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Raising the Bar: Integrity and Passion in Life and Business: The Story of Clif Bar Inc.
In April of 2000, Gary Erickson turned down a $120 million offer to buy his thriving company. Today, instead of taking it easy for the rest of his life and enjoying a luxurious retirement, he's working harder than ever. Why would any sane person pass up the financial opportunity of a lifetime? Raising the Bar tells the amazing story of Clif Bar's Gary Erickson and shows that some things are more important than money. Gary Erickson and coauthor Lois Lorentzen tell the unusual and inspiring story about following your passion, the freedom to create, sustaining a business over the long haul, and living responsibly in your community and on the earth. Raising the Bar chronicles Clif Bar's ascent from a homemade energy bar to a $100 million phenomenon with an estimated 35 million consumers, and a company hailed by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. four years in a row. The book is filled with compelling personal stories from Erickson's life-trekking in the Himalayan mountains, riding his bicycle over roadless European mountain passes, climbing in the Sierra Nevada range--as inspiration for his philosophy of business. Throughout the book, Erickson--a competitive cyclist, jazz musician, world traveler, mountain climber, wilderness guide, and entrepreneur--convinces us that sustaining one's employees, community, and environment is good business. If you are a manager, executive, business owner, or board member, Raising the Bar is your personal guide to corporate integrity. If you are a sports enthusiast, environmentalist, adventure lover, intrigued by a unique corporate culture, or just interested in a good story, Raising the Bar is for you.
368 pages, Paperback
First published August 20, 2004
54 people are currently reading
1427 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
January 2, 2011
This is the story of Gary Erickson and his journey with Clif Bar. It starts with Gary walking away from selling the company for a lot of money and turns into a hodgepodge story (perhaps eclectic is a better word) of business, bike riding, climbing and personal integrity. While he does talk about the negative, about how his company (and he) lost its way, it's not an in-depth read. And he repeats himself. A lot. Perhaps by design because it drives home the central message of the book -- that it's important to stay true to your values and life philosophy, that sometimes the best way to succeed in life is to follow your gut rather than a cookie-cutter approach, that being all-in yourself is often the best way to keep your vision. He motivated and inspired me to create my own vision as a starting point, then develop ways to enhance and stay true to it. His "white road" vs. "red road" (entrepreneurial vs. traditional) analogy can be tweaked not just for any business but for any life plan. And his approach to business and employee relations makes me wish Clif Bar was located in WNY and I had a marketable skill to work there.
March 24, 2024
The story of the company is really interesting and he seems like he was a great CEO motivated by the right things. Got a little tired of everything being described as a metaphor though. Easy, short story structure
October 17, 2019
Recommend for those interested in Clif and in sustainable and thoughtful tips/insights into the tough decisions involved in starting, running and stepping away from a company.
October 8, 2024
Fairly entertaining and educational book. Cool company and cool founder
May 28, 2024
A good white road book.
In Chapter 3, Gary Erickson, founder of Clif Bars, introduces the metaphor of red road vs. white road. Most business books and entrepreneurial advice assumes you are taking the red road, i.e. building a startup funded by venture capital, to maximize valuation, bring aboard investors, and eventually exit. Most business books are this way to keep capitalism going — i.e. create artificial demand, grow at a torrid pace to maximize shareholder value, and sell (not just companies, but copies of the business books advising this).
However, this book focuses on the white road — off the beaten path, privately owned companies focused on long-term steady profits, fueled by organic demand and re-investment of profits into oneself, without outrageous borrowing from venture capital funds or acquisition.
The Good:
1.) Quality production. The paper is white, high-quality stock. The binding doesn’t feel flimsy or self-published. Images have high-quality, with strong Clif Bar branding on everything from package design to mock wrappers showing each of the company’s mission values. It’s clearly a product published in-house, with care, design, and taste.
2.) Content is organized by topic, with quotes and stories sprinkled throughout. Lots of vivid stories, anecdotes, about the origin story, biking, the adventures that shed light on Gary’s values system, and how he wanted to run Clif Bars.
3.) Gary speaks with transparency about American corporate goals like exit strategies. Intense focus on the mindset behind remaining private. He walks us through his mindset with transparency and truthfulness.
