I Told My Classmates At Age 8 That I Was Actually a Girl

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Opening up at age eight to the fact that you’re transgender can be tough. Especially when you’ve decided to announce it at school while standing in front of your fellow grade-three classmates.

Eli Erlick, an assigned male at birth, told his class in 2010 that he was a girl, and subsequently became a victim of assault, isolation, and violence. She was banned from using school restrooms for six years.

Her initially unsupportive parents, who ironically met while protesting, supported Erlick’s physical transition to female at age 13. She went on to cofound Trans Student Educational Resources (TSER) three years later – one of the largest transgender organizations in the United States – and has devoted her life to the well-being of transgender youth.

Erlick grew up in Willits, Northern California in a rural environment that saw no room for interpretation when it came to sexual identity. “My teacher outed me to my parents when she told them I was bringing skirts to class and wearing lip gloss,” recalls Erlick of those traumatic early years. “She turned the other students against me too, and it hurt.” Being surrounded by skinheads and KKK members wasn’t much help either, and her first boyfriend was beaten up for dating her.

Once everyone knew she was transgender, Erlick saw there was no way to opt out of how she was being treated so decided to change perceptions instead. It started with confronting awkward questions from people who cannot comprehend anything but their male or female sexuality. “Applying the term ‘born male’ to my circumstance is incorrect,” explains the 22-year-old activist. “Saying ‘Born male’ implies that we weren’t always women.”

To people who’ve never questioned their sexuality, this idea can take some getting used to, but with most discrimination beginning with ignorance toward another’s way of thinking, it’s worth taking a moment to consider.

Without a supportive community to turn to, Erlick cofounded TSER with another trans teenager from Chicago. The pair have achieved things that most people assume are not possible by young people. Legislation has been changed, policies implemented at institutions and dozens of trans volunteers have been sent into communities to help change attitudes.

While acknowledging the trans community as a small voice in the United States, Erlick believes the number of trans people may number in the millions. “Even if you don’t know it, you’ve probably met a transgender person before,” she explains.

“Visibility is not enough. It needs to be paired with action and support. Eighty percent of trans youth don’t feel safe in the classroom, and more than half have been assaulted.” Anti-transgender attitudes are fear-based, rather than ignorance-based, and Erlick feels the best approach is to convince people they have the right to be who they are. “Just let us get on with our lives. It shouldn’t affect you at all; this is our journey,” she explains. Her outspoken views have found a resonance beyond the trans community. In 2016, Teen Vogue named her the “New Face of Feminism” for her work.

The gay community has a historically established and accepted culture to fall back on. So why then, is acceptance of the trans community so far behind? An ongoing stigma is one example, perpetuated by popular culture. People are naturally scared of the ‘other’ and well-known movies have taken advantage. Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is depicted as a gender-troubled mass murderer. The killer in The Silence of the Lambs is transgender and plays into fears that a deviation from status quo views on sexuality results in mental instability.

Erlick also reminds us that it was young, transgender people of color who started the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) movement, going right back to the Stonewall riots in New York during the 1960s. Galvanizing like-minded people is relatively easy, but getting non-transgender people to support the transgender cause is essential too.

“We are not burdens on everyone else,” says Erlick. “We are multifaceted human beings that are more than capable of doing any job on the planet. Whether we identify as male or female should not be an issue at all.”

www.transstudent.org

Discover the Women Athletes Who Are Inspiring a Generation

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Enjoy this variety of current and historic achievements by some of the best female athletes in the world. 

 

Rachel Atherton

A recent recipient of the prestigious Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year, Atherton had essentially the perfect year. She won every single round of the World Cup, is unbeaten in 15 races and was once again crowned world champion. Understandably, the awards have come thick and fast for the 29-year-old.


Lindsey Vonn

At 32, American Vonn could have been forgiven for retiring long ago but last month became the oldest female world championships medallist with her bronze medal in the downhill at St Moritz. It also marked a seventh world medal in an already illustrious career, all the more impressive having broken her arm in a training crash in November, which has resulted in nerve damage which meant her right hand was still partially impaired.


Ivana Spanovic 

The pressure was on Ivana Spanovic to deliver gold in front of an expectant home crowd at the European Indoor Athletics Championship in the Serbian capital of Belgrade. She didn’t disappoint. A heroic performance saw her jump seven meters and 24 centimeters, a new personal best and Serbia’s new national record. It was the third best indoor jump of all time, just 13 centimeters off the world record. 


Mélanie Astles

The story of Mélanie Astles has a blockbuster film script written all over it such are the boundaries she has broken and odds she has defied. The five-time French aerobatic champion is the first woman to ever compete in the Red Bull Air Race and is currently in her second year as a Challenger Class pilot. Her determination to become a pilot saw her leave school at 18 to manage several gas stations which helped her save money for flying lessons. The sacrifice was rewarded with a historic second placed finish in Indianapolis last year and clinching a place on the podium at the season opening Abu Dhabi race in 2017. 


