An extraordinary People and Culture programme, helping the company work on big business questions and navigate a more complex world.

‘Hands down, one of the best things I have done in Patagonia’  

The Patagonia Earth University is an internal staff programme, designed to help Patagonia people work on the questions most central to their work. It is inspired by nature, it takes place in nature, and it helps to bring valuable ideas and tools to help them on their mission - To Save Our Home Planet.

Originally designed seven years ago, the Earth University consists of a series of rolling modules, each one an in-person gathering, that work together as a connected learning and sense-making ecosystem. The modules were each designed around questions most central to the goals and challenges of the business, combining practical working questions, a range of tools and models to support nature-centred thinking, brilliant guests and allies to inspire ideas and action, and plenty of time outdoors, with good food, good walks, and good conversations around a fire.

The Earth University has been a resounding success. It is widely loved, it helps bring people together, and it is seen as a uniquely important way to help the company stay connected to its purpose while making sense of a changing world. Now in its third cycle, we are excited to continue developing the programme for 2027. .

Doing good for business, community spirit, and nature

The University is inspired by nature at every level, whilst at the same time being designed around the dynamics and tensions of being a purpose-led business. From the outset, we worked with people from across the business to draw out the most important themes on which to design the University:

• How to balance growth, values and impact

• How to navigate a more complex world

• How to work more effectively as teams and communities

• How to support positive, life-centred revolutions.

These questions remain at the heart of the programme, and today we hold them through two core modules. One module is called ‘Evolutions’, exploring how the world is changing externally and how to react to that to be useful to the world. The other is called Navigation, exploring how to navigate and organise with a more internal perspective. Together, the modules support a continuous conversation about change, evolution, impact, and where to place energy in a way that stays true to purpose. 

A system supporting connection and action

The University is very much about bringing connections, knowledge and ideas back into the organisation. In the first iteration, we created a University ‘Ambassador’ role to help bring questions and ideas from the University back into the business. Today, this has evolved further, and we have created a stand alone, complementary programme called the Activators Programme  - a learning journey for a smaller group, helping to build capacities for learning, facilitation and collaboration across the company. 

The Activators Programme works hand-in-hand with an Earth University Council - a group of senior leaders and connectors from across the company, who play a role in proposing dynamics and questions to work on in the University, while also listening back to what emerges from each module to bring it and champion it across the business.

A learning system that keeps evolving

The Earth University is positioned as a programme to help Patagonia adapt to a complex world while itself as a programme being able to adapt to changing needs. We love seeing it evolve, how it helps people in different ways, and more recently how it has connected with like-minded businesses to open conversations beyond the company. 

We are excited to keep developing this special programme. We will be sharing more about it in the coming months, and hope it can inspire many more purpose-led organisations in how they support their people and missions.