Leadership And The Environment

When last we heard from Dov, about a year ago, he had limited driving his James Bond Jaguar, enjoyed the experience beyond expectation, and said he was considering getting rid of it.For a year I've wondered what came of his commitment.Many people "forget" or give up on commitments to bring mugs with them to cafés. What could I expect from a guy who aspired since childhood for a specific car to show the world he arrived from the ghetto to success?For people who insist remembering to bring a bag to a grocery store is impossibly difficult, surely anything about a car is too much.But Dov isn't anybody.A wrinkle?Tomorrow my book Initiative launches. Launching a book takes incredible time and attention. Letting yourself get distracted is a disaster because you may not catch up in time.My mind is saying, "Stay focused, Josh. Post about the book and nothing else. Dov's episode can wait."My heart says, "Dov's story may be the most remarkable and meaningful of your podcast. Don't wait."My heart won.Actually, they both

My book, Initiative, launches in two days.In it I start by describing how Shark Tank, other media, and other parts of our culture that claim to promote entrepreneurship actually discourage it.A few months ago, I met Mark Cuban, one of Shark Tank's main figures, at NYU-Stern and saw him playing his Shark Tank role with students presenting.I was impressed with Mark and initially with the format, but then things changed, which I describe in today's episode. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Imagine someone said too much stress and proposed giving someone with stress shoulder rubs or body massages. I bet a lot of people would say, "I'm stressed. I could use a shoulder rub." If they were ready to give the shoulder massage then and there, they wouldn't say, "You know who should really get them: the government or big corporations."Yet suggest acting on their environmental values and they'll say their doing something wouldn't make a difference. They'll say go to government or big corporations first.My difference is that I've learned that acting on environmental values is like a massage, but for your soul, after assaulting it for your whole life by living against your values, twisting yourself up inside trying to convince yourself that the jet fuel you paid for that's coming out the back of the plane doesn't really have anything to do with you.There's nothing special about me giving greater access or ability to enjoy nature.I just had yet another meal where a past guest recommended I meet a friend whe

This is a podcast about leadership. Initiative is a major part of leadership. If you want to lead environmentally, you need to initiate because the world is likely going in an opposite direction than you want.More fundamental to knowing the parts of leadership is how to learn to do them. You can't lecture or coerce someone to learn to take initiative or to initiate, but lecture and coercion are the main ways our educational system teaches.My next book, Initiative: A Proven Method to Bring Your Passions to Life (and Work), launches in a couple weeks.I wrote it based on my course, where students consistently learned to unearth passions and initiate projects that help others so much they reward them for it, telling me they didn't know they could learn such things, especially in school.On The Leadership Update Brief, host Ed Brzychcy asked perfect questions to give an overview of Initiative. In today's post, I edited just the relevant answers to give that overview.Here's the full conversation. See acast.com/priva

We're living in a world of people who are judging parenting from the view of a partier, which makes sense when you don't have a child -- something to take responsibility for. But we have such a thing, the environment.The joy you wish you could get from exploring nature you can get from protecting it, even if that means picking up other people's garbage.I know people who used to party a lot. When they have kids they take on responsibility far greater than bringing reusable bags to the store, giving up their old fun lifestyle.I have yet to meet a parent who regretted that responsibility. We can learn from that perspective and apply it to what has effectively been a few centuries of partying on fossil fuels. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The challenge for habits isn't starting them. It's not stopping them.I've started many. Actually, I've probably started fewer than most. I've stopped fewer. Mistakes: focusing on starting, wondering the value of it to you, they're mostly valuable, the problem isn't that they aren't valuable, it's that they are and that there are too many, asking how to start. To start is simple. Floss your teeth.The problem is that one day you won't and if you miss one day you can miss two. If you miss two, it's all over.Aristotle's quote on excellenceExcellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."Lombardi's quoteWinning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.Toda

Silicon Valley, governments, and lots of people are pushing for efficiency. I do too, but only after changing systemic beliefs and goals.The greatest cause of global warming would have looked like the greenest clean energy innovation ever: the Watt steam engine. It led to our environmental problems today more than anything else.We'd be fools to think today's green clean energy will do any different. Changing beliefs and goals will create results, not ignorantly continuing the patterns that got us here, thinking we're different.Efficiency is different than reducing total waste. An LED will never compete with simply turning off the light. If you thought, but the light enables things, that belief, especially if you reflexively believe that the alternative to technology is the stone age, is the cause of global warming and our other environmental problems because it drives continuing the behavior that got us here.What I'm saying won't change that belief. In my experience few things change belief, rarely facts, fig