Maddie Hinch

From a British perspective, Hinch was the hero of the hour during the women’s hockey final on a balmy evening in Rio de Janeiro back in August. The relatively diminutive 28-year-old proved something of a brick wall as wave after wave of attack rained down from the Netherlands in regulation time before she saved four penalties in the ensuing shoot-out.


Mikaela Shiffrin

It feels like Shiffrin has been on the World Cup circuit for a lifetime so prodigious a talent was she. In St Moritz she picked up a third straight slalom world title in a discipline which she has taken to truly dominate. She also added a silver in the giant slalom and now has her sights set on the overall globe for World Cup champion.


Olga Kharlan

In her native Ukraine, the 26-year-old has long been a household name after a breathtaking performance earned her country the team gold at Beijing 2008. Eight years on last summer, she came home from Rio de Janeiro a double medallist, winning team silver and taking the individual bronze medal. She now has her sights set on a Tokyo 2020 gold.


Kelly Sildaru

Billed as Super Sunday, this year’s Winter X Games drew to a close on the final day with teenage sensation Sildaru taking the spoils and defending her title in the Slopestyle. Her result meant she was the first athlete in the event’s rich history to win two gold medals before turning 15 and the 14-year-old Estonian was also the youngest competitor to win two medals at a solitary Games.

Lisa Zimmermann

Just one point separated the German freestyle skier and closest rival Kelly Sildaru in the inaugural Women’s Ski Big Air at the X Games at the start of the year in Aspen. But thankfully for Zimmermann (above right), a perfect switch double 10 and textbook cork nine truck ensured she was in the ascendancy on the podium.


Gwen Jorgensen

Both in and out of competition, the past half a year or so have been a whirlwind for the American. She has taken triathlon to new levels and backed up her status as world No.1 to win gold at Rio 2016. And then in January, she and her husband announced they were expecting a child in August, almost a year to the day since her Rio triumph.


Jacqueline Legere

Legere is a modern-day action hero. One of the stars of the Red Bull Crashed Ice series, she relishes hitting speeds of 50km/h come race day. But when not getting her adrenalin fix on ice, she also doubles up as a stuntwoman, which has seen her take up starring roles on TV and in the movies.


Amy Chmelecki

For as long as she can remember, Chmelecki wanted to be a skydiver and, since turning the legal age of 18, she has been making up for lost time. In November, she led 65 women in a world record jump in the Arizona desert, braving -25C-degree temperatures at 6,000 metres and again made headlines with a Valentine’s Day-themed jump last month.

 

Every Investment Has Impact. What’s Yours?

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For Liesel Pritzker Simmons, there’s no shortcut to raising the bar on impact investment performance. 

As Principal of Blue Haven Initiative, a family office she co-founded in 2012 with her husband Ian Simmons, this millennial is showing how investors of all ages can maximize the positive social and environmental impact of their investments while generating financial returns.

But it isn’t easy.

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Whether it is analyzing a portfolio company prospectus or visiting entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa, Pritzker Simmons applies a rigorous portfolio-management lens to every investment—whether for-profit or philanthropic capital—with the goal of aligning financial performance and public benefit. There’s no magic bullet or “Top 10” list for impact investing, says Pritzker Simmons. “It’s a highly personal endeavor, requiring people to think deeply about how portfolios should reflect their values and concerns.”   

As one of the first family offices created with impact investing as its mission and focus, Pritzker Simmons and the Blue Haven team are careful to ensure that philanthropic efforts and investment efforts are coordinated and complementary.  And they are playing the long game. Whether investing in a social enterprise, supporting research and education, or regularly reviewing its public equity portfolio, Pritzker Simmons, her husband and their advisors believe the future of investing will be reshaped by more informed investors.

We recently caught up with Pritzker Simmons. An excerpt of our interview follows:

Amy Bennett: Liesel, thanks again for your time. Let’s jump right in. How do you define impact investing? 

At Blue Haven Initiative, we start from the premise that every investment has an impact—good, bad, social, environmental and financial. From there, we do extensive research and seek to maximize the positive social and environmental impact of our investments while earning a market return. As a result, impact investing requires us to ask a lot more questions and do more rigorous due diligence in assessing the long-term risks and returns of our investments.

We’re a family office and we take this approach because we’re long-term investors. If we don’t consider environmental and social risk and returns, we’re not only putting our financial investments at greater risk, we’re not being good stewards of wealth for future generations. We don’t want to make a mess our kids will eventually have to clean up.

How does your philanthropic giving fit into your impact investment strategy?   

Blue Haven takes a Total Portfolio Management approach to impact investing. That means looking across asset classes and capital types. Our philanthropic capital is an important resource that we use as effectively as possible. We look for opportunities that markets really cannot address—civic engagement in voting, disaster relief, research and education—things that traditional investing typically doesn’t value as much as we think it should.  We prioritize our philanthropic spending for those kinds of opportunities. 

