Chapter 19: Chip Wilson on living large, launching Lululemon, and leaving a legacy

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I flew to beautiful Vancouver to sit down with Chip.

I flew to beautiful Vancouver to sit down with Chip.

Our next guest is the first entrepreneur of a global brand we’ve had on 3 Books. We fly over to Vancouver to talk with the founder and former CEO of Lululemon, Chip Wilson.

Chip founded the company Westbeach, a snowboard, ski, and apparel company, which he eventually sold in 1997. Then one day while flipping through the paper, he came upon a piece of fascinating information…

Our sweet podcast setup at Chip’s Vancouver holding company office!

Our sweet podcast setup at Chip’s Vancouver holding company office!

There are now more women than men graduating from colleges and universities.

Then he got all prophetic.

“Women will have more money! They’re gonna want to live downtown! They’re going to want clothing that fits their lifestyle!

So he launched this brand called Lululemon. The first store was opened in 2000 in the Kitsilano neighborhood of Vancouver. Chip served as the company’s CEO for six years before transitioning to Chief Product Designer.

Chip, Chip, hooray!

Chip, Chip, hooray!

These days, although Chip is technically “retired,” he’s still doing so much. He’s raising five boys. He founded the Imagine1Day foundation with his wife to work on improving education in Ethiopia. And he just released a book called Little Black Stretchy Pants: The Unauthorized Story of Lululemon.

This chapter is filled with conversation about redefining masculinity and our definition of success to the importance of investing in our minds and our families.

I think this is the perfect chapter to finish off the year, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Welcome to Chapter 19.

Listen to Chapter 19:

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What You'll Learn:

  • What helps prevent bureaucracy in big companies as they grow?

  • Why is there so much cynicism around motivation?

  • How can we stop ourselves from complaining too much?

  • Why are ‘mental workouts’ just as important as physical workouts?

  • How can we improve our communication skills?

  • What’s next for masculinity in the world?

  • How do we raise our children into the best people they can be?

  • What do all successful people have in common?

notable quotes from chip wilson:

“I am going to die someday. Why wait until I’m 85 to start living the life I want to live?” @ChipYVR #3bookspodcast

“When I stopped complaining is when I had access to be responsible to do something about the situation. … If I complain twice about something, then either I take action or I shut up about it.” @ChipYVR #3bookspodcast

“Life can be longer if your life is quite boring. Physics in grade 10 seemed to last forever… whereas if I was outside playing a game of football, it lasted two seconds.” @ChipYVR #3bookspodcast

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