4.) Importance of Grassroots. Community service. He names lots of companies and sponsors, from the Breast Cancer Foundation, Patagonia, Organic Valley, Stonyfield Farms, Fetzer Vineyards, New Leaf Paper, Tulip Printing, Leave No Trace, the Access Fund, Pesticide Action Network, GreenTreks, the Food Alliance, the Waterkeeper Alliance, the Circle of Life Foundation, the Organic Farming Research Foundation, and many others, that share values and help build each other. Page 256 extols the importance of grassroots, both to employee motivation (they can talk to customers face-to-face) and to word-of-mouth-driven branding and marketing (athletes can wear and spread the brand in person, at real events). This is an excellent case study in organic growth and organic marketing — gauging demand without artificially creating it through digital ad spend!
5.) White road vs red road metaphor — this is telling and original. The journey off the well-traveled "red road" symbolizes Clif Bar’s story well. It made me want to find more books and companies that choose this path, since the majority of what Amazon and Goodreads recommends us deals with the red path. (i.e. grow at all costs) I want to ride the white road with Gary!
The Bad:
1.) Chapters are long and could have been logically broken about ten times per chapter into smaller sub-chapters to make the book more readable.
2.) Chronology is unclear. Jumps between early days, pre-acquisition, and steady-state. We go from the day before their acquisition, to the pre-founding days, to post-Lisa, and back in time to pre-Lisa when developing a play on sustainability and
3.) Too many statistics, millions of this or that, big picture. I can’t visualize what "saving $450000 a year" on caddy wrapping the length of Texas means, but I would benefit from knowing what design saved that, i.e. the physics and materials behind it. Far too often, statistics like profit/loss, savings, and sustainability sound like advertisements of the company, like a sales rep touting how green or ecologically responsible the company is, while remaining profitable. I don't care about how many hours of paid community service (2080) the company permits on paid time, or how many wind energy credits you're buying, just like the benefits and compensation package just sound like company or HR sales-speak. It doesn't boil down to actionable things, like how you found/approached the supplier that allowed you to cut your printed paper costs down, or how you designed the wrapper, or what ingredients you chose, the factories you found, etc. Rattling off stats is like bragging about a 6-minute mile, or comparing race times -- it's meaningless without knowing how they were accomplished, so readers can do something with the knowledge.
4.) Not enough micro on supply chain logistics. It’s great to hear "we continue to look deeply into our supply chain to find ingredients produced with organic or sustainable methods for all our products," but it does me little good to read advertisements, without knowing how to accomplish this myself. How exactly do you find organic farmers and engage them? How do you reach out to them, and negotiate deals that work for both sides? How do your source ingredients? How do you choose which grassroots tournaments to attend, and then meet their organizers? How do you choose which athletes to sponsor, and pitch to them? More stories and micro-details need to be told.
5.) For a company so focused on food, taste, and ingredients, they say almost nothing on core product Recipe. Reading this book got me into the science of bars, but I had to find all of my information in other books. For example, why is Clif Bar all chocolate? How did they decide what to put in Luna? What about fruit? Nutrition? What makes a "good" bar outside taste and calories? How does the quality of a bar impact the rider’s mood, health, and performance? Not enough details at all, just stories about momma’s kitchen, and quotes from Italians like Gaetano, who said, "My mother spent twenty-four hours making a spaghetti sauce. Clara spends twelve hours a day and my daughter-in-law buys sauce at the store. I can taste the difference. Something is happening to our culture and the food of our culture. We are so busy" (195). I get the spirit of what they’re trying to say. But they don’t give us enough guidance to follow that spirit! Quotes are all good, but when it comes down to it, how exactly do you replicate that 12-hour natural sauce-making? Give us the secret sauce, or at least details on how you choose the ingredients. Why do almost all flavors of Clif Bars include chocolate?
Overall, an interesting read with lots of stories and philosophies, but quite thin on execution or implementation.
In Chapter 3, Gary Erickson, founder of Clif Bars, introduces the metaphor of red road vs. white road. Most business books and entrepreneurial advice assumes you are taking the red road, i.e. building a startup funded by venture capital, to maximize valuation, bring aboard investors, and eventually exit. Most business books are this way to keep capitalism going — i.e. create artificial demand, grow at a torrid pace to maximize shareholder value, and sell (not just companies, but copies of the business books advising this).
However, this book focuses on the white road — off the beaten path, privately owned companies focused on long-term steady profits, fueled by organic demand and re-investment of profits into oneself, without outrageous borrowing from venture capital funds or acquisition.
The Good:
1.) Quality production. The paper is white, high-quality stock. The binding doesn’t feel flimsy or self-published. Images have high-quality, with strong Clif Bar branding on everything from package design to mock wrappers showing each of the company’s mission values. It’s clearly a product published in-house, with care, design, and taste.