Philanthropy is one tool in the tool belt for impact and we use it for grants as well as concessionary investments where the impact equates to a non-risk-adjusted return. And it is part of a holistic process. We want to make sure that our investment portfolio is not working against our philanthropic goals. There is absolutely no point in funding climate change initiatives with your philanthropic dollars if you’re not trying to reduce your carbon footprint in your investment portfolio.  It doesn’t make any sense. 

We hear a lot about how donor advised funds are growing in popularity and democratizing philanthropy. And we know each other because you use ImpactAssets’ offering, the Giving Fund. How has it played a role in your impact investing?

The Giving Fund is the vehicle through which we do our philanthropic grant making and our concessionary investing. We want to spend time finding great organizations and companies to support without devoting a lot of time on the complexities of philanthropic administration. There’s really a great range of tools that impact investors use these days—from debt to equity, recoverable grants, C4 strategies—and ImpactAssets knows how to help us implement them.

In addition, the organization plays an important role in the impact investing ecosystem. Clients of ImpactAssets are among the most active impact investors in the world.  It’s an innovative and risk-taking community and you can see that in the number of deals that are done and the kinds of funds that are on the platform. It’s inspiring to be a part of it. 

Can you tell us about one of your favorite impact investments that you made through the Giving Fund? 

One example is our support of PRIME Coalition, an intermediary that facilitates very early-stage investments into game-changing climate-change companies. They find companies, vet them, and structure early-stage investments into them.  We’ve supported PRIME through an operating grant as well as providing funding that PRIME used to place equity into another venture. And we’ve also supported them by directly investing convertible debt into RedWave, a company that is developing technology to convert waste heat into renewable electricity. 

Millennials are enthusiastic but often inexperienced when it comes to impact investing. What’s the most important lesson you have learned as a pioneering impact investor that you can pass along to your fellow millennials?

I’ve learned that you can’t expect that impact investing is going to be faster, easier or cheaper than traditional investing.  It’s more complicated, idiosyncratic and rigorous. And that’s okay. If it were easy, everybody would have already done it.  You have to put time and energy and effort into impact investing, but it’s where the most exciting conversations are happening. And I think millennials know that.    

It’s also important for millennial investors to just get started with something and learn as they go. Don’t try to find perfection in one single investment or in one single fund. Don’t try to look for a website that rates every company perfectly and makes impact investing just a click away. Start small, piggyback off of investors that you think are smart, and learn that way. 

If you could deliver one message to investors of any age, what would that message be?

I would appeal to investors to take more responsibility for the total impact of their investments. If an investment has a negative impact socially or environmentally, somebody is going to have to clean up that mess. If not you today, then your grandchildren tomorrow. 

Get into the mindset of long-termism because a thoughtful and rigorous consideration of the environmental and social impact of your investments in the long run is just more informed investing. 

And if you believe that a better understanding of risk is smart in the long term, then you’re more than halfway to being an impact investor.

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Why North American Cities Are Putting the Brakes on Drivers

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Changing the way we think about the future of parking in cities is about more than public transportation and bike paths. Increasingly, the bigger picture view will have yet another opportunity to consider: the oncoming autonomous vehicle revolution.

The question of cars and cities is increasingly challenging city planners and real estate developers across North America, where many cities have been designed for decades to accommodate a car culture. These policies are now showing their age.

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Amid improvements in public transit infrastructure, technology developments and changing urban demographics, cities across the continent are making efforts to curb car dependency. Take Columbus, Ohio, for example, where parking headaches had become so chronic that office vacancies rose, despite continuing demand for sophisticated redevelopment. Downtown property owners, desperate for change, seized matters into their own hands to trial what’s been hailed as the largest of its kind transit subsidy program in the U.S.: the business association is offering a free bus pass to the more than 40,000 people who work in the area.

Meanwhile, Mexico City, the biggest city in North America, has recently made waves for its subtle, but far-reaching move to cut minimum parking space requirements. These laws, which are prevalent across the continent, had required housing developers to build a certain number of parking spaces depending on how many people lived there. Now, buildings can be designed according to the amount of parking that makes sense for the neighborhood, which in transit-heavy areas, may mean close to none.

What’s happening in Columbus and Mexico City is part of a larger story. While frustration with congestion and pollution is inspiring a turn away from long-standing dependencies on cars, powerful new possibilities are emerging in the form of more supported transit, car-sharing and autonomous vehicles that together are poised to transform everything about the way we build cities and move in and around them.

Changing demographics, and a strong case for changing cities

It’s not just cities and public-private partnerships driving change. Private companies have been actively helping employees beat congestion, offering transit subsidies as well as bike-to-work schemes, corporate car sharing programs and commuter buses. Even carpooling is making a comeback.

