Blake Mycoskie

Imagine a business that grew from just an idea to 300 million in revenue in 5 years, and just recently gave away their 10 millionth pair of shoes(Mycoskie). This is what founder Blake Mycoskie created, which has grown to help so many. Starting as a successful entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie traveled to Argentina where he was moved by seeing all the impoverished children without shoes. Mycoskie had an idea to create a business, TOMS shoes company, which is a unique self-funding charity that provides a one-for-one idea of supplying shoes to the less fortunate around the world. One-for-one means, for every shoe sold another pair is given away. This business model proved so successful that the company later grew to also produce "TOMS eyewear" and "TOMS Roasting Co." with the same one-for-one idea.  Usually once someone becomes successful they try to do something generous like donate to a charity, but Mycoskie's innovation allowed him to produce a company to help continuously even after he is gone. Blake Mycoskie is not only an entrepreneur and businessman, but also a man who has helped millions, all while expecting nothing in return. Mycoskie is generous and innovative, which makes him an inspiration and a hero.

Blake Mycoskie's vision was to create a company that gave to people in need showing his generosity. As a successful entrepreneur Mycoskie could have easily pursued other things, but instead because of his deep sense of generosity he founded TOMs . His company was able to help so many people and impact them in great ways. "TOMS has given over 35 million new pairs of shoes to children in need and helped restore sight to more than 275,000 people" ("TOMS"...). Mycoskie has helped so many people just as an act of kindness. He is generous enough to travel the world helping others when he could have used the money in more selfish ways. He spends so much time building this company that grew so it could help so many millions of people. Mycoskie later discussed how he felt when imagining his business and said, "We were concentrating so hard on the 'what' and 'how' of scaling up that we'd forgotten our overarching mission, which is to use business to improve lives. That is our greatest competitive advantage: It allows us to build an emotional bond with customers and motivate employees, because they know they are shopping and working for a movement bigger than themselves"(Mycoskie). This shows how Mycoskie doesn't want his business to just be about how to be a better business, but instead how to be a better impact on the world. He is generous because he doesn't care about the business aspect of TOMS, but more about the people it is helping. Mycoskie doesn't go to work everyday thinking of himself or his company, he goes thinking of the individuals his business can assist. Ultimately, Mycoskie's generosity comes from his desire to help improve the lives of others. His business is important to him, but giving to others made his vision of TOMS a real success.

Blake Mycoskie is a man who wanted to help others, but what sets him apart from just another charity donor is he decided to create something that can self-fund to help millions in many ways.  Mycoskie was interviewed about how he funded his start up with only his own personal assets and said: "if I would've taken half a million dollars and just bought shoes to give to the kids, I would've been able to give the shoes once," he told Mike Zimmerman in    Success.    "It never would've been as far-reaching and sustainable as TOMS Shoes is now"(Mycoskie).  He could have just donated to be kind, but instead he is innovative and used his knowledge of starting businesses to create something that could help much more. Mycoskie used his knowledge to get a self funding business that creates its own profit, then uses that to help less fortunate people by providing the goods they need. This shows his innovative thinking that as a result grew to the huge company it is today. "Founded in 2006, TOMS began as a shoe company that matched every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need at One for One(TM). Since then, TOMS' giving has grown to serve other basic needs. TOMS Eyewear gives sight to a person in need with every pair of eyewear purchased, and TOMS Roasting Co. gives one week of clean water to a person in need for every bag of coffee purchased" ( "TOMS"). TOMS began as a vision in the mind of a generous man, but it is Mycoskie's innovative ideas that transformed it to a working business that later he expanded to aid in several other ways beyond just shoes. Once Mycoskie realized what a big success TOMS Shoes was, he expanded the company to help with other things. Without Mycoskie's innovation, the business TOMS wouldn't even exist and this self funding sustainable model for charity wouldn't have been demonstrated for others to replicate.

Blake Mycoskie has given to millions and created a business through pure ingenuity. Mycoskie once shared an inspiring story expressing the gratitude of people he helped, "I met a pair of brothers, ages 10 and 12, who had been sharing a single pair of adult-size shoes. Because the local schools required footwear, they had to take turns going to class. Their mother wept when I handed her shoes that actually fit her boys' feet. I couldn't believe that such a simple act could have such an enormous impact on people's lives"(Mycoskie). His generosity left a huge impact on people's lives, but more importantly he innovated and created a company that will continue to make generous contributions. It is really significant that he figured out how to do the most good with his money, like in the example above, where a pair of shoes can enable an education. He also created an innovative new business that could continue his charitable vision. He is an inspiration because this is someone with enough money to just retire or live a life of luxury, but instead decided to help the less fortunate. Mycoskie inspired me to think of how we can all choose to spend our lives. Either working for a shoe company that works for profit or a shoe company that works to donate to help others. We should all use Mycoskie as an example as each of us think about the paths we choose or the good we can do for other people.   

Works Cited

"TOMS Completes Sale of 50 Percent Stake to Bain Capital." PR Newswire 4 Nov. 2014. Student

Resources in Context. Web. 2 May 2016.  

Mycoskie, Blake. " How I did it...The Founder of TOMS on Reimagining the Company's

Mission." Harvard Business Review. N.p., 01 Jan. 2016. Web. 02 May 2016.