2.) Content is organized by topic, with quotes and stories sprinkled throughout. Lots of vivid stories, anecdotes, about the origin story, biking, the adventures that shed light on Gary’s values system, and how he wanted to run Clif Bars.
3.) Gary speaks with transparency about American corporate goals like exit strategies. Intense focus on the mindset behind remaining private. He walks us through his mindset with transparency and truthfulness.
4.) Importance of Grassroots. Community service. He names lots of companies and sponsors, from the Breast Cancer Foundation, Patagonia, Organic Valley, Stonyfield Farms, Fetzer Vineyards, New Leaf Paper, Tulip Printing, Leave No Trace, the Access Fund, Pesticide Action Network, GreenTreks, the Food Alliance, the Waterkeeper Alliance, the Circle of Life Foundation, the Organic Farming Research Foundation, and many others, that share values and help build each other. Page 256 extols the importance of grassroots, both to employee motivation (they can talk to customers face-to-face) and to word-of-mouth-driven branding and marketing (athletes can wear and spread the brand in person, at real events). This is an excellent case study in organic growth and organic marketing — gauging demand without artificially creating it through digital ad spend!
5.) White road vs red road metaphor — this is telling and original. The journey off the well-traveled "red road" symbolizes Clif Bar’s story well. It made me want to find more books and companies that choose this path, since the majority of what Amazon and Goodreads recommends us deals with the red path. (i.e. grow at all costs) I want to ride the white road with Gary!
The Bad:
1.) Chapters are long and could have been logically broken about ten times per chapter into smaller sub-chapters to make the book more readable.
2.) Chronology is unclear. Jumps between early days, pre-acquisition, and steady-state. We go from the day before their acquisition, to the pre-founding days, to post-Lisa, and back in time to pre-Lisa when developing a play on sustainability and
3.) Too many statistics, millions of this or that, big picture. I can’t visualize what "saving $450000 a year" on caddy wrapping the length of Texas means, but I would benefit from knowing what design saved that, i.e. the physics and materials behind it. Far too often, statistics like profit/loss, savings, and sustainability sound like advertisements of the company, like a sales rep touting how green or ecologically responsible the company is, while remaining profitable. I don't care about how many hours of paid community service (2080) the company permits on paid time, or how many wind energy credits you're buying, just like the benefits and compensation package just sound like company or HR sales-speak. It doesn't boil down to actionable things, like how you found/approached the supplier that allowed you to cut your printed paper costs down, or how you designed the wrapper, or what ingredients you chose, the factories you found, etc. Rattling off stats is like bragging about a 6-minute mile, or comparing race times -- it's meaningless without knowing how they were accomplished, so readers can do something with the knowledge.
4.) Not enough micro on supply chain logistics. It’s great to hear "we continue to look deeply into our supply chain to find ingredients produced with organic or sustainable methods for all our products," but it does me little good to read advertisements, without knowing how to accomplish this myself. How exactly do you find organic farmers and engage them? How do you reach out to them, and negotiate deals that work for both sides? How do your source ingredients? How do you choose which grassroots tournaments to attend, and then meet their organizers? How do you choose which athletes to sponsor, and pitch to them? More stories and micro-details need to be told.
5.) For a company so focused on food, taste, and ingredients, they say almost nothing on core product Recipe. Reading this book got me into the science of bars, but I had to find all of my information in other books. For example, why is Clif Bar all chocolate? How did they decide what to put in Luna? What about fruit? Nutrition? What makes a "good" bar outside taste and calories? How does the quality of a bar impact the rider’s mood, health, and performance? Not enough details at all, just stories about momma’s kitchen, and quotes from Italians like Gaetano, who said, "My mother spent twenty-four hours making a spaghetti sauce. Clara spends twelve hours a day and my daughter-in-law buys sauce at the store. I can taste the difference. Something is happening to our culture and the food of our culture. We are so busy" (195). I get the spirit of what they’re trying to say. But they don’t give us enough guidance to follow that spirit! Quotes are all good, but when it comes down to it, how exactly do you replicate that 12-hour natural sauce-making? Give us the secret sauce, or at least details on how you choose the ingredients. Why do almost all flavors of Clif Bars include chocolate?
Overall, an interesting read with lots of stories and philosophies, but quite thin on execution or implementation.