But perhaps the biggest fundamental driver toward fewer cars can be found in the way we choose to get to the places we live and work.

“We are seeing tremendous change in real estate and mobility preferences, especially with younger generations,” says Eric Enloe, Managing Director of JLL’s Valuation and Advisory Services platform. “In urban areas, it’s not a given that millennials will have or even want a car to get to work. Access to public transportation is one of the top considerations in new office searches. And with the rise of Uber and other services, Millennials in big cities often don’t feel like they have to drive anywhere.”

People want more ways to get to work than the old single-driver commute. Employers can also benefit from offering alternatives. For example, the Columbus initiative cited above is expected to spark new interest from employees who will appreciate the chance to get to work more easily, and in turn their employers. Ultimately, the initiative is projected to decrease the office vacancy rate from roughly 15 percent to around 4 percent.

“Encouraging more sustainable transportation options also fits the culture and mold of Fortune 500 companies,” says Enloe. “Many forward-looking organizations are investing in green buildings, so supporting public transit for employees, making it easy to access car-sharing or ride their bike to work—it all goes hand in hand with a commitment to corporate social responsibility.”

For building developers, cutting the square footage dedicated to parking spaces can produce bottom-line savings and exciting new possibilities. “By saving space and costs on parking, workplace designers can create amenities, potentially creating better experiences for employees,” says Enloe.

The road ahead: Obstacle and opportunity

Commuters may want to break out of gridlock, but change could take more time in some places than in others. Much of the delay can be traced back to how public dollars are managed. Right now, the U.S. government pours far more money into parking subsidies than in commuter transit benefits, with $7.3 billion a year going to tax breaks that help more people to drive to work, compared with $1.3 billion for commuter transit benefits.

Allocating more funds to transit could not only reduce traffic and carbon emissions—it could also improve and expand transit options so that more people can benefit.

But transit isn’t the only answer, warns Enloe. “Throwing money at one solution is not enough,” he says. “Cities, property owners and developers, and citizens alike need to take a look at what mix of transportation makes most sense in their community.”

Revolutionizing cars – and cities

Changing the way we think about the future of parking in cities is about more than public transportation and bike paths. Increasingly, the bigger picture view will have yet another opportunity to consider: the oncoming autonomous vehicle revolution.

“In much the same way that the automobile changed the cities of our country in the 20th century, it’s going to change our cities again,” says Paige Pitcher of the MIT Real Estate Innovation Lab. “And it’s going to disrupt everything we thought we knew about real estate.”

Indeed, the autonomous revolution will encourage designing buildings around people, not cars, she believes. “Cars don’t just take up room on roads, they also take up space in our homes and businesses,” says Pitcher. “We have four parking spaces for every car in the U.S. – that’s trillions of real estate dollars locked up as storage.”

Pitcher analyzed seven studies predicting the reduced demand for parking resulting from autonomous vehicles. Her research forecasts parking demand will decrease 34 percent by 2035. The ultimate result: cars no longer have to drive real estate.

The potential is huge, from parking garages that don’t need space for doors to open, to paved driveways being returned to grass. “It might sound futuristic, but the autonomous vehicle revolution isn’t about robots,” she says in a TedX Talk. “It’s about people and places and property value. Cities of the last century were designed around cars. So if cars change dramatically, then so will our cities.”

Discover more research on the future of cities here.

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A Tribute to Will Marre: “Your Mission is My Mission”

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We received the news at Real Leaders this week that one of our longstanding contributors, Will Marre, had passed away. While saddened by the loss of such a dynamic leader, we have chosen rather to celebrate his life. 

Will passed away while engaged in one of the greatest passions of his life: surfing. Although absolutely robust in body, mind, and spirit, he suffered from a minor congenital heart defect to which he seemed to have finally succumbed. His passion and energy for unearthing the best human we could be was contagious, and is best understood by the fact that his family asked those attending his memorial service to wear bright, vibrant colors and comfortable shoes for a beach walk.

He was prolific in telling the world that “your mission is my mission” – spoken in many instances to the thousands of women he coached – in a strongly-held belief that we all have the power to shape our future for the better. “Women’s full contribution in leadership is a survive and thrive issue for the future of every human being,” he once said.

His Institute for Leadership Synergy aimed to train one million women in the next five years to become effective leaders. He believed in the synergy between the results-focused strengths of hard power and collaborative strengths of soft power – a trend that is proving successful at empowering teams in organizations around the world.

Will left enough thought-provoking leadership insight to last many lifetimes. Perhaps the legacy he leaves for those who admired and followed him should be one of social inheritance: “His mission is now our mission.”

Here we reflect on some of Will’s best wisdom from the past years:

How to Inspire Yourself When You’re the Victim of Bias

Psychologists have determined that our confidence grows when we believe that making our best efforts will result in achieving our goals. When the link between our effort and our results is broken we begin to lose our confidence and our motivation to keep trying.  Demotivation grows exponentially when we see other people achieving their goals without making the same efforts that we are.  It feels unfair… because it is.

