Raising the Bar – Gary Erickson (founder of Clif Bar)

Non-fiction
Paperback from Amazon.com – $13.57

Buy it if: You love inspirational posters

Don’t buy it if: You’re expecting a detailed and thorough business profile

I’m a huge sucker for business profiles…the more obscure the better. (In fact, expect an upcoming review of the fascinating The Box, history of the modern shipping container. Yes…I’m serious.) So, the idea of a business profile - written by the founder! - of a product I use and enjoy? And it comes recommended to me by a few different people? Sounds like win-win-win-win to me!

I’m sorry to say Raising the Bar just didn’t do it for me. I’m more disappointed than anything, because I like the Clif Bar company. I like the ethos, I like its ‘green’ aspirations, and I like its support of local sports. From the sound of it, Gary Erickson and I would probably get along famously. Unfortunately the telling of the Clif Bar story falls short, which is sad because I have no doubt that there is a great story in there somewhere... It just didn’t get told this time around.

Is it a business profile? Is it a biography? Self-help? It definitely hits on all of these things. The main problem is that it never seems to go beyond skin deep. A lot of the platitudes are repeated throughout the book without much being added in the way of substance. It’s unfortunate because we’re talking about a company that does well over $60 million of a business a year and has grown to that size without ever ceasing to be privately-held. Really, the Clif Bar company is an amazing success story, succeeding in a way that even the almighty Powerbar (now owned by Nestle) hasn’t.

One thing the book does have going for it is ease of use. It doesn’t bog down in business stats or lists of crucial employees. It’s a very light, easy read and relentlessly positive. Raising the Bar has a spirit of inspiration and there’s no doubt many companies would love to emulate Clif's method of finding success while staying true to their ideals…

From a corporate viewpoint Mr. Erickson is an amazing talent. And as a former bicycle racer/mountain climber/world trekker, Gary does tell a few decent stories. Sadly, these tales are usually a means for providing a half-baked, fairly obvious business analogy that almost always has to do with taking the path less traveled or keeping profits down and charity up. As a person, I’d aspire to be a lot like him. I would love to emulate the success he’s had while staying true to his ideals…but I hope I never manage to string together so many words without ever actually saying something original.

Because talent in business doesn’t always correlate with writing ability this book leaves me wanting for so much more. Specifics about the way Clif moved their market from Northern California to the rest of the world… Details on the work/life balance Clif allows its employees to maintain… Cocktail and Weenie Party? He mentions it at least three times, but never offers more than a name. It sound great! I want to come! But what the hell is it?!

The whole endeavor feels like a feature-length movie trailer. I spent 200+ plus pages hoping there would be more details to accompany the points he touches on in the first chapter, but was instead rewarded with admonitions to 'stay true to myself' and 'take country lanes instead of highways.' It’s all good and decent advice, but without any real examples or methods for applying such broad generalities to the world, it’s no more useful than Google’s ubiquitous ‘Don’t Be Evil.’ (Except many of the books on Google tell exactly HOW they strive not to be evil. And to expand their brand. And to grow as a business without overextending themselves…)

Though it sounds harsh, Raising the Bar reads an awful lot like some of my 18th Century English Literature papers: Lots of nice sounding phrases and agreed upon sentiments, but very little that’s original or striking. My goal during those out-of-time-too-many-papers-

due late college nights was to put forth something that was plain-vanilla, below-the-radar decent. It’s not the worst sin for an English major… Unfortunately, Erickson, who espouses chance taking and has built a wonderful business around it, doesn’t pull off writing with the same verve he brings to nutrition bars. And you know what? I’m glad. Halfway through a 75-mile bike ride, I’m much more likely to care that those bars taste good than I am about his writing style. I just think a company like Clif Bar deserves a better rendition of how it came to be. There’s a truly amazing story in there, I’m sure of it. But it has yet to be written.