Leadership And The Environment

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

I'm trying something new for my third conversation with John: releasing the conversation unedited. While no editing means the sound is raw, you also hear everything.Why?Because you can hear how our relationship is developing into a friendship. in contrast to most conversations about the environment that I hear. They're about facts, doom, gloom, what the government should do, how nothing matters, and other analytic, academic, abstract, philosophical stuff.Anything but saying, "I'm going to act and do something new."John acted. He led me back to act. We both enjoyed our new actions though neither of us would have loved picking up garbage for no compensation for no reason. When connected to our values and our little race to the top, we both love it.We both still pollute more than we need to, but when you enjoy each step, you take more steps. Even after a year, you'll hear he's still just starting. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David and I could have talked about growth and how many people think growth is sustainable and non-growth isn't, which seems based on a system hurtling toward collapse, whereas a steady-state economy and population can be sustainable.Instead we just talked about the fun of riding more and getting outside. He lives in Colorado with hills. What looked like a challenge before starting became part of the joy. The natural environment is like that. I see it over and over with guests.We talk about how one joyful thing leads to another when you shift from making excuses to avoid acting to acting. David's stronger than before, finding things about his neighborhood and himself.One of my life's great experiences was riding my bike from Philadelphia to Maine and back the summer between high school and college, with tents on our bikes at 16 years old.After listening to David, I recommend listening to some of these episodes:Dov Baron found something similar in his conversation, considering getting rid of his Jaguar.Danny B

Sally plays a big role leading an iconic brand, with her team taking it in directions no one has taken media before. She's also played major roles in the New York Times and other major media outlets.In this first part of my conversation with her you’ll hear Sally’s passion about the art of storytelling, what evolves and what stays the same as media evolve, and how she leads people and teams.Sally shares about caring and passion, which are integral to success in business, at least how she does it. I think you’ll appreciate her take on fashion's reputation regarding the environment.The conversation went long enough -- I think we both enjoyed it that much -- that I couldn’t fit it all into one episode. This episode ismore about leadership, journalism, fashion, Sally's growth and personal development, and a bit of Chelsea Manning.Stay tuned for episode two, on her challenge and her takes on leadership and the environment. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out inform

You've heard that with social media, Google, and most free services, you're the product. The idea probably provoked thought when you heard it. Now it probably feels old, an ending point.What if you considered it a starting point? Where does it lead? What does it tell you about yourself, society, the internet, markets, humanity?Doug Rushkoff follows dozens of ideas like it and weaves them together into a tapestry of a new way of looking at media, individuality, advertising, algorithms, and more.For example: the internet began as a medium to unite people. Over and over its innovations with the most promise to bring people together instead came to separate us -- Google and Facebook being the biggest examples. They are now the greatest advertising media ever, increasingly getting in your business and personal life as much as you can. Their executives have to testify to Congress for undermining democracy.How did such results happen? What do they mean? What can we do about it?A few months ago friends started tellin

Would you expect the army to change sooner or later than other institutions---say business, traditional education, or non-profits?Col. Spain committed to using less plastic bottled water for 30 days. He reduced his typical use from 40 bottles to 1. At what cost? It sounds to me like the "cost" was of practicing discipline and selflessness, which sounds positive to me, what leads to long-term change.I suggest listening for the emotional timbre of his change. Would you say he considers his life better or worse? He practiced personal leadership. He affected his family in a way I think he'd call positive. I heard him sounding satisfied for leaving the world better for his new behavior. I heard him want to continue.For those looking to learn leadership, you'll hear me explain, about 15 minutes in, my leadership technique from my book and practicing here my emerging Leadership and the Environment technique to motivate people through intrinsic motivation.Why not follow the leader of the leadership department of one

I learned a lot in this conversation. That's a euphemism for it being challenging for me, since her values and working style differs from mine. You'll probably hear me struggling to listen and learn her experience and perspective.Part of why I invited her and value our friendship is our different values. Different values mean we balance them differently. Leadership means listening, making people feel understood, and supporting them as people, even when you disagree, at least my style.Listening now, I don't think I listened as much as I could have. I could have learned more about a different perspective that many people share. This conversation led to several monologue posts I put up on awareness often leading to inaction, rather assertive ones.As always with Ann-Marie, enjoyed the conversation and valued her being herself. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Before acting on my environmental values, I felt guilty and helpless. I didn't like those feelings. All the analyzing, raising awareness, and planning, I now look back and see that I was occupying my mind, making busy work for it, to distract myself from those feelings. I could feel I was doing something even when I wasn't.I kept trying to ascribe the cause of the guilt and helplessness to others, but it didn't go away. It couldn't, because they were purely internal: my behavior was inconsistent with my values. No blaming others or waiting for awareness or planning or analysis would change that conflict. On the contrary, they kept me from addressing it.Today's episode tells my emotional journey liberating me from guilt, blame, and insecurity, replacing it with determination, expectation of success, and action. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dave saw the problems with growth to local communities, the national economy, the global economy, and the environment. He questioned the the nearly unquestioned belief that growth is good, especially GDP and population growth.Once you question it, like a sweater unraveling, you start seeing the problems it causes. I haven't been able to communicate its problems to someone who disagreed, so I won't try here, though if you've also tugged at any of its loose ends, Dave's documentary, his podcast, and this conversation will help you feel like you're not alone.You're not crazy. There's plenty of evidence that I find conclusive that for whatever it helped before, growth of a certain percent a year---that is, exponential---is unsustainable and the more we push to keep it up, the more problems we create for ourselves. Sadly, people who believe growth solves problems, when they see problems that growth causes, push for more growth.You'll be glad to know that not pursuing growth doesn't mean returning to the stone age.