Why is Donald Trump So Popular?

The world is a very confusing and scary place right now. The forces of violence and our economic well-being seem out of control. So when someone shows up brimming with insane levels of confidence (strength), and who promises to defend you against your greatest fears (empathy-warmth) they will get your attention.

Why Everything Bad Will Change for the Better

It is now very clear that the children of boomers will not pay their dues. That’s because they don’t want to join the club their parents have built. They have seen what mindless obedience to the “man” buys. It is not the life they admire or value. The accumulation of evermore stuff does not create happiness, satisfaction or even enjoyment.  They have discovered that travel can be more enriching when you sleep in a spare bedroom of an AirBnB than a five-star hotel. They were suckered into massive student loans for inadequate educations. They have little loyalty to employers who have no loyalty to employees.

The One Simple Thing You Can Do to Love Your Work

Let me encourage you. Don’t settle for a job. Don’t degrade your life for a career. What you do matters. You are designed perfectly to succeed at your true calling. And please believe me, with all the research I’ve conducted and all the coaching that I’ve done I can assure you what I am saying is not goofy, pie-in-the-sky.  Many, many, many people have it all and so can you.

How Men and Women Can Co-Create Unexpected Value

The deeper problem is that simply telling men they should  value women as leaders only adds energy to the stereotype that women need ‘special’ help because they are the weaker sex.  This kind of thinking is not confined to the ‘Mad Men’ era.
It’s the unspoken bias that stubbornly persists.

Two Million in Jail in the US. If You Were in Charge, What Would You Do?

Psychologists have learned that the biggest influence on our behavior is the personal story of our identity. If your identity was that you were destined for a meaningless grinding life or worse, jail, who do you think you might become? I have spent deep time with fellow human beings whose hope was stolen from them before they could even talk. I get exasperated when some self-righteous idiot politician points to a few who have somehow escaped an awful personal history to become a remarkable self-sufficient human being.

Your Moment of Truth – Why Do You Run?

I have found every success story has a moment of truth where you either go all in or shrink. There are small and mighty forces that are focused on positively changing the way we all think about the purpose of work, our economy, business and society.  The opposing force of the powerful status quo is well financed and very noisy. They are both powerful and stupid. They justify what is unjustifiable. Yes, we can defeat them.

Hunger Uptick in Africa Can be Reversed

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FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva has expressed optimism that the recent uptick in global hunger levels will be reversed and that Zero Hunger remains attainable – but added that doing so will depend on boosting the resilience of communities in Africa, where current hunger trends are particularly worrying.

The most recent UN global report on world hunger found that, after decades of decline, the number of hungry people on the planet went back up in 2016, largely due to conflict, climate-related shocks and economic slowdowns.

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Trends in Africa helped drive that increase. Some 23 percent of people in sub-Saharan Africa suffered from chronic hunger in 2016, while in East Africa, 34 percent of people did, according to the report.

“Even in some countries that have been successful at reducing food insecurity faced a setback, especially due to prolonged drought caused by the impacts of El Niño,” Graziano da Silva noted today in a speech at an event on Zero Hunger held during the FAO Regional Conference for Africa (19-23 February, Khartoum).

However, the FAO Director-General also expressed optimism that an already-emerging and energetic response by the international community to recent negative hunger trends will help turn the tide.

“I firmly believe that 2016 was a point outside the curve, and not a reversal tendency,” he argued.

Causes For Optimism

One reason for optimism is that political will to redouble anti-hunger efforts is running higher than ever, Graziano da Silva said, as evidenced by the issue’s high prominence during the recent African Union Summit attended by the continent’s top leaders as well as UN Secretary-General António Gutteres – FAO today launched “Achieving Zero Hunger in Africa by 2025. Taking stock of progress”, which contains the proceedings of the African Union High-Level Meeting on the topic.

Two other factors provide additional cause for optimism, according to the FAO Director-General.

For one, the Green Climate Fund has become operationally and is now channelling funding to developing countries to help them respond to climate change, including its impacts on food insecurity. Additionally, there are strong signs that the world economy is recovering, which will create favorable conditions for development.

“Zero Hunger is attainable. It depends on us,” the FAO Director-General exhorted his listeners.

“It is time to redouble our efforts, and push for political commitment and timely, concrete actions such as never seen before,” he said.

In her statement to the FAO Regional Conference, African Union Commissioner of Rural Economy and Agriculture, Josefa Sacko, said that on the Commitment of Ending Hunger by 2025, “we are lagging behind and there is still a lot of work to be done going forward on ending hunger by 2025,” however also noting there was cause for optimism.

“We have the opportunity to pick out some key lessons, exchange views on what might impede our progress in achieving food and nutrition security and continue to strengthen coordination and partnerships among us,” Sacko said. She mentioned the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund as a way to help move things forward.

