This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the 'Summer of Love'. Besides a number of bands, yoga, organic farming and some of the original computer geeks, the era gave birth to a number of business ideas.
Amongst them is JanSport, the backpack company. One of its founders Skip Yowell tells the story in "The Hippie Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder & Other Mountains".

Founded in 1967 with just ideas, ideals and a sewing machine, they have been and are still very successful.

According to Marketplace which interviewed him this morning, they sell a major share of all backpacks. A good number of them are for corporate commuters I bet.

Amongst his most noted lapses, Skip Yowell acknowledges forgetting to patent the 'Dome Tent' which meant quite a few millions in lost revenue. A dog backpack was a flop.

In this excerpt from a Conference Board review Questioning Authority he tells us why is is not the top dog at his company : "Spending endless hours on the numbers has never been one of my strong suits. I do what I'm good at. Many aspiring business-types strive to become the top dog, the head honcho, the big cheese. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But in your pursuit of the corner office, if you discover that your passion lies midway up the corporate ladder, stop climbing."

Sounds like a refreshing take on business and work and life of course.

Also on the topic of Dogs, Yoga and Backpacks: Is your dog a Doga practitioner and Customize your Messenger Bag with Timbuk2