Acton author profiles Thoreau, the ‘business thinker’

Henry David Thoreau — eminent nature lover and inveterate saunterer — was also a gifted businessman who transformed his father’s small pencil factory in Acton into the “top of the heap in the U.S. pencil trade,” according to a new book by longtime Acton resident and author Ken Lizotte.

As revealed in “Walden for Hire: Business Lessons from Henry David Thoreau,” Thoreau turned the business into a juggernaut by vastly improving the quality of the graphite used in his pencils, equaling the quality of pencils produced in England, then the dominant source. Henry’s mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson, subsequently played an important role in promoting the Thoreau pencil to the wider world, as Lizotte explains.

“By 1844, Thoreau Pencils were easily superior to any available in the United States, whether domestic or foreign,” Lizotte writes. “Waldo, excitedly impressed with this new version, sent a bundle of pencils to a friend in Boston, and in that way, word began to get around that there was a new pencil ‘sheriff’ in town, and nothing in the realm of writing tools would ever be the same again. Henry had basically reinvented the pencil as we know it.”

A new perspective

Lizotte’s book is the first, as far as he knows, to focus exclusively on Thoreau’s business acumen, which he believes fans of the Walden Pond sage will find fascinating. Thoreau is widely remembered for turning communing with nature into an art form, and for laying the groundwork for Martin Luther King and Mohandas Gandhi with his 1849 essay, “Civil Disobedience,” written in opposition to slavery and the Mexican-American war — not for making a buck.

“Most of his fans are very enthusiastic about knowing all they can about Henry,” Lizotte said. “My book plugs a hole for them that will prove of great interest.”

Lizotte himself had a limited understanding of Thoreau before researching and writing his book. After moving to Acton some 30 years ago with his wife, Lizotte started a business to help business experts become published authors and named it Emerson Consulting Group after another famous Acton resident.

“From what I knew of Henry, he was a guy who was hanging out in Acton and might be working, but how much work did he really do, because he loved to roam around Walden Pond?” Lizotte said. “I didn’t think of him as being a good representation for what I was doing.”

Hawking string beans

Then came the revelation of the pencil factory, and Thoreau’s successful careers both as a surveyor and as an author.

“Walden; or, Life in the Woods” has never gone out of print. Thoreau was even making money during his time at his cabin on Walden Pond, which he built himself for a little over $28, by the way. He grew string beans in a large garden at the pond and sold them at a market in town.

“He really was a business thinker, yet even the most dedicated Thoreau fan doesn’t really know that,” Lizotte said. “If I had to do it over again, I’d call [my business] Thoreau — but don’t tell Ralph Waldo that. He was really well known, more than Thoreau, who got to be well known after he died.”

Another important aspect of Thoreau’s approach to business was his unwillingness to compromise his values and his commitment to enjoying his work. As a surveyor, for example, he refused to cut corners or fudge boundaries, even if his client was insisting on it.

“There is something about [Thoreau’s] take on life, his philosophy about life, that resonates with people even today,” Lizotte said. “Work should not be just about making money. It should be about doing an excellent job while maintaining your morality.”