Leadership And The Environment

Many who serve in the military become leaders in business, politics, entrepreneurship, sports, and many other places.Why?What does the military teach so well?Few people can answer better than Everett, as the head of West Point's leadership department. To say he and his department have extensive experience and knowledge leading and teaching others to lead is an understatement. You'll also find few people more calm, gracious, friendly, patient, and helpful. I consider his voice eminently helpful to environmental causes because I see the lack of effective leadership to the greatest impediment to effective environmental action.If you want to improve your leadership, this conversation will tell you all you have to do. You may have to listen many times, but you'll hear what it takes. Implementing will take a long time, but I'm not aware of shortcuts.We cover how to learn to lead and what West Point does that you can emulate. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm posting this conversation today because Seth just launched his book, This is Marketing, already a #1 bestseller. As he points out, his marketing is close to what I call leadership: how to influence people, to discover your passion, and such. Helping people change is what this podcast is about.We recorded this conversation months ago, so you get to hear previews of his book. We talked a lot about marketing, leadership, and the environment.I saw a new side of Seth in this interview, partly because I was in his home. He met me at the train, coming from his farmers market. We talked about CSAs, volunteering, and such.I'd seen his TED videos and read a couple of his books but speaking to him about my topics revealed something special. A lot of people teach and coach leadership and management. Some are excellent at it.Few speak with his experience leading and practicing teaching leading. His experience shines through in everything he says. Listen carefully and you'll hear him several times anticipate and answer

Michael is the Executive Director of an organization that inspired me as much as any---The Story of Stuff. They continue to inspire me to think bigger and to focus on the details it would be easier to ignore but that matter.If you want to avoid plastic, waste, and other stuff, you'll find Michael's perspective and experience helpful. Having cut my waste a lot, talking to Michael leads me to cut it more---not out of guilt, shame, or other unwanted emotion but to live more by my values. Integrity.Michael shares a lot of facts, grounded in passion.Many people who have thought and acted long and deeply on environmental issues feel an initial resistance in acting more:Haven't I done as much as I can? What more can I do?If you feel that way, you'll be glad to hear Michael shares that resistance. You'll also be glad that he overcomes it, which, I hope, will help you overcome yours. We'll hear in his second conversation if the increased challenge burdened him, as many claiming "awareness" and "balance" tell themselve

Stewardship is Jethro's core message, as I heard---of his community, especially children in it, his country, and the natural world we share. This world is a beautiful, abundant gift we could wreck if we don't steward it as we know we can.He cares about being an effective steward---not just talk but action. Wait until you hear this Alaskan's commitment to live by this value.WARNING: if you're full of making excuses why you can't act, Jethro's no-complaining, in-service-to-others personal commitment will belie any bogus, self-serving ones. If you came here for more excuses or to reinforce complacency, you won't like Jethro's dedication and commitment.We start on education. Jethro is a school principal active beyond his own school with a national audience. He describes how school systems propagandize, which we can and must channel with intent based on our values, not just let happen.We've been friends since I did his podcast a year ago. He contacted me to do this show because of his personal and passionate chall

Imagine you were born into a slave holding family. You didn't ask to be born into it. You didn't create the system. You didn't make slavery legal.Every landowner around you would own slaves. You would inherit yours.Would you free your slaves?Have you considered how hard it would be? It's worth thinking about -- how much it would change your life.If you would, without a second thought, no matter the difficulty, what other actions you do that hurt others would you stop?If you don't stop those other things, how do you know you'd free the slaves? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tim Smit is the co-founder and Vice Chairman of the Eden Project in Cornwall, in the southwest of England.He turned a lifeless, poisoned abandoned mine into a bountiful green world-class garden people love to visit. Eden has attracted millions of visitors and billions of pounds. Tim is a consummate doer---not complainer or blamer---and an environmental campaign and entrepreneur, Tim tells how he met challenges he couldn't have foreseen. I love that Tim has no special skills. He did what needed doing to finish the project, then to take it to the next level each time. How did he learn what needed doing? By doing the steps before it.(Are you not starting because you don't know how to do some later stage? Start with what you can, get as far as you can, and solve each thing when you reach it. That's what Tim did. That's what everyone successful did to become successful.)Tim's wisdom is useful for anyone looking to make a difference. You just have to start.(Bonus points if you can tell what Tim Smit has in com