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Students From Around The World To Train Like Astronauts

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Honeywell, a company that invents and manufactures technologies that address some of the world’s most critical challenges around energy, safety, security, productivity and global urbanization, has invited 325 students to an immersive, STEM-focused Leadership Challenge Academy Experience at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

The 325 students from 35 countries and 25 U.S. states and territories will attend the annual Honeywell Leadership Challenge Academy at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) in Huntsville, Ala. The two week-long programs – February 24 through March 9, 2018 – will give students the opportunity to build leadership skills by tackling real-world challenges in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

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“We welcome this annual opportunity to partner with Honeywell and host its global community of future leaders,” said Dr. Deborah Barnhart, CEO and executive director, USSRC. “Through this immersive program, students will learn teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills, and get a glimpse of the possibilities for their lives and careers in the 21st century.”

The World Economic Forum projects 65 percent of students entering primary school today will ultimately work in new technologically advanced job types that don’t yet exist. Honeywell’s goal is to inspire and prepare young people for the rapidly changing jobs of tomorrow.

At the Academy, students between the ages of 16-18 participate in hands-on, team-based activities such as building, coding and testing rockets, simulated astronaut training, shuttle missions and a moonwalk, all designed to emphasize STEM education in an ever-changing, connected world.

“Space Camp went far beyond my expectations last year,” Cecilia Reyes Esparza, a student and 2017 alumni from Mexico. “My favorite activities were the team building projects, like the shuttle mission simulation and the aviation challenge. The amount of teamwork needed to complete those missions successfully was eye-opening, and getting to try real astronaut and pilot training simulations was an experience that I’ll never forget.”  

“After participating in the Academy last year, I’m now confident that I want to pursue a career in science,” said Cassandra Corraya, a student from Minnesota, Minn., ambassador at this year’s Academy and alumni of the program. “The Academy not only gave me the opportunity to learn more about coding and space, it also helped me meet new friends from around the world. I’m excited to be an ambassador this year to help share this amazing experience for other students like me.”

“Honeywell is an industry leader at blending physical products with software solutions to make the world smarter, safer and more sustainable. We want to develop the next generation of technology leaders and innovators, so it is critical for us to help facilitate student interest in STEM-based fields,” said Mike Bennett, president, Honeywell Hometown Solutions. “Through our unique partnership with USSRC, we are taking a non-traditional approach to learning by getting students excited about STEM and how it relates to their future careers.”

Since its launch in 2010, Honeywell, in partnership with the USSRC, has awarded 2,091 scholarships to students of Honeywell employees to attend the Academy. Scholarships are granted after a rigorous application and review process based on academic achievement and community involvement. Financial contributions from Honeywell and its employees fund the scholarships, which cover the cost of tuition, meals, accommodations and program materials.

For more information about the Academy and the students attending, please contact Cecilia Tejeda(Honeywell) or Pat Ammons (USSRC) 

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Polar Bear Accepts Dare to Run Washington Marathon

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In response to a dare laid down by the World Wildlife Fund Panda Bear, the Race Against Extinction Polar Bear will be running in the 2018 Washington D.C. Rock ‘n’ Roll Half-Marathon on March 10th to raise awareness for the protection of its natural habitat and for all species, including humans.

Since coming out of hibernation, the bear has been training to shed its stored fat in order to run the entire 13.1 miles through our nation’s capital. The Race Against Extinction Polar Bear hopes to breaking the world “Bearathon” record while teaching humans how to cope with climate change.

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https://youtu.be/jiAocb0Otck

“I find it fitting that the completion of my training will fall on International Polar Bear Day – February 27 – enabling me to celebrate with the rest of the planet,” said the winded bear. “Regardless of the race day temperature this event will help me prepare for warmer days to come.  It is my hope that all participants and spectators will take a moment to think of ways in which they can help stem climate change or prepare their habitats for the transformation we are all facing together”.

Donations will support WWF’s work towards protecting wildlife and ecosystems across the globe. With your help, our running bear will meet the challenge that has been laid down by the Panda to break the all-time world Bearathon record of 2 hours and 41 minutes.

Your support is needed now more than ever. The Living Planet report found that our planet lost over half of all wild mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians since 1970 and predicts that by 2020 we will have lost 2 out of 3 of these creatures.

There are solutions and incredible people working to preserve the natural world, by combatting deforestation, habitat destruction, and by promoting more sustainable fishing and agriculture practices worldwide. Please help preserve our planet for the humans that you love and future generations!

The Race Against Extinction is a nonprofit that promotes awareness for the need to protect all things wild while promoting initiatives in which ordinary humans can take part in amazing activities to preserve the natural world for the humans they love.

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12 Ways to Stop Wasting Time in Meetings

Posted on by Real Leaders

Google’s head of marketing made headlines for juggling as many as 20 meetings in a day—all of which she said she aims to make as productive as possible. And while double-digit daily meetings may not be ideal, every marketing leader could stand to manage meeting time more effectively.

