app that they claimed was only used to collect information for academic purposes. When you signed up to take the test, though, written in the Terms and Conditions was the permission to harvest the information of all of your Facebook friends…which the marketing firms certainly acted upon. Thus, they boldly made the claim that they had 5,000 data points on every single American voter based on what posts someone liked, their age, their income bracket, and more.

In doing so, they were able to influence the minds of hundreds of thousands of voters in the 2016 election through targeted and purposely-false sponsored posts. Add in Russian parties — who often were the buyers of said ads — and Facebook — who knew Cambridge Analytica was doing this, and didn’t say anything — and you get one hell of a cocktail.

This documentary traces it all, making you ask that same question: what’s the breaking point with our data? It’s one of the most important questions we should be having in 2019, and I think the onus is on us as a society to truly embrace this new, drastic problem. Maybe the answer is to take back our data, as one professor in the doc boldly claims. Yet sitting back and pretending like we’re too smart to ever be influenced by external forces makes us naive at best and complicit at worst.

NGL is an O.G. sneakerhead, diehard Chargers fan, and huge ultimate frisbee nut. You can follow him on Twitter here.

The Importance of a Company’s Purpose and Responsibility