October 13, 2011
Had a nice time at the Clif Family Harvest Festival in St. Helena. In response to the nice event, which was attended by "Mr. Clif" (Gary Erickson), I am now reading his book entitled Raising The Bar. (on my Kindle)
Rating Synopsys:
4 of 5 stars because the content bogs down in the last quarter of the book, relying heavily on semi-interesting Clif programs and stats.
Great great beginning! Told in honest and direct language describing how Clif came about, supported by interesting stories of hiking and biking adventures all over the world.
Inspirational on a couple of levels! From a business point of view, the lessons and guidelines developed from the author/founder's personal experience and mistakes. The use of real analogies make this information easy to relate to and remember.
Not interested in 'business'? Read it anyway! Just for the stories of hikes and bike adventures. It will inspire you to "take the white road"!
Not sure about your business idea? Read it. Then read Guy Kawasaki's Reality Check for further how-to. It will help you greatly by telling you what to do, and more importantly, what NOT to do.
So there you go!
Rating Synopsys:
4 of 5 stars because the content bogs down in the last quarter of the book, relying heavily on semi-interesting Clif programs and stats.
Great great beginning! Told in honest and direct language describing how Clif came about, supported by interesting stories of hiking and biking adventures all over the world.
Inspirational on a couple of levels! From a business point of view, the lessons and guidelines developed from the author/founder's personal experience and mistakes. The use of real analogies make this information easy to relate to and remember.
Not interested in 'business'? Read it anyway! Just for the stories of hikes and bike adventures. It will inspire you to "take the white road"!
Not sure about your business idea? Read it. Then read Guy Kawasaki's Reality Check for further how-to. It will help you greatly by telling you what to do, and more importantly, what NOT to do.
So there you go!
July 5, 2020
Entered this book with a bit of negative bias simply because it looked to be "a pat on his own back" by Erickson. Finished it pleasantly surprised on several notes: While he's not shy about telling of his own accomplishments, he avoids self-adulation, just tells his story. He made his case well for maintaining the private ownership status of Clif Bar Inc., the pros and cons of venture capitalists, and a strong case for corporate responsibility to its products, its people, its community and the planet. Words were backed with ample evidence.
I commend this book to those business people interested in a "white-road experience" and viewpoint in the corporate world. (TIP: "White-road experience" is a term used by Erickson in his book and refers to map markings of roads in France on his bicycle journey.)
I commend this book to those business people interested in a "white-road experience" and viewpoint in the corporate world. (TIP: "White-road experience" is a term used by Erickson in his book and refers to map markings of roads in France on his bicycle journey.)
June 10, 2008
The company that Gary Erickson has built and maintained is amazing. I think I'd like to work there. Gary and Clif Bar Inc. have an incredible attitude about work, sports, the planet, and life.
The book that Gary Erickson has written is not very good at all. I only survived because of the company it portrays. This book is repetitive. It kills all the best anecdotes by putting any sense of mystery into these weird red subheads. Sometimes it tries too hard to make analogies. Then it repeats some more. The Clif Bar label appears in some modified form no less than 10 times. The first label is a curiosity, the label that explains the company's finances is annoying.
At least the leading is large...
The book that Gary Erickson has written is not very good at all. I only survived because of the company it portrays. This book is repetitive. It kills all the best anecdotes by putting any sense of mystery into these weird red subheads. Sometimes it tries too hard to make analogies. Then it repeats some more. The Clif Bar label appears in some modified form no less than 10 times. The first label is a curiosity, the label that explains the company's finances is annoying.
At least the leading is large...
Read
March 25, 2022I handled pressure well, so this first-ever anxiety attack took me by surprise.
Today, instead of “hanging out on tropical islands” or writing big checks to my favorite causes, I’m working harder than I’ve worked in years.
One of those techniques is called belaying. It was their fear talking, not their actual physical ability to get over an overhang or climb a hard move.
I wish that I could have been a “fly on the wall of their brains,” to hear inside our employees’ heads.
We decided to launch the bar at a big bicycle show in September 1991.
Forza, the Italian word for strength
The key to Clif Bar’s growth was getting the bars into consumers’ mouths. We had no money to market Clif Bar in traditional forms, like an advertising blitz. We took it to the grass roots. I handed out bars to athletes at marathons, bicycle races, climbing competitions, to climbers in Tuolumne Meadows and Yosemite Valley, and I sent dozens of bars to rock climbing buddies, asking them to give them to their friends. We set up booths at sporting events.
