Leadership And The Environment

Here are the notes I wrote and read this podcast from:It's no secret the tension between police and protesters in this country. I've talked to a lot of protesters in my day, having protested myself many times, especially in college.In grad school a post-doc once worked as auxiliary policemanRecently listened to Jocko Willink on Joe Rogan's podcast. I won't explain who they are because they're both big public figures and you can look them up.Except Jocko is a former Navy SEAL and Joe hosts the world's top podcast. As a martial artist, he speaks Jocko's language and they both talk about cops and uniformed people.I'm going to play about a minute from their conversation that inspired me.<play clip here>After hearing that part, I walked down 10th Street to the 6th precinct to ask if they did drive-alongs.I'd never heard of such a thing and doubted they did, but I knew if I didn't ask the answer was no, if I called or emailed, the answer would be no. But I'm pretty good in person.What will come of it? I don't

Here are the notes I read from (maybe better just to listen):Yesterday two things, I'll start with second because more poignant.Ran into old friend a few weeks ago, clubbing, Submedia.Met at bar, first time since March, ready to walk away, wasn't going to order doof. But distant, outdoor, nearly empty.Talking for about an hour, a lot on how I transitioned.Talking about TV show.As an aside, he remarked knowing my regular background made stewardship more compelling and interesting than just tree hugger.While talking, some guy starts rooting through trash can on street, throwing trash everywhere. I remark, almost act.Then he starts yelling at us, threatening.Dave, fresh from kickboxing stands and advances toward.Guy points at me! throws bottle, shatters, leaves.Five minutes later comes back, hauls off and throws bottle hard, shatters huge, all eyes are on situation.Dave advances, I back him up. Gut yells at Dave, hard to understand since mostly Spanish, threatening, fists up, mostly at Dave, partly me.Guy crosse

Joe DeSena founded the Spartan Race and hosts the Spartan Up podcast. For those who know about me and my burpees, cold showers, rowing a marathon, picking up garbage daily, and so on, you can imagine I love what he does.Joe has made it his mission to bring the emotional rewards of joy, service, happiness, resilience, grit, toughness, and all those things to the world by creating a culture and community that works for it. Some people expect tough means suffering, but I hope you'll catch what I found at the root of Joe's message and life, which is emotional and physical growth.I heard fun, connection, playfulness. Physical activity enables these things. It's not the goal. The meaning and purpose behind it and that it creates are. At least that's my read.I happened to catch him while running a two-week program for kids including an event called the Death Race. You'll hear how the kids respond, how parents respond, and how kids in inner cities respond to similar programs.As it happens, after we finished recording

Here are the notes I read from for this episode.Following pattern of effective speeches and leadership to lead people to love doing things not obviously personally benefiting.If you've seen movie Patton, George C Scott delivers a shorter, cleaner, but better acted version.Compare what he's asking his men to do with what it takes to pollute lessWhat is required of us in environmental stewardship is almost nothing in comparison.I'll read it, but translate while I'm reading it. The language is obviously of the time and would cause him to be canceled today except that he helped defeat Rommel and Hitler and save the free world from the Nazis taking over, which probably even the most offended person would value.Some parallels:Germans - pollution, so when he talks of attacking Germans, think of reducing pollution. He leads his men to love attacking Nazis.Could you love reducing pollution? You won't risk your life.Fighting - reducing consumption, but less riskyGoing home - living without thinking about stewardshipLea

The actions we can take to preserve the environment are so simple anyone can do them. They improve our lives, connecting us to each other, freeing us from distraction of craving and separation.Role models help. Nelson Mandela worked harder and faced risks greater than any of us need to---if we even face any, since eating more fruits and vegetables and spending time with people close to us improve our lives.I bring to you the closing words of his speech at the close of his trial that led to the Apartheid government imprisoning him for 27 years:I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all people will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But, My Lord, if it needs to be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.The closing words of the speech in videoWi

George and I talked about three big topicsGeorge Floyd demonstrations and riots from the view of a man watching his businesses and his communities' businesses vandalized and destroyed. You'll also hear him reflect as a man who dismissed Colin Kaepernick---in his view disrespecting the flag.Why did he have that view? For supporting veterans, especially veteran suicide, through incredible runs---ultramarathons, 100-mile-plus runs, and longer. The more he ran for others, the more rewarding it became, to where he ran across the country through injury.We talked about finding your limits, serving others, and how much each helps your life.My key takeaway: that he got more out of his challenges than he put into them, for serving others. He explained better than I why I act on leadership and the environment, probably because he's done so much moreTell me if what he says doesn't make you feel that whatever you're doing, no matter how much people tell you it won't make a difference or is more than you have to, that you

Here are the notes I read from on recounting the potential I saw for the Spartan Race community and its founder, Joe De Sena, if they chose to prioritize environmental stewardship. Context: Joe: carries chain up 1,000-foot hill, brings others with him, invites people to climb hill for 24 hours, leads to Spartan Run.Brings people up to carry boulders up steep hill, which they pay to do.Community: Integrity, personal motivation, fun, supportiveTasks: Learn about yourself, great joy, striving, constantly improving They understand the mental and physical side, learning, growing, deeper satisfaction and reward than cookies and ice cream.Got me to go to Vermont and run up and down hill seven times.Environment: abysmal: trash, doof, little fruits and vegetables, bottles, ignoring well water, no natural fibersTexts from kidsBut huge potential. 7 million members. They know you have to go through uncertainty, pain, struggle, mostly self-doubt, your mind telling you reasons to stop, working through them.I've spoken

“Don’t ask kids what they want to be when they grow up. Ask them what problem they want to solve.”Jaime explains what his title of Google's "Education Evangelist" means, how he got it, and how it results in him advancing education globally. We talk about education when student-driven, how that paradigm differs from what nearly all schools now do. Also how it is everywhere in life.He gives an insider's view of Google, how it reacted and transitioned from the pandemic, physically on the inside of its buildings.The most exciting part of the conversation comes at the end, when our conflicting views on the environment, the future, and technology build to a crescendo of disagreement, but also curiosity, but not checkmating each other.It's difficult to stop a conversation in the middle, so sorry you'll have to wait for our next conversation, but we've scheduled it.Disagreement happens any time two people's values differ, which means between any two people. I loved that we knew points of disagreement but instead of t

Here are the notes I read this episode from:People keep acting like I'm different, that they have to balance things that I don't when acting on the environment.So I'll share a recent decision I made. People I tell have sounded intrigued and delighted to hear it so I'll share with you.First sensed hairline retreating at 19.Not much for maybe a decade following, I don't remember.Maybe 10 years ago started using minoxidil.Don't know if works or not, but used as insurance. Not insanely expensive.Tested on thinning in back, so even less sure if it works.Over the past few years noticed it becoming my greatest plastic consumption.Thought more about stopping.Even stopping flying was reversible. Never decided to stop forever, just kept finding that it improved my life not to fly. Constraints breed creativity.Stopping minoxidil not reversible. Might not do anything. Might go bald. I don't want to go bald. I like my hair.But I'm pitting purely my vanity against reducing plastic pollution.Last bottle of last 3 month supp

Steven Pressfield's War of Art is a perennial bestseller. If you haven't read it, I recommend reading it, even if you delay listening to this podcast. Well, listen to this episode since it will prepare you.Before I read it, I could not have imagined someone writing it. I can't think of another book like it. It's helped countless people start acting on passions.Steven shares how the book emerged---things you won't get from just reading it. After we finished recording, he told me how he shared new things in this episode and he's appeared on many podcasts.I also commented on how the resistance he described to the individual on the verge of creating translates almost perfectly to two places, the individual acting on his or her environmental values as well as us in our communities, as a nation, as a species. Listen to hear his comments on that observation, and why his response made me feel so honored, flattered, and motivated to follow up.He's friendly. We spoke a bit after stopping recording. I asked him about an

 While I was jogging (actually plogging) along the Hudson River around 7:30am, a person not wearing a mask stepped into my path, blocking me, saying the person's shoes had been stolen. The person seemed to let me pass, but then threatened me and threw a bottle that shattered at my feet as I ran past. I kept running, the hair on the back of my neck standing up and my adrenaline high. I don't know if the person had a weapon.I describe more and some of how it affected me in the audio.I was first going to say I was threatened since he didn't touch me. I'm not a lawyer so I looked up the definition. According to FindLaw.com's page on Assault Torts and Injury Law:legal scholars define assault as an intentional attempt or threat to inflict injury upon a person, coupled with an apparent, present ability to cause the harm, which creates a reasonable apprehension of bodily harm or offensive contact in another.Notice the words “attempt” and “threat” above. In tort law, assault does not require actual touching or vi

People constantly suggest they have to balance different values as if I didn't. It came up in a recent conversation so I shared about it today.An element I factor in is how my pollution affects others---not just what I know about or wish I contributed, but what I actually contribute. Yet people think I factor in nothing else.It's weird to learn people see you as one-dimensional. If they felt others viewed them as they see me, they'd be insulted. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you've followed sensible, expert advice on the pandemic, you've probably read or seen Ashish Jha in the New York Times, The Atlantic, CNN, Washington Post, and everywhere. On Tuesday he testified to the US Senate.He's Harvard's Global Health Institute's Director. Over 200,000 people have taken his online Harvard courses, which you can for free. Over 80,000 took Ebola, Preventing the Next Pandemic and over 120,000 took Improving Global Health: Focusing on Quality and Safety. As it turns out, we were college teammates on the ultimate frisbee team.I'll link to a few top articles by him. With so many interfaces between the pandemic and us---health, government, research, policy, etc---you can read a lot of his views and experiences from different sources.I wanted to bring the personal side of leading on the front lines and top levels of a pandemic---how do doctors and public health experts feel about people not following advice, facing triage decisions, how to be heard, and what affects a doctor personally. We

I think I've accidentally led people astray, sharing how much I enjoy acting in stewardship. I would prefer doing anything I wanted whenever and wherever, on my terms---that is, if I didn't have to consider how my behavior affected others, especially those powerless to stop my effects from hurting them.Today's episode shares how I'm doing on the personal level what science suggests---no magic, nothing personal, just following the advice that makes the most sense. On the social level, I'm leading other people, corporations, institutions, and government. I'm not making things up or denying. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I loved Steven Pressfield's book The War of Art. I found it inspiring. It had a property that qualifies for me that something qualifies as a work of art: it said something I always knew was true but that I'd never seen expressed that way."I mention it for two reasons. One, I recorded a podcast episode with Steven the other day, which led me to reread the book. Two, I found the book applies to acting in stewardship. Substitute a few words and new meaning emerges, mainly changing art to stewardship. Most of the rest follows.I describe the analogy in this episode's recording. I share a few examples. I hope it helps motivate.I recommend The War of Art to nearly anyone. I recommend it especially to people who want to work on the environment. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today was a rough day for me in New York. Most of my solo episodes I start with a point. Today brought me down enough that I decided to share more openly some thoughts I get when seeing situations that look hopeless and are deteriorating. Normally I try to support others. It occurred to me, I hear almost nothing back from listeners, friends, family, or the world providing hope or support. More commonly people seem mystified that I or anyone would try to live sustainably when they could instead eat, travel, buy, etc with nary a thought of stewardship or empowerment.Below are my notes reminding me of a few things during the day to cover while speaking. As I'm writing these words, fireworks---that is, loud explosions---are going off within a block or two, unofficial.Helicopter since 5:20No masksLitter everywhere, every mealJust saw Story of PlasticNobody seems to care. We can go a day without water, but 8 oz bottlesPolice everywhereMayor absentPresident exacerbatingWhy bother?Am I missing signs of mainstream eff

I haven't taken political stance because I am working to removing wedge-ness from environmental policy. I'm working for people to see laws about how people affect others through the environment as we view traffic laws. We don't see red lights as red tape or bureaucrats telling us what to do. They make our world safer even if they slow us down sometimes. One day we'll see keeping mercury out of fish and other pollution similarly.I met Jonathan in person practicing democracy---gathering signatures in my neighborhood. I learned of him after meeting Andrew Yang, whose candidacy I valued.Last year I heard Andrew Yang speak and liked his message enough to read his book, The War on Normal People, and learn more about universal basic income. I listened to Andrew on several podcasts until I felt I understood what he was campaigning for and why. UBI, for example, has had centuries of support across the political spectrum. Who knew?I talked to Yang's campaign people about helping with their environmental platform. (I'll

Think of where you are now in two ways---first, how it looked before humans arrived there, second, how it looks now.The difference is our influence, which results from our behavior, which results from our beliefs, values, hopes, dreams, and so on. In other words, the environment is the outward manifestation of our beliefs. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dave Chappelle set a line for himself that when he became famous he would not cross it. His life crossed it and he left a successful show and a $50 million contract.He returned to become more successful than ever. I recently saw him win the Mark Twain award.Here's Wikipedia on him staying true to himself:Season 3 was scheduled to begin airing on May 31, 2005, but earlier in May, Chappelle stunned fans and the entertainment industry when he abruptly left during production and took a trip to South Africa. Chappelle said that he was unhappy with the direction the show had taken, and expressed in an interview with Time his need for reflection in the face of tremendous stress:"Coming here, I don't have the distractions of fame. It quiets the ego down. I'm interested in the kind of person I've got to become. I want to be well-rounded and the industry is a place of extremes. I want to be well-balanced. I've got to check my intentions, man."Immediately following Chappelle's departure, tabloids speculated that Chappel

Dov and I started by talking about experiencing fun for the first time. I'm not the most fun person ever but a lot more now than before. He handled context that kept me from recording before despite knowing I wanted to. By context I mean legality, framing, and things that if you don't cover it's just talking about drugs, not life.I shared a few stories showing how I integrated the social skills the MDMA experience helped prompt, which leadership work eventually complemented and augmented when I went to business school.But the deep part of this episode is my sharing my experiences of powerlessness as a man compared to women, as well as the stories of few men who experienced similar situations that suggest to me my situation isn't rare. Note that I don't describe problems with women but a system and culture that says hashtag believe women without accountability or equality.My leadership work has been leading me to become famous but I've been afraid to get past a certain level for fear of one of the stories I te