Leadership And The Environment

If you are thinking of doing something to act on the environment, go big. Instead of thinking the littlest thing you can do, think of the future and go big. What's the biggest thing you can do?Not for others. For what you think is right. For how the future will look back on us. For how we look back on slavery. Would you free your slaves if you were born into that system as a slave owner? How huge a change, but what else could you do? Don't you expect you'd feel good about it?What can you do on that scale here, affecting billions and all future generations? Think big.My experience suggests not flying for a year, endeavoring to buy no packaging. Don't turn on your air conditioner or heater all year. You get the idea. Not straws. Selling your car, as Dov Baron did. Not buy clothing for a year like Lorna Davis. Pledge never to eat animal products again like Tom Szaky.You get the idea. Not straws. I predict you will love the results and, however big your commitment, you will consider it small after you do it and w

This episode describes how I train corporate and institutional leaders in environmental leadership.Here are the notes I read from:Talking with more and more corporations lately, describing how I work with themPutting it here for easy referenceYou'll see among podcast guests many corporate and institutional peopleLorna Davis of Danone C-SuiteDominic Barton 3-time Global Managing Director of McKinseyBeth Comstock, former CMO of GE (when Fortune 5), on Board of NikeBob Langert, former Head of CSO at McDonaldsVincent Stanley, Director of Patagonia, where he's worked since 1973 and professor at Yale School of ManagementTensie Whelan, Director of NYU-Stern's Center for Sustainability and Business, former President of Rainforest AllianceCol. Everett Spain, West Point's Head of LeadershipCol. Mark Read, West Point's Head of Geologic EngineeringMarine Corp 3-star General Paul Van RiperMichael Werner, Google's Lead for Circular Economy, formerly similar role at AppleGave two talks in 2019 at Google, another at Citi and

I understand why historical reasons lead us to look to scientists, journalists, educators, and legislators for leadership, but they don't know how to lead. They may excel at their crafts, but sharing research however accurate, or stirring controversy, spreading facts and figures, and chasing votes rarely inspire people to change their behavior.I've long looked to Mandela, King, and Gandhi as role models. I'm increasingly looking at leaders who inspire people to act against challenges when they would otherwise feel hopeless, futile, defeated, and complacent.Henry V's speech to the outnumbered British in Agincourt, as Shakespeare recounted, stands the test of time. Now that the science is overwhelming---look at nearly any beach in the world to see we're losing to plastic as just one example---we need motivation and inspiration to act more than more science.I draw on Henry V's sentiment and apply it to our situation. Here's the text:KING HENRY VWhat's he that wishes so?My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:

Ruth Bader Ginsburg knows about lifting weights and exercising because she does it. No amount of reading, watching TED videos, debating, or analysis can match experience.People who only read, research, and academically learn about performance-based activities don't know what they're talking about.Any parents out there? I don't have kids. Am I qualified to advise you on how to raise your kids? I bet you learned more in the first ten seconds of parenthood than I have in decades of life.People who have only learned academically about the environment don't know what they're talking about. Sadly, their ignorance of what causes our environmental problems doesn't stop them from advising people. That ignorant group includes everyone who hasn't acted significantly---that is, nearly all Americans. Likely nearly everyone alive.Anyone regular exerciser will tell you the benefits beyond what a book can. Ginsburg doesn't exercise because if she doesn't people will die. She does it because it improves her life, contributing

Vanessa's original post said sheWanted to be a better advocate for veganism: so I trained 1.5 years and won the UPENN body building competition.When asked why, she wroteFor the animals, for health, for the environment.Never thought I would have the amazing privilege to be educated at an Ivy League school like University of Pennsylvania, but being there I had to use the opportunity to showcase the possibilities of a plant based diet: and how you can thrive with this lifestyle!My peers will go on to be doctors, lawyers, politicians, ceos, and I wanted them to see me on stage winning this as a vegan.My classmates come to the show with signs that said #plantprotein because that is what I always hashtag on my Venn Hering Instagram I also wrote my masters thesis on plant based diets and the link between toxic masculinity and meat consumption. It was selected by a panel of academics as the best in the class!Progress is happening and I wanted to be a part of the movement :)So I asked her about these things,

I've read and thought about animals going extinct. My friend and guest Lorna Davis in her TED talk talks about her love for rhinos and passion to save them.I reviewed Poached by Rachel Nuwer and I've spoken to her about poaching. I see poaching as horrific and hope it ends.But I read about how we lose wildlife. Some poaching, but even if we ended it, another greater force will keep destroying them until we deliberately act on it globally.Threat to wildlife is a little poachers, but mainly farms.History seems to treat civilization as pitting peaceful agrarian parts of humanity against violent fighting ones. But our rules and hierarchies grow more and threaten more.War and violence aren't separate from agriculture. Agriculture has led to growth and systems of ownership, rights, and organizing people to keep growing in number and using land, water, and resources.Our armies serve our expansion, creating war when we expand into other people's territory. Our colonies expand into new territories. We junk them too.Pe