Plastic is everywhere -- the oceans, landfills, and for 93% of us, our bloodstreams.Everyone promotes recycling, but it's not happening anywhere near the scale that we're producing it and pumping it into our world.Most people, it seems, are content to hope for the best and hope someone else solves things. In the meantime, they don't change their behavior and the situation nobody wants continues.Some people, or more often companies, make a big show of saying they'll make a difference, but they don't. They greenwash or something like that.Rarely, you'll find someone who makes it his or her business to figure out what's going on and suggest what can be done.Today's guest, Jack Buffington, works on supply chains, got a PhD in it, and wrote two books on plastics, what doesn't work, what does, and what he sees we should do next.Without getting technical, we geek out on plastics. You know you wish you knew more. We're confused by them. This conversation will reduce that confusion. I'm not saying we'll solve everythi

In this part of the conversation, Chase and I spoke about the environment.He's very thoughtful about it, though hasn't acted on it, for reasons he eloquently explains. I take the liberty of persisting politely, so if you haven't acted or want to influence others, you'll hear a lot of resistance that many feel but rarely express.If you're interested in developing your environmental leadership skills, this episode will show you a major problem you'll face: people hearing what they want or expect to hear more than what you say. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Chase runs GirlsChase, one of the most trafficked sites for dating coaching, which recently celebrated 10 years in business.It sets itself apart from its peers, besides its longevity with basic material, not gimmicks, for men to improve their lives, still getting about 40% traffic from women.The episode is long because Chase shared in depth what I consider valuable for someone wanting to lead in the area of the environment -- an area people want to act in but most put off. He had to marshal his passion for most of those 10 years, developing community, listening, and motivating himselfYou'll hear the reward, in how he changes his customers' lives.First we talk about the dating education world, often misunderstood.Chase is a longtime friend. He's very thoughtful about the environment, though hasn't acted on it, for reasons he eloquently explains. I take the liberty of persisting politely, so if you haven't acted or want to influence others, you'll hear a lot of resistence that many feel but rarely express. See

When many people enter my apartment for the first time say something about it being minimalist. I feel like I have a lot of stuff because I have many things I don't need, mean to get rid of, but haven't. Apparently, my amount of many things is well below most people's thresholds.I also bristle at people labeling me, so whatever the label, I usually don't like it.But the label minimalist especially bothers me. I think it's backward.I've tried a lot of things in life -- sports, art, science, entrepreneurship, business, religion, reading, writing, travel, meditation, yoga, dancing, clubbing, girls, solitude, and more than I can list.Through it all, certain things always resurface and come back as the most valuable and meaningful, bringing the most joy, satisfaction, happiness, and what I want most in life.Relationships with family, with friends I have emotional, intellectual, and when appropriate physical intimacy, where we've allowed ourselves to open up and be vulnerable, the beauty of nature in sight, sound,

I love watching Dr. Michael Gregor's videos on nutrition.A common theme of his videos is how medical school barely teach doctors nutrition and exercise despite how important they are for health. He shows how industrial food companies promote profit over healthy diets and expensive, risky medicine over avoiding foods and sedentary lifestyles that cause the problems they purport to solve. He provide his videos for free to make available what saved his grandmother's life: healthy food.I see diseases from eating junk and living inactively like headaches from hitting your head against a wall. You can take medicine to decrease the pain, but stopping hitting your head against the wall will work better, cost less, and result in no side effects.Likewise, you can take medicine to fix the problems from a standard American diet, but you might as well switch to vegetables, fruit, legumes, and other foods that don't sicken you. They taste better and cost less when you learn how to shop for them.Actually, changing to fresh

A lot of people say, "Josh, easy for you to act on the environment. You don't have kids."First, I could point to former guest Bea Johnson, who with her husband and 2 sons, produce less than a mason jar of trash per year, whom I see as role models to aspire to.I could point out former guest Jim Harshaw, who involved his four children and wife in his personal challenge. They loved the process and he used it to bring them together.Now I can point out Colonel Mark Read, whom you're about to hear talking joy, fun, bringing family together and not in small ways. Acting on their environmental values connects them across generations, which he then brings to West Point cadets.The point is not to copy what we do, but to find what matters to you and act on it. One by one, other things will follow. I make things work for my life. They make their things work in their lives. If I lived your life, I'd make it work. You can too.Family is only one aspect I could focus on with Col. Read's results. Once you find emotional rewar

Srini has run his podcast over 10 years, written several books, hundreds of articles, interviewing hundreds of researchers, entrepreneurs, artists, me, and more.His business is helping people develop themselves -- to dream, to play, to create, to go on adventures, to find your path.In this conversation we talk about his development and how he got to help others. It's more on the leadership development end of the Leadership and the Environment spectrumIf you aspire to more in your life, I recommend listening. He shares himself. We talk about surfing, writing, flow states, and daily practice, things that help you develop. Many people have gone through changes in their lives. Srini learned to share such changes with others so you can emulate them.About this episodeThis was an early conversation, from over a year ago, but only made it through the editing pipeline now. I was still developing how to talk to guests acting on their values, so I sound clumsy. I find it reveals the development of this podcast.Listening