To wit, nearly two-thirds of marketers said that “wasteful” meetings hurt their productivity rate, according to a recent report by Workfront.

“Meetings facilitate collaboration, which can lead to greater engagement, creativity, and productivity when done right,” said Rhonda Overby, president and CEO of Baltimore-based marketing and PR agency Camera Ready, in an interview with CMO.com. “If all you’re ever doing is meeting, however, that potential is undermined as there’s no time to do. Success comes with the proper balance of discussion and action.”

Endless meetings can cause marketing professionals to confuse activity with productivity. “If someone spends six hours in meetings, they’re killing more than half their workday right there,” said Dennis Collins, senior director of marketing for InterCall, in an interview with CMO.com. “Even when meetings seem completely necessary, just one extra meeting per day can negatively impact employee productivity.”

A need to generate consensus, collaborate, or advance a project are all decent reasons to bring people together. Status reports or updates are not. One simple rule: If you can’t quickly pull together an agenda or a goal for a corporate confab, scratch it.

What else should marketers keep in mind? Here are 12 do’s and don’ts shared with CMO.com for getting the most out of meetings. We bet you’ll be nodding your head as you make your way through this list.

Do Send Out An Agenda

“The No 1 reason for a poor meeting is the lack of an agenda,” said Mark Roberts, CMO at ShoreTel. “A good agenda will outline topics to be covered, goals, required attendees, materials needed, and a start and stop time.”

Try to keep most agendas to 30 minutes, and distribute the meeting plan at least two hours prior. “Always give any assignments well in advance of a meeting so that people can be prepared with the right content,” said Marissa Tarleton, CMO of Retailmenot. Use the functionality of Web or videoconferencing tools to post the agenda as a visual reminder during the meeting.

Don’t Schedule Status Meetings

Consider using digital tools for project management, rather than calling a meeting for progress updates. “No one wants to sit around and rehash the work they’ve been doing,” said Joe Staples, CMO of Workfront. “They should be sharing creative ideas to resolve challenges, brainstorming, and collaborating.”

Do Master The Basics

Try to determine the most productive time of day for the get together, especially if you have attendees in multiple time zones, Staples advised. Arrive at meetings early, and encourage others to do so. Start on time—whether or not all parties are present. “Meetings can never run later than scheduled, but we hope to accomplish the meeting goal earlier than the time allotted for the meeting,” said George Athan, CEO of Mindstorm Strategic Consulting. “This prevents one meeting to affect others.”

Never combine meeting purposes, either. “If you want to praise your team, don’t [tack it on to] a meeting about something else,” said Alexander Ruggie, PR director for 911 restoration.

Also, treat every meeting as important, said Chris Trick, CMO of ERA Real Estate. “While the tone and formality of gatherings can vary, the value of the attendees’ time doesn’t, so make sure you bring the same energy each time,” Trick said.

Do Guide The Discussion

“When the conversation strays off topic or moves beyond the meeting agenda, bring the discussion back and table any relevant points raised for future discussion,” Shoretel’s Roberts said. “Being overly polite to people who hijack a meeting will only result in it being less productive.”

Eliminate distractions, such as mobile devices and computers, and discourage side conversations.

Don’t Streamline At The Expense Of Valuable Input

“When it is clear that the priority is speed and efficiency, it’s inevitable that some voices will not be heard,” said Patrick Partridge, CMO of Western Governors University. “That’s why it’s important to create a safe and open environment where the sharing of ideas and opinions is allowed and encouraged. Meetings tend to favor those who are more vocal, but it’s important to not overlook these additional voices that can add to the meeting.”

While maintaining meeting focus is critical, so, too, is soliciting input from more introverted or junior attendees. “Encourage open, honest, and straightforward dialogue, and be vocal about this at the start of a meeting to set the tone,” ERA Real Estate’s Trick said. Capture off-topic ideas (designate a note taker) while moving the conversation along.

Do Have Fun

“Once a meeting becomes boring, all productivity goes out the window,” said Eric Bosco, CEO of programmatic advertising firm Choicestream. Bosco has been known to arm a team lead with a nerf gun to shoot any speakers who run over their allotted time. (That meeting was very productive, Bosco said.)

Once a month, Retailmenot’s Tarleton has her team nominate a star performer to spin a wheel for prizes (stand-up paddle boarding, house cleaning, restaurant gift cards) at the marketing meeting. “For weekly companywide meetings, we infuse humor with two-minute long, employee-produced videos,” Tarleton said.

Don’t Always Spread Meetings Out

Consider clustering them. “Scheduling back-to-back meetings forces you to start and end them on time,” said Talent Inc. CMO Diego Lomanto. “Furthermore, the half hour between meetings is rarely productive, other than answering emails, which should be batch-processed anyway. Consecutive meetings enable chunks of time for handing deep-dive work.”