I ended up in court with the other distributor, the bike company. We settled for $1.9 million, including attorneys’ fees. Severing these ties cost us close to $2 million at a time when our annual sales were just over $2 million. I want to encourage entrepreneurs to use legal counsel from day one. Over the years I’ve known many people starting new companies who shied away from hiring an attorney because they thought that they couldn’t afford the fees. I know from sad experience that one three-hour meeting can save you a million dollars down the road.
Today, instead of “hanging out on tropical islands” or writing big checks to my favorite causes, I’m working harder than I’ve worked in years.
One of those techniques is called belaying. It was their fear talking, not their actual physical ability to get over an overhang or climb a hard move.
I wish that I could have been a “fly on the wall of their brains,” to hear inside our employees’ heads.
We decided to launch the bar at a big bicycle show in September 1991.
Forza, the Italian word for strength
The key to Clif Bar’s growth was getting the bars into consumers’ mouths. We had no money to market Clif Bar in traditional forms, like an advertising blitz. We took it to the grass roots. I handed out bars to athletes at marathons, bicycle races, climbing competitions, to climbers in Tuolumne Meadows and Yosemite Valley, and I sent dozens of bars to rock climbing buddies, asking them to give them to their friends. We set up booths at sporting events.
I ended up in court with the other distributor, the bike company. We settled for $1.9 million, including attorneys’ fees. Severing these ties cost us close to $2 million at a time when our annual sales were just over $2 million. I want to encourage entrepreneurs to use legal counsel from day one. Over the years I’ve known many people starting new companies who shied away from hiring an attorney because they thought that they couldn’t afford the fees. I know from sad experience that one three-hour meeting can save you a million dollars down the road.
Read
July 26, 2021[ potential spoiler alert!! ] I read this years ago... it may have been one of my first books I read about "business leaders", and I still remember it well. It was a very realistic take on what it's like to build a business, from the day you have the idea right until the growth. I especially liked that their business idea came from their own struggles - they created the bars for themselves to go on their big bike trip through Europe but when the market didn't provide for them, they did it themselves. I also remember being mostly interested in their decision to stay a public company and how important that was to them. At the time, I thought that was a unique business point, as many typically have a goal of going public, so that stuck out to me a lot. I'd recommend it.
November 22, 2020
What an engaging story about a young man who followed his gut, created a better-tasting energy bar to suit his tastes, and started a company that grew to be well-recognized and appealing to an outside buyer. Gary was offered $120 million for his company, but he just couldn't do it - he stepped away from the sale.
I'm not a hiker or biker but appreciated the adventures he shared and admired his passion for taking "the white roads" instead of the "red roads".
I found myself finishing the book and wanting more - what is Gary doing now and how has Clif Bar, Inc changed in the intervening years since this book was published (2004)? I'll be one of the first to buy his sequel.
I'm not a hiker or biker but appreciated the adventures he shared and admired his passion for taking "the white roads" instead of the "red roads".
I found myself finishing the book and wanting more - what is Gary doing now and how has Clif Bar, Inc changed in the intervening years since this book was published (2004)? I'll be one of the first to buy his sequel.
March 26, 2021
Entertaining stories about cycling and finding his life partner.
The author tries to paint himself as a risk taking, off the beaten road, maverick who cares about social causes. He says the way to do this is... maintaining 100% ownership, so that no one else has any stock or can make money when the company value goes up.
He acknowledges this comes off as "greedy and selfish" but then brushes that off. The next few pages, he talks about how he wants to leave hundreds of millions of dollars to his kids.
In another book, his wife complained about how he left her with their newborn while he went on a 2-week sport adventure overseas.
So it is another book of a founder who wants to keep all the control and money, but paint himself as a noble guy. But the cycling parts are interesting.
The author tries to paint himself as a risk taking, off the beaten road, maverick who cares about social causes. He says the way to do this is... maintaining 100% ownership, so that no one else has any stock or can make money when the company value goes up.
He acknowledges this comes off as "greedy and selfish" but then brushes that off. The next few pages, he talks about how he wants to leave hundreds of millions of dollars to his kids.
In another book, his wife complained about how he left her with their newborn while he went on a 2-week sport adventure overseas.
So it is another book of a founder who wants to keep all the control and money, but paint himself as a noble guy. But the cycling parts are interesting.