1: The villain. People think nature, government, or corporations. It's beliefs2: The solution. People think technology, market, innovation. It's changing beliefs. 3: Reduce, reuse, recycle. People act as if recycling helps. It only helps as part of reduce, which means not growth4: How solving feels. People think chore, deprivation, sacrifice. It's being a part of something greater, simplifying life, applying what Victor Frankl said. Community.5: How to lead. People think it's facts, figures, doom, gloom, blame. It's identifying what individual cares about and connecting that passion to action, starting where they are. If you want faster, it's as fast as possible, many will surprise.6: I thought people deeply wanted to try. People want leadership, to follow. They say only 10% necessary to change, then society flips.7: Morality and ethics. Everyone is doing what they consider best and right. May not know but ignorance isn't evil. What would you do as head of Exxon? Call someone evil who thinks they are doing be

I recorded our second conversation the day after the September 20, 2019 climate marches. Hunter is more than well-connected.I wanted to hear and bring you the perspective of someone who has been at this longer and knew more people. Wait until you hear her share all the people she knew there, as well as her perspective of seeing a different generation pick up what no one has for so long.From our last conversation you heard me struggle with what I thought I heard of her saying things can work out, so rest easy. The more I've listened to Hunter's message, the more I hear she's not saying things will effortlessly work out, which I feared at first, but that it will take work to make things work out.We resolve that issue. It's toward the end, so enjoy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Before we spoke, Seth implied he didn't do as much on his challenge as I expected so I expected a short conversation.I think it's important for listeners to hear that even people who win Nobel Prizes taking on global thermonuclear war have a hard time taking on new habits, even ones they want, like reducing their waste.I'm not claiming changing habits with environmental consequences are easy, though I believe nearly everyone will find doing so, when acting on internal values, rewarding. I think they'll be glad they did. But few will find starting trivial.So if you've identified a value you haven't acted on but want to---environmental or otherwise---I hope you forgive yourself if starting is hard. Or if keeping it up is hard. You're still in league with greats. Experience tells me you'll prefer trying to not trying, however hard it seems. Same with trying again if it doesn't stick. Sometimes you have to try the same thing again, others to learn, revise, and try in a new way.Seth and I ended up having a wonderf

My notes I read from for this post:Yesterday I posted my interview on a site that strongly supports Donald Trump. I do not. Yet I described it as one of my favorite interviews. What gives?The conversation prompted thoughts on environment and politics. Read my post on the conversation and listen to the conversation for context. For more context, the guy who hosted, Rob, his profile says "Vote Red To Save America!" on Twitter, where he describes himself as "The Conservative Black Cowboy." In videos, he wears a Make America Great Again hat. Doing these things openly in New York City may only mean you're looking for a response, but I think it also means genuine, strong feelings.I read that he genuinely and authentically wanted to know about me, my history, and my actions -- not to attack or criticize but because he saw in me something he hadn't before but that he liked. His site criticized others as dupes for scientists looking to save their money among other what I would call attacks on climate activists, but he

Here are the notes I read from for this episode:Ways I was wrongI usually start my story about acting more sustainably with my personal challenge to buy no packaged food for a week. In my second TEDx talk I describe how that challenge emerged from stopping eating meat, then hydrogenated oil, corn syrup, and foods where fiber had been removed, which was my proxy for overly processed food.I talk about my love for the beauty of nature, which I describe when people ask me what I ask guests, "What I think about when I think about the environment."But I hadn't shared some longstanding thoughts that didn't fit the narrative.Not that I hid them, I had just grown out of them.I rewatched a movie called The Doctor, starring William Hurt, about a doctor who remained so aloof from his patients that, however brilliant, charming, and funny, his bedside manner made being his patient miserableThe movie recounts how his sickness leads to seeing the lack of caring and vulnerability in the hospital systemAs my tears streamed dow

This episode brings you a trainer who has reached top levels of leadership and teaching leadership break down how to learn.How to learn to learn. Let that sink in.To me this episode felt like a master class by a practitioner and educator.Note his precision in language. At first I found it pedantic, but then realized it's not annoying, it's liberating. When you speak English, you don't sometimes switch letters around in words. So why switch concepts in higher level communication?He lives by his values. Protecting our environment will require billions of people living by new values.Larry lives by his and is driven to help others follow. Whether you want to live as simply as Larry does is not the relevant question.Do you want to live by your values as he does by his? Because you can.Keep in mind, he's happy, accomplished, and it sounds like his family is as close and full of love as they come. They ahve little stuff but live in abundance. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I posted a few Clips from my speaking at Google to my blog. They didn't video record the whole event, but I did get the audio, so today's episode is my talk there on how to start a podcast on the environment. For better or worse, it's over two hours and the audience wasn't miked so you can't hear everything, but attendees loved it.My first goal was for attendees: How to start a podcast---in particular, how to create your first episode. The difference between zero and one episodes is huge, so I designed my talk to minimize the barriers to that first step.Behind-the-scenes stories of Seth Godin, James Altucher, Nobel laureate Seth Sheldon, McKinsey’s Global Managing Director, and other guests intersperse. I share my podcast and overall environmental leadership strategy, explaining why I go for the guests I do.I share lots of anecdotes of podcast guest, including some early ones, for those of you who recently joined. I share my background on my life as it relates to environmental leadership.They booked me for ov