Do Take Breaks

Ideally, meetings should last 30 minutes or less, but long meetings are sometimes necessary. In those cases, offer intermissions. “Though it may seem counterintuitive, interrupting the meeting for a break actually helps with productivity,” ERA Real Estate’s Trick said. “If done correctly, quick five- to 10-minute breaks help your team refocus and re-engage by giving them time to get up, walk around, check their phones or email, and then return to the meeting

Don’t Hold Hostages

Not everyone needs to stay for the entire meeting, particularly on conference calls. “Most people don’t stop to consider this; they just issue a blanket invite for the entire meeting to all attendees,” Intercall’s Collins said. “By planning ahead and reviewing the agenda, managers can stagger invitations accordingly to ensure attendees’ time isn’t wasted. One of the biggest drops in productivity comes from distraction–that happens when people find the meeting irrelevant and yet they need to get other work accomplished.”

Don’t Always Be Predictable

Change the scenery. Change the time. “To awaken creativity, change the routine and get out of the office,” Talent’s Lomanto said. “A change of environment can yield a change in strategic thinking.”

Consider booking meetings at unexpected times. “I often set meetings for only 15 minutes or schedule their start at the quarter hour,” Collins said. “This builds a buffer in case attendees are slammed in long-running back-to-back [meetings], and it also stands out more obviously in people’s calendars, so there are fewer no-shows or late arrivals that drain the momentum and productivity out of the meeting.”

Do Close With A Plan

Meetings should be vehicle for decision-making.

“It’s common that at the conclusion of a meeting a fair amount of ambiguity may exist,” Western Governors University’s Partridge said. “It is important to reach a consensus or at least clarify the direction or decisions and to identify future actions required.”

Retailmenot’s Tarleton ends every meeting with a list of actions items and who is responsible for them. “Not only does this make meetings more efficient, it streamlines workflow in general,” she said.

Don’t Be Afraid To Decline

Even the most thoughtful leader can find himself mindlessly accepting every meeting request that hits his inbox. “Just because you get an invite doesn’t mean you have to accept it blindly,” Collins said. “Check the agenda and attendees. If it doesn’t seem like you fit, ask the host why they want you and if it has to be for the entire duration. You’ll help them clarify their intent and might save a few minutes of your time in the process.”

 

Costa Rican Pineapple Buyers Can Now Guarantee They’re Deforestation-Free

Posted on by Real Leaders

As consumers become increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of agro-commodity production, with the click of a button, companies buying pineapples from Costa Rica – one of the world’s largest producers of the fruit – can now see if their suppliers are engaged in deforestation or not, with help from the United Nations’ Green Commodities Programme.

The Land Use Change Monitoring System within Production Landscapes (MOCUPP), developed with support from the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Green Commodities Programme, is the world’s first to overlay satellite images with land registry records on an annual basis for an entire national territory. Now, every year, the system will produce images showing forest loss and gain from pineapple production in Costa Rica, with more agro-commodities soon to be added to the system.

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This new tool is free for commodity buyers to use. Buyers can easily check if their producers are engaged in illegal deforestation, or if they are increasing deforestation cover. The system allows buyers to check this using their own internal records. This avoids any risk related to commercial confidentiality agreements, as there is no need to provide geo-positioning data to any government entity.

Pineapple farmers producing for export who are doing the right thing also stand to benefit. The new tool allows them to show that their farms are deforestation-free, enabling them to benefit from incentive schemes such as the Payment of Ecosystem Services by the National Forestry Financing Fund.

Costa Rica is one of the world’s biggest pineapple-producing countries. MOCUPP is part of a wider national effort to tackle serious social and environmental concerns in this critical sector, worth US$800 million to the national economy.

Already, MOCUPP has developed imagery showing the rapid spread of pineapple cultivation in Costa Rica between 2000 and 2015. It reveals that over the past 15 years, the country has lost more than 5,000 hectares of forest cover, the size of over 3,000 football pitches, due to the expansion of pineapple farming.

The system is also currently developing baselines and annual monitoring for other agro-commodities, including pasture and palm oil plantations. The aim is that by 2020, all of Costa Rica’s major commodity exports will be monitored on an annual basis for deforestation activity. An annual set of images generated by MOCUPP will be published through the National Territorial Information System web tool, accessible by the public. Meanwhile, property records where forest loss or gain has occurred will be made available to authorities and private sector buyers.

The Ministry of Environment, the National Registry, the National Geographical Institute and the Center of High Technology of Costa Rica, with support from the UNDP Green Commodities Programme, UNDP REDD and the Global Environment Facility developed the system.

It has generated keen interest from the governments of Paraguay, Madagascar, Morocco and Côte d’Ivoire, who are also facing the challenge of reducing deforestation from valuable commodity supply chains. The UNDP Green Commodities Programme is now working with these countries to replicate this system.

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