Chris Bailey shares how to focus and create intention---how to become more productive on the outside and live with more meaning and purpose on the inside by focusing on what is important to you.Focus isn't necessarily easy, but Chris shares from personal experience that anyone can improve theirs.He shares to slow down and focus on less in order to make a larger impact. Modern society motivates the opposite, with marketers and advertisers learning and practicing more effective ways to attract and distract you. They tell you they want to help you achieve and enjoy more, but they distract you from what Chris lives and shares.People judge us as leaders by our behavior. Focus affects how we perceive the world and how people perceive us. It's essential to being effective at leadership or any performance-based activity. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I want to differentiate between telling people facts and what to do or what they should do on one side, and leading them on the other.I see a lot of people telling others what to do. Not a lot of people leading. Martin Luther King led people to choose and want to go to jail to create freedom. That's leadership. He had no authority over them. He didn't convince them to do it. He didn't change their values. He gave them a way to achieve their goals of equality and justice.Well, we moved on that path since we haven't achieved it, but he led them.While he also went to jail, I'm talking about more than leading by example. Even without going to jail, King led people. Eisenhower led D-Day though he didn't fight in it. In neither case did they just tell people what to do or just model what to do.I'm talking about connecting with people's values -- what they care about -- and motivating people by their motivations, leading them to a better life, not just compliance.Almost nobody is leading like that today. As a result

Many people think if you just reason enough, you'll get to what's right and wrong in a way everyone will believe.This happens in the environment and many other places in life. In the environment, you may believe we should pass a law limiting emissions. When you hear another person suggest that that law might hurt jobs, you might think if you convince the other person through reason, they'll come to agree with you.Experience has shown me, and probably you, that trying to convince people tends to provoke debate. I'll show you why trying to convince others and change their behavior through reasoning usually backfires. Convincing and logical debate often leads people to reinforce their positions and dislike you.They think emotion gets in the way and confuses us from seeing clearly what's right and wrong.They don't understand reason, nor emotion, nor how the human mind works regarding judgment. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How do we elect people, including a United States President, who act on and steward the environment?I'm going to present a plan that I believe can win the next election that transcends the usual divisions that led to today's political situation, political misery, feelings of futility, and filth that we live in in air, land, and water, as well as our bodies.The links and images I referred to:'Disgusting' piles of trash a fixture outside NYC's first 'green' school, residents sayNew York City stops sewage train to Alabama after residents complain of ‘horrific’ smellSan Francisco’s crisis looks like New York’s futureNew York City's 1895 trash and sewage transformation   Buzzfeed videos on getting fithttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm7OtVr7yCEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wXbPghYuRshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okM3OYaBQGgMy electric bill My electric Martha Graham's quoteHere is the quote:The dancer is realistic. His craft teaches him to be. Either the foot is pointed or it is not. No amount of dreaming

First world people pollute hundreds of times more than third world people yet the material prosperity doesn't translate to greater happiness.We could reduce our waste by 75% while improving our quality of life, yet we claim we can't do it.Yet we travel to the third world to change them!Leaders are more effective when humble than proud. Paternalism rarely helps any relationships.In this post I explore how we in the first world act with paternalism and pride to justify our extravagant, wasteful behavior, missing how we could learn from others. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

People ask if I think we can make it out of our environmental mess.I don't know, but I act on my values.Many examples of cultural change suggest we can make it, includingSmokingDrunk drivingSeat beltsLeaded gas and paintThe ozone layerBike lanes in New York CityMy podcast guestsMy podcastStarting a sustainability committeeand more See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How we treat our bodies is how we are treating our environment.How we treat the environment is how we are treating our bodies.The fat and CO2 concentrations aren't the cause of the problem. The are the effects.The cause is our behavior. Our behavior is rooted in our beliefs, emotions, and behaviors.If we want to change the effects, we have to change the causes, which is our behavior and changing behavior is the realm of leadership.Our environmental and obesity-related behaviors, beliefs, emotions, and motivations are more similar than different, they come from similar cultural trends, they have documented problems of disease and death no matter how people change standards to accept them, there's just no changing standards on suffering and death, and the way out is through leadership. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Evelina Utterdahl travels more than most. She writes travel columns. She loves travel as much as anyone, maybe more.Yet she chooses not to fly, as she wrote in Why I have chosen to travel the world without flying.If you've had trouble aligning your life with your values, you may learn from her. Part of a growing number of people who think before they fly, she chooses not to fly not out of ignorance or guilt butExperienceSelf-awarenessDesire to learn and growStewardship of her environment and communityFunin other words, the important skills of leadership, teamwork, and business success.She's practicing in living by her values what many wish we could do but don't have the courage to."Wait," you might say. "Isn't she missing out on the best parts of life? What about family and making a living? I have work. She must not. Probably a trust fund kid."On the contrary. She has the same obligations as anyone else. As you'll see, she has learned to get the value and expe