People talk about leadership causing ripple effects and hope that environmental action may lead to ripples.I see the potential for more. People like acting on their environmental values when they do. They just don't like being coerced or being made to feel shame or guilt. Few like going first.If most people like acting by their environmental values, someone going first may cause everyone else to crystallize into the new behavior. By crystallize, I mean that many people will change their behavior fast and across a wide scale.I can't guarantee society will change that way that fast, but I believe I see signs suggesting it will. I start today's episode with an example of podcast guest Navy SEAL officer Larry Yatch, his wife, and his sons without trying leading strangers to pick up other people's garbage from the beach. Since few people wake up and decide to pick up others' garbage, this behavior tells me people want to do it.I believe society only needs a few or even one well-known person to act to cause a major

My perspective on personal action continues to evolve.In conversation with someone at an event this evening, I started realizing the meaning in asking what each of us can do and the meaninglessness of asking hypothetical questions, which make up a lot environmental talk.It this episode I talk about meaningful questions to ask instead of theoretical ones about things you can't do anything about. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I started this podcast with the goal of creating a Mandela of the environment---a role I considered essential but saw no one remotely approaching it.Lately I've seen the opening for an easier but more effective role---a Muhammad Ali of the environment. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After resetting during conversation 1.5, Caspar returns with his son and wife---Columbus and Nicola---for a touching proper second episode.The three of them approached the challenge as a family, though you'll hear how Columbus led his parents in many ways. It sounds like he had tried for some time to guide his parents. Now that they committed to act, they heard him more. I see this trend a lot when people commit---that they realize they could have acted earlier and that acting brings them closer to relatives and others in their communities.Columbus steals the show, having studied, cared, and acted on the environment, patiently bringing his parents along. I hope all the parents who tell me that kids make acting environmentally harder. In the Craven family, the child is leading the adults.We talk about sailing, their having sailed around the world, gardening, school, and more. They sound to me like they're just getting started. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After recording three episodes (248, 250, and 251) on Alan Weisman's Countdown, I read his earlier book, The World Without Us, which I found equally tremendous. In it, he considers what would happen to the Earth if humans suddenly disappeared. How isn't the point, but what the difference between a world without us from that world with us tells us about ourselves.The book and author won many awards and became a New York Times bestseller about a decade ago when it came out. I remember when it came out but not why I took so long to read it.His writing I found a joy to read. He researched people, animals, plants, places, and so on beyond what you'd expect. You can tell he loves reporting what he's learned and making it useful.The book emerged from his Discovery Magazine article World Without People.There are many videos featuring him. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Do you want to reach your potential? Do you want to get past seeing your properties as limitations?Larry shares going from being what he is and we all are -- regular people -- to living his dream. An elite dream.My biggest takeaway from the conversation you're about to hear is accessibility and desire to help. That is, Larry Yatch wants us to get that what he did, we can all do. You may not want to become a SEAL, but to become your version -- that is, what you dream for yourself. And he wants to help enable you to do it.Whatever your doubts or insecurities, you have something you will love as much as he loved what he did and loves what he does. Clean air, land, and water might not be it for you as they have become for me, but I bet you'll get a lot more out of acting on them than you'd expect.Larry cuts to the core of leadership. He's precise. He wants you to understand and practice effectively, not to kind of sort of get it.I used to think military leadership was simple. There's a chain of command. Just tell

Why bother not flying if you're one person out of billions? Aren't you just missing out and suffering without meaningfully changing anything?These questions flummoxed me for a while. The longer I act, the more I realize the answer.Most people answer that little things add up or that it's like voting. I won't argue with those answers, but I think they're small effects. I've evolved since earlier episodes and my TEDx talk to find more important reasons.This episode shares my bigger reasons for personal action: you learn to act environmentally the way you learn any activity: practicing the basics. Don't act and you don't learn. If you want to influence others and you don't do what you lead them to, you lose credibility. They'll follow your inaction more than your words.Personal action doesn't guarantee they'll follow, but it gives you a chance. Without it, I don't see much chance at success. Would you take piano lessons from someone who can't play piano?Here are some notes I used for today's episode:Podcast: Do