July 2, 2025
Raising the Bar offers lessons of growing Cliff Bar into the company it is today. It follows anecdotes from bicycling, hiking and backpacking around the globe and how those can be parlayed into business lessons. From the high pressure stakes of taking a company to market and sale and backing away at the last min to how to buy out a partner this book does offer a lot of insight. It can meander at times but he comes back to his point quick enough to hold your interest. While not a traditional business profile it does offer a lot of insight and lessons that can be applicable to any company. Overall a very engaging read.
August 20, 2018
Gary Erickson has a fantastic story and great advice for people who want to be a leader, business owner, or adventurist. This book started out REALLY strong. His experiences will keep you turning the page, until he stops talking about them in the second half of the book and starts only talking about Clif Bar the company. The second half of the book drags a little and becomes extremely repetitive. However, Clif Bar's story is remarkable and Erickson's adventures are inspiring. I would recommend to anyone who likes Clif Bar, biking, adventure, or is interested in starting a business.
July 14, 2018
It took me a long time to read, but it was a great book! It's an inspiring book on how to create a culture in business or even outside of business. And I connected with this book with Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull and how they run their businesses. I have started my own business and this book helped me with things that might happen to our company. And how to think long term from running a public vs a private business. I eat Clif Bars intentionally because of this book.
October 15, 2018
Gary Erickson's book is a thought provoking book on a "white road" company. One with a culture different then the profit oriented publicly owned companies that will do anything for profit. Instead this is a journey to create a healthy company that has held the values it started with which include treating people, the environment, the consumer, and all partners with care. A valuable lesson for me!
June 28, 2020
What a great book with a great story. I learned so much about Gary, Clif Bars and business. Gary is physically active throughout his entire life and career with Clif, a very promising outlook for those thinking physical well being has to be set aside when pursuing business goals. I also learned how important Jazz is to making business choices.
This has been an inspiring book to read and learn from.
This has been an inspiring book to read and learn from.
December 5, 2022
Great journey of the founder of Clif Bar. This book was written almost 20 years ago and he was already ahead of the time: great care for his employees, non-hierarchical model, pay attention to the environment, strive for sustainable business model. He refused to sold the company in 2000 for 120 million dollar and this June 2022, he just sold Clif Bar to Mondelez for 2.9 billion US dollar. Amazing!!!
October 14, 2024
This is a great read for an entrepreneurial person. The author has done a fantastic job at taking snapshots of the company’s journey and making the reader feel the emotion of not just Gary(founder), but the employees as well. This book is a very beautiful read for anyone who wants to build companies which are customer centric. Loved it!
April 8, 2019
Good and amazing story of Gary Erickson and his journey with Clif Bar,
Clif Bar's Integrity and Passion in Life and Business
* Epiphany
*Joy
*White Road/Red Road
*Nine Values
*Solo
*BBPCP : SG&A, EBTIDA
*Magic Jazz
Clif Bar's Integrity and Passion in Life and Business
* Epiphany
*Joy
*White Road/Red Road
*Nine Values
*Solo
*BBPCP : SG&A, EBTIDA
*Magic Jazz
January 15, 2024
Truly enjoyed listening to this book it was really good and I went and bought a box of Clif Bars to start enjoying as part of own health journey. Such a great story about doing what you love and the money will follow.
March 16, 2024
Read this for class. I commend his dedication to keeping his company sustainable and quality. Listened to this on audible and he's somehow the slowest talker ever. He kinda gives me the ick but I don't know why. It's a pretty dry book, but not bad if you're interested in business.
June 4, 2025
Overall, I found the story of the founding of Clif Bar to be interesting. I do agree with a comment I read here around getting a little tired of everything being described with a metaphor. It did feel like the CEO was trying to create new business lingo for others to adopt.
December 30, 2017
An uneven read. Some moments of great insight, some issues with book organization. Love the red road/white road analogy and the five aspirations.
October 28, 2019
GREAT content and stories about the early days at Clif bar. The story jumped around a lot though and it sometimes felt like the analogies were a stretch. Enjoyed reading it!
July 14, 2020
Great story about a company with personality and purpose that goes beyond profits.
December 30, 2021
An outstanding book and one of my Top 10 business books of all time.
I have recommended this book to many others.
I have recommended this book to many others.
July 21, 2022
Enjoyed how he takes his personal experiences (ie cycling) and compares them to how he ran Clif. Interesting to read this now given Clif sold to Mondolez
March 14, 2023
The story of a great journey for an awesome company, told in an uninteresting way.
March 11, 2025
had to read this book for class. I actually enjoyed it even though business books aren’t my fav.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews