Leadership And The Environment

Everyone thinks about the environment. Nearly everyone gets bogged down in questions.What's best?Will this or that change make a difference?What does all the science mean?What should I do?Science answers some of these questions. Science is the study of nature. People associate it with going to the moon or people in lab coats, but it's about nature -- sunsets, gravity, why the sky is blue, as well as global warming, pollution, and resource depletion.Using computers, motors, eye glasses, and so on means your life relies on science. I find it beautiful, which is why I got the PhD in physics.Not understanding science or math means not knowing how to reach or understand answers resulting from studying nature and its patterns. Even understanding science doesn't mean knowing the answers. You have to do the experiments and calculate the results.Tom Murphy created his Do The Math blog to calculates the main questions on environment: solar, wind, nuclear. When someone says we can't grow forever, why not? What works and

Ana works in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Executive Director for Nipe Fagio (Give Me the Broom! in Swahili), my first guest who works in Africa.This conversation is about leadership in an area lacking it -- environmental action. I wish I met her before! It sounds to me like she leads effectively -- not telling people what to do but leading them.Ana promotes doing things, focusing on action. She's starting with beach clean ups and organizing people to act, but you can tell her vision is broader.I've spoken a lot about people delaying action by making a goal of awareness when they're already more than aware enough that their values are telling them it's time to ac.t Ana's focus on action reminds me that a main goal of leadership is to help people do what they already want to but don't know how.People want to act, they're just frustrated by mainstream society and comfort and convenience. I wish people saw how much people want to act. The potential to lead is huge. Ana is stepping up. You can hear the passion resulti

When I met Ron in business school, he and Recycle Bank, which he co-founded, were well regarded. He's continued to grow since.Beyond contributing into entrepreneurship in sustainability as an entrepreneur, he's helped create policy, appears often in the media, and now invests.In our conversation you'll hear on the personal side his passion. On the business side you'll hear the opportunities to start businesses and solve problems are increasing -- from the sounds of it, dramatically.He puts his money where his mouth is. If you came here for examples of leadership in the area of the environment, I'd say he sounds like a role model. He achieves business success. It emerges from transparency, which creates, as I hear it, trust, joy, and liberation where others might feel guilty.Restricted on connection, so sorry for connection problems.His success reminds me of Sandy Reisky's episodes. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I recorded a preface to episode 142 because I got the backstage pass, attended the meet and greet, shook Sam's hand, and asked him if he was open to alternatives to conversation and violence.I won't be able to do his answer justice here, but his views of conversation and violence were broader than mine, so if he hears episode 142 without this preface, I suspect he'll think I don't understand his views.In a funny way, I hope he sees I misunderstood what he meant by conversation and violence because, as he'll recognize, I recorded that episode before his explanation, but more because I hope my being open to his more expansive view will open him to mine.He asked me about alternatives. I suggested a few, closing my answer with Mandela, Gandhi, King, and Havel. He described, as I recall and my hearing and memory aren't perfect, nonviolent civil disobedience as a mix of conversation with the people going to do it and violence in the form of disrupting others.But my not being able to give alternatives in the moment

This conversation is about joy, responsibility, community, and values you undoubtedly share.Rob Greenfield lived like an average American. He saw the environmental problems we all see on headlines and dismissed them as most do.Then he decided he could no longer abdicate the responsibility of how he affected others and our world.I consider him a role model. Nearly everyone I talk to describes what I do as a big deal. I'll grant I'm far from mainstream -- about 10% of the pollution of the average American -- but it's not a big deal.The more you act on your environmental values, the more you'll find typical American behavior is extreme. An aberrant from how humans act. Once not polluting was normal. It's returning that way to me. Rob helps reset my bearings away from accepting what America has become as what it could be.Rob finds joy in living sustainably and responsibly toward others. He creates joy. I recommend getting to know people like him to learn what you can do.Rob is not buying food, yet gives food away

While Nikole's being a celebrated director and writer is a great reason to feature her and listen to her, I approached her because she graduated from Sudbury Valley School. I hope you've heard of Sudbury. If not, it's likely a different school than any you've heard of.Learning about in inspired me to learn as much as I could about it. Here are many of the links I read on it. As an educator I am as fascinated by its success and how it overturns my view of childhood, education, and humanity, as well as my own childhood.What better background could I find and feature on it than a student who loved her experience there and shares it.Nikole shares openly about herself, her childhood, her education before Sudbury and at Sudbury. This episode is longer than most, in part because I believe you'll find self-directed learning as fascinating as I do. I recommend learning about self-directed learning as part of learning about yourself, democracy, systems, . . . many important things in life.This conversation was beautifu

Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about a negative peace, where a problem exists but people don't face it or deal with it, and a positive one, where people solve the problem, which requires facing it. He used non-violent civil disobedience to lead people to face problems that affected others, but as voters and citizens, they could do something about.People didn't always like it, but you can't get change otherwise. Nonviolent civil disobedience works with human laws but doesn't apply so much with our environmental problems.So how do we face these problems? How do we get people who are already aware that they are polluting and emitting greenhouse gases way beyond what risks undermining society, yet people using 90% less are more happy to stop choosing doing what they've been doing?Environmental leaders are struggling to find a strategy that works for us as non-violent civil disobedience did for other problems, however uncomfortable it makes people in the moment.If you hear about straws recently, Dune and her work

In End of Faith Sam Harris says "We have a choice. We have two options as human beings. We have a choice between conversation and war. That's it. Conversation and violence."I like his podcast, listened to most episodes, read several of his books, support him with cash. I will see him in person this week for the first time at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan with Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman. It looks like I'll get back stage passes so may meet him.One of my goals with today's recording (that isn't obviously about the environment) is to prompt the chance of meeting in person.I support his initiatives on free speech, not just for myself and people who agree with me, freedom from religious oppression, identity politics, and more. I'm glad and grateful that he's approaching issues others fear to, even when I disagree with him..Anyone who knows me knows I support and act for equality, diversity, freedom, environmental stewardship, universal education, healthy food, and access to all these things. Also empowe

Right off the bat, we talk about Olympians, Americas cup winners, and a Crossfit games champion. The places Dawn brought me to were elite -- this time a fundraiser on Wall Street, the first time the New York Yacht Club, the next time her sailing facility for world-class athletes, Oak Cliff.Yet Dawn is as down to earth as anyone I've met -- scrappy, as she put it. She makes pickles for world-class athletes. She already reduces waste and tours composting facilities.So hear how someone like her, probably busier than you and I and responsible for people's hopes and dreams, takes on environmental challenges many people consider distracting. She makes it fun.On another note, I recommend learning to sail. You meet people like Dawn. Humans have been doing it for 7,000 years. In my case, it's brought everything flying did, of exploring the world, cultures, people, and so on.If you're think you're too busy to act on your environmental values, how many America's Cups have you won? Or led others to win? How many Oly

If you've heard about avoiding straws -- if you're actively avoiding straws -- Dune Ives and the Lonely Whale, the organization she's the Executive Director of, have influenced you.If you've asked yourself, why straws or what the point was, that's what she wanted: for people actually to talk about things on a human scale.If you've taken the next step from straws, Lonely Whale has influenced you all the more. When Dune co-founded Lonely While, she didn't know the untapped demand. They just started and finding one change leading to another.Her approach helped change my views about straws and small changes. I no longer see them as just the one act any more than playing scales is too small to learn to play piano. Nor do I see them as small things that might add up. I see them as practice. If you don't do small things, you may never get to big things. Mastering small things makes big things easier.If straws connect with a value of yours, start with straws. Act on your values. Talk about them. Once you master them

If you're in entrepreneurship in New York City, you know Joanne Wilson, especially among the women entrepreneurs I talk to. She's prominent in the New York entrepreneurial world, as well as art, travel, foodA lot of investors live stressful lives. Joanne doesn't. As you'll hear in our conversation, she also leads a rewarding life, which you'll also read in any of her blog posts or hear in any of her podcast episodes -- the happiness, fun, and emotional reward she describes her life with. I think it results from her focus on people, relationships, and community.Like any great leader, she focuses on people. The first thing she does after vetting people she invests in is to support them.Our conversation covers more personal leadership, but her success points to what I think environmental leaders could learn from her. Environmental work overwhelmingly focuses on science, politics, compliance, and facts. Until they focus on people, it's hard to call many of them leaders. Seeking compliance or browbeating people wi

When you think of negotiating, do you think of honesty, fun, and openness.How about hostage negotiation with terrorists?Chris Voss brings the experience of negotiating in some of the world's most challenging situations to teaching you to negotiate and honesty, fun, and openness are some of the top things he brings. How would you like to look forward to your next negotiation that way?He also brings social and emotional skills to a field long dominated by abstract principles, which help, but develop your performance.His approach, beyond just book learning, is relevant to all negotiation, particularly relevant to environmental leadership.His book has several effective techniques that overlap with mine (compare with Leadership Step by Step's chapters 18 and 19) though he has a couple decades more experience.If you like learning leadership, you'll find learning from Chris valuable. And fun. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today's post covers a dramatic proposal I see as a clear winner. It's big and bold but everyone benefits from it. Its challenges are in garnering support and implementation, but once started I see it sustaining itself as a national jewel.First some context.I've talked about my return from Shanghai a few years ago to a crumbling airport, creaky trains, and crumbling train stations. Anyone can see this nation's crumbling bridges, roads, and infrastructure.Same with my train trip across the country. Amtrak is a third-world train system. It measures its delays in hours. First-world train systems measure delays in minutes and seconds.As a New Yorker I see our subway, which carries billions of rides annually, has fallen to disrepair. Its slipshod weekend repair schedule means you can't predict what lines will work or how long to plan a trip. First-world systems have built whole cities worth of systems. Other cultures update old systems instead of starving them like ours. We act like a few new stations are a big dea

This podcast has featured some world-renowned guests, with more renown to come.Popular downloads include Dan Pink, multiple #1 bestseller, 40+ million TED talk views, Beth Comstock, former Vice Chair and CMO of General Electric, Marshall Goldsmith, #1 ranked leadership guru and author,Frances Hesselbein, Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Ken Blanchard, author, The One Minute Manager, over 13 million sold, Jonathan Haidt, #1 bestselling author, 8+ million TED talk views, Vincent Stanley, Director, Patagonia, David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, over 1 million sold, Dorie Clark, bestselling author, Jordan Harbinger, top 5 podcast, 4+ million monthly downloads, Doug Rushkoff, #1 bestselling author, producer, media theorist, Dave Asprey, founder Bulletproof, NY Times bestseller, Bryan Braman, Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagle, Marquis Flowers, Super Bowl highlight reel star New England Patriot, John Lee Dumas, top entrepreneurial podcaster, and mo

Happiness comes from skills, which you can learn, which Nataly teaches.Environmental action does too. Happiness and living harmoniously with the environment and your values go well together, as would make sense given our environmental history.Many people think starting small isn't worth it. Watch Nataly's videos and read her book about improving happiness. Any skill you learn helps you learn other skills. Starting small works.I suspect her experience developing happiness-related skills enabled her to reduce her bottle use by 99%, improving family morale in the process. You tell me if you think she'll apply it more, since you'll hear how she made it meaningful.I suggest that if developing happiness skills helped her act on her environmental values, that acting on environmental skills will also help her become happier.Nataly is all about making things you want to do rewarding, fun, enjoyable. What are you waiting for to start? You can make it enjoyable, even the starting.Naturally, I hope you'll take on acting

People seem to have a hard time imagining a world without growth, specifically economic growth or population growth. There's personal growth, but I'm talking about materially measurable growth.People seem to believe that economic growth is necessary. I've looked and haven't found any reasonable proof of its necessity.People say you need inflation to keep motivating people, but I don't see any founding for such a belief besides their unfounded, and apparently self-serving, idealism. We understand people and our motivations better than they used to when these economic theories started. Sadly, our financial and political systems keep operating on these flawed understandings.On the contrary, I've found societies that have lived for tens to hundreds of thousands of years, stably, which disproves that you need growth.Nobody thinks that if a thousand people were stuck on an island that had resources to sustain a thousand people indefinitely -- imagining a time without satellites and our modern ability to find any gr

Hearing an astronaut talk about space is unparalleled. I imagine anyone and everyone wants to hear about seeing Earth from space and what launch feels like. You have to listen to hear it from a man who experienced it.Having walked in space twice is a minor part of his achievements. He earned degrees from West Point, the U.S. Army War College, Columbia Business School, and London Business School, on top of his military and NASA careers.What gets you to space isn't just fitness and technical skill. It's knowing that you will succeed no matter what. That you can work with everyone. Like business, leadership, family, and most of life, success reaching space is about people.Tim talks about integrity, consistency, and followership, which I agree is integral to leading. He talks about finding something bigger than yourself.Something we covered connecting visiting space with valuing and protecting the environment: Before flying, hot air balloons were unbelievable. Now they're nothing. Then flying was unbelievable. No

When I played sports competitively, I once watched a pass go by me without trying because I thought I couldn't make a play on it. A teammate asked why I just watched.I said, "Because I couldn't reach it."He said, "At least try!"Larry Bird said something similar: "It makes me sick when I see a guy just watching it go out of bounds."The view has stuck with me. I haven't gone for every pass I could, but I respect when an outfielder sprints to the wall even when he know the ball will carry over the fence. The difference between watching and trying is meaning and purpose. I try for as many passes as I can.The pervasive environmental view, "If I act but no one else does then what I do doesn't matter," and the passive behavior it leads to, embodies a meaningless existence.I try in part today because I tried then. Today's post explores this view and several related ones in more depth. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode is longer, but full of inside views at a leverage point of leadership and the environment. Consulting firms and business schools wish they had access to global corporate leaders at the frontier of change like Lorna. We spoke in-person about multinationals she's led across the globe. And she takes on one of the longest personal challenges of any guest so far.Lest you think the conversation was all about mega-corporations, we also talked about vegetables and leaders reduced to tears on seeing what environmental values they could have acted on but had put off too long and felt the consequences.Lorna has influenced big, global business, helping shift Danone USA to become a B-corp, working directly with the CEO of the company that made about $30 billion last year with over 100,000 employees.What's a B-corp? What difference does it make? Lorna will explain everything, largely from her personal, inside experiences. I've known about B-corps since studying them in business school over a decade ago. Lorna

Dawn Riley has sailed in 3 Americas cups, won around the world races, and led other teams. I wish you could see the context for our conversation. We're at the sailing center she runs to restart the elite level of American sailing.Before this conversation she sent me out to see Olympic medalists competing on the Long Island sound. Shortly after, they all came in for a barbecue -- Olympic medalists, a gold medalist, a Crossfit Games champion, and more.You'll hear these world-class athletes, trainers, organizers, and so one talking in the background over the course of the conversation. My top measure of leadership is who follows them. Dawn is surrounded by people who are themselves global leaders, and she is taking them to the next level.She leads athletes, business people, educators, parents, and more. I wish I could describe the force of nature she is in action. Her results speak for themselves. I hope this conversation shows the potential of leadership and cultural changeIf you didn't know, I met her because