Bea has become a role model, maybe even a hero to me.People keep saying they're impressed with my waste. It's easy to allow your standards to slide.One problem: my fellow Americans waste more than nearly anyone in human history. I don't want to relax my cleanliness and integrity.Bea has reduced waste for longer and has spoken more about it. She knows what works, what doesn't, how to express it, and more.Most of all, she enjoys it. Like anyone, she started with doubt and incredulity. She worked through the challenges, which shows that you can too.In our conversation she shares what works, how to start, how to face and overcome challenges, and, most of all, how to enjoy living by your values. As with everyone who takes on the difficult challenge of choosing between a deep value and comfort and convenience, the choice improved her life.You will find your life improves the same.Listening to Bea will get you started.For tips and insights on her waste-free lifestyle, join her on Facebook, Instagram and Tw

Why do I think about the United States Constitution when my pressure cooker finishes cooking? Or when I leave a room?The U.S. Constitution guides my environmental behavior and has since I learned it in elementary school.Today is U.S. Constitution Day since today in 1787 the delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia and that's why today I'm sharing why I love the document, live by it, and think about it daily---specifically Article VI, paragraph 2, which I read and talk about in today's post. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Neither the environment nor your life responds to your awareness. They respond to your behavior.People who speak the truth say, "I'm telling the truth." People who lie say the same thing.People who are aware say they are aware. People who are unaware say the same thing too. Only we're all unaware of what we're unaware of. Saying we're aware only reveals our ignorance of our unawareness. That's pride.If you want to improve the environment or your life, claiming awareness may sound like progress and may get you social approval, but in more cases it stops people from acting.What works? Humility. Viewing action as skills that you develop and practice. How do you develop skills? Practice, practice, practice.The results? Greatness, authenticity, genuine self-expression, and all the other results of mastery, even from environmental skills.Want results? Avoid seeing awareness as a goal. Act. Do. Develop skills. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Going car-free is beautifulDaniel got rid of a car! He chose to from Texas!And he thanks me for inspiring him.Would you think losing a car would cripple your life? Listen on to hear how it brought him joy and happiness. Yes, that's right. Getting rid of what Americans associate with freedom and independence brought him more freedom and independence.Daniel discusses enjoying not having a car. Being able to ride his bike everywhere has changed his perspectives in ways he couldn't have predicted. We also discuss the challenges including the weather and if curses me during these times of struggle. You’ll also hear how Daniel uses my book to teach peer leaders in his mastermind groups on perspective and leadership.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Geoffrey West's work beautifully and elegantly ties biology to how we interact with our environment. Amazingly, his unique views lead to the same conclusions as mine, though coming from totally unrelated directions.You've never seen work like his.If you love nature and science, you'll love Geoffrey's approach. You'll see life and death in new ways.I hope you'll also catch my enthusiasm for his view and a chemistry in our conversation, which I see stemming from the passion and view of the world physicists have that drew me to the field and that tell us new, important things.I kept the conversation mostly intact since if you like nature, you'll appreciate his views. If so, I urge you to stick through to the end, where his views converge with mine. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alisa shares what happens behind the scenes to everyone, including world-ranked coaches and speakers.Listening to a podcast with leadership in the title means you've probably read many gurus' books and watched their videos, which are all edited and produced to make them look perfect.We know they aren't perfect.Alisa is humble, open, and generous enough to share what few top leaders do.I bet you'll find her reactions very similar to yours, but I bet also with key differences. Those differences in how she handles not meeting her expectations are what put her on those world rankings. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.