As a professor of leadership, host of this podcast, and constant student of acting by my environmental values, I live and work in the intersection of leadership, education, and the environment.Ken Robinson does too, but with a big difference: he's been here for decades longer, actively practicing in each. This episode approaches each of education, leadership, and the environment from several perspectives.I can't say anything better than his voice carries the wisdom and vitality of someone who has worked here for longer and with greater passion than maybe anyone I've met and I'm in this world.I'll keep this writing brief. Let's listen to Ken Robinson.One last caveat: our schedules meant recording by phone, meaning the audio quality isn't like being in a studio, but I believe you'll find Ken's message transcends the medium and hope you listen for what he says, not the equipment. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Business, based growth, loves the ideas of a circular economy and recycling because both promotes more, but may keep us on track to unsustainability, global warming, plastic, etc.I don't know the answer, but the city of Charlotte contacted me about their Envision Charlotte programI told them I'm cautiously optimistic and am not sure what they're doing is in the long run helpful. I'm not saying it isn't but since few people get the difference between efficiency and total waste, few people are working on reducing total waste.They put me in touch with Amy Aussieker, their Executive Director, and we had a great first conversation where I said the above and she was game for a conversation. I admire her putting herself out there. I put myself out there too, not sure the balance I wanted between promoting someone acting on something important and challenging her forYou'll hear my first time challenging someone on these issues. I'm not sure where it will go, but I appreciate her openness and thoughtfulness. I hope I

With some guests I have a hard time finding a quote to start the episode with. With Anand, I had the opposite -- at least half of what he said wowed me.When I first saw him speak and saw the title of his book, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World, I wondered if someone at the elite event I attended would really challenge a community he was in. He did. You'll hear Anand in the first few minutes describe the starting point of the book.His book shows how our society is leading people who believe they are helping. Though trying to decrease the inequities toward classes of people who, through no fault or lack of their own, lose out on society, they end up sustaining and increasing that inequity. That's just the book's starting point.I highly recommend his book, especially if you're interested in helping others and want to make sure your efforts create the results you want. Intent alone is no guarantee. You might be caught by the same systemic effects they are.It's more subtle than we can captu

I met Colonel Read through Colonel Everett Spain, who has also been a guest of the podcast.Two myths about the military have unraveled in me as a result of seeing West Point from the inside and talking to 4-star Generals and department heads. One is that the military practices command-and-control and that someone of any rank can just order people to do things and get compliance. On the contrary, you'll hear Mark share how people lead with compassion and understanding, at least most of the time outside of combat.The second is that the military wouldn't care about the environment or their effect on it. Again, I don't think anyone could hear Mark as faking caring.So far, the military seems to be fixing what it's broken, but I think it's looking toward sustainability, at least in training areas. The military reacts to the nation's values -- that comes from you and me -- and influences us back.They're ahead of many of us in some ways, especially corporate leaders, who could stand to learn from West Point -- one of

Anna is down to earth for anyone, let alone a gold medalist and Crossfit champion.Watch her videos to see the contrast with what she does, her abilities, and how she doesn't have to be humble. She does something hard, that most can't do, like a clean and jerk or climbing a rope, then does as many as she can in a cycle with other hard things, to past exhaustion. She shows us what people are capable of, mentally and physically.I hear from her that she wants people to develop for themselves what she does for herself, community being a big part of it. She talks about the value of coaching -- the intimacy and vulnerability in it.Number one means reaching your potential. If you're interested in reaching your potential, putting people like Anna in your peer group, not as abstract heroes, I think helps you reach your final goal.If the environment matters to you, your goal is likely far off with no guarantee we'll reach it. Anna shares how to survive such challenges and emerge a champion.As an aside, some guests inspi

Kevin and I have been friends since we both wrote for Inc, and before I appeared on his podcast, which always opens a conversation.It's two guys talking about leadership and love with examples of hardball football and basketball coaching and the like. That leadership view isn't the only perspective on leadership, but it recalls my blurb that I wrote for his book:If you want to lead so people love working with you, not just manage so they comply, and the usual instruction isn't helping, you probably need some shaking up. Kevin Kruse wrote his book to provoke you into changing and growing. It's filled with stories, research, and personal experiences that will make you think and point to how to change and grow. He specifies how each lesson applies, to work, home, family, military, and more, but most of all yourself, even when no one is looking.He also takes the environmental challenge seriously and shares views I hear a lot. Water bottles are a challenge for him so this episode features a recognized, experienced