Work Different

CHAPTER 5Purpose Rules and Empathy Wins

Dave Gilboa needed a break.

After years of toiling away in the finance and consulting worlds, Dave decided to enroll in business school. But before he took his first class, he needed to get away from it all, so he chucked his smartphone and backpacked around the world. During the six‐month trip, Dave lost his glasses—clearly a must‐have for business school, as seeing your textbook is most helpful—so when he returned from the wilderness, he needed both new specs and a new phone.

Newsflash: Phones and glasses cost money.

Dave knew he could buy a used iPhone on eBay for about $200 at the time, but a new set of prescription eyeglasses—which, obviously, can't be bought used on eBay—would set him back closer to $700. That simply didn't make sense to him, so he stubbornly refused to buy glasses in his first semester, a semester that turned out to be a tad blurry.

It was then, back in 2010, that Dave sat down with some friends and kicked around if or how they could launch a company that might change the world, both economically and socially. Eventually, they hit on affordable eyeglasses, and from those conversations came Warby Parker (WP), an eyeglass company that wanted to be more than just a glasses company. They wanted to be a glasses company with a mission.

Fast‐forward 10 years and Warby Parker provides high‐quality, stylish eyewear at an affordable price for all, while also making a positive impact on the world. For every pair of glasses ...