The AZEK Company is an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of beautiful, low-maintenance, and environmentally sustainable outdoor living products. Recognized as a leader in innovation, quality, aesthetics, and sustainability, its products are made from up to 85% recycled material, providing a long-lasting, eco-friendly, and stylish solution to consumers. Here, The AZEK Company President and CEO Jesse Singh shares his knowledge and experience with Real Leaders.
Real Leaders: How do you thrive in the impact space?
Jesse Singh: We thrive by staying true to our core purpose, which is to revolutionize outdoor living. Our decisions are centered on creating long-lasting products that reduce environmental impact, while enhancing the beauty, functionality, and resilience of outdoor living spaces. By transforming waste into opportunity, we use up to 85% recycled waste and scrap materials to manufacture products across our portfolio, which enhances our commitment to sustainability and circularity.
RL: What milestones have you achieved this year?
Singh: This year we set a new industry standard by becoming the first to earn an Ignition Resistant designation from California’s state fire marshal. Our products offer top-rated fire resistance and are made with an increasing amount of recycled waste and scrap material.
RL: What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome?
Singh: Historical biases around synthetic materials still exist in the built environment. As we continue to expand and engage the market in a broader way, we are increasingly optimistic about the long-term opportunity for growth and material conversion away from wood and toward our types of materials. Our success is evidenced by a 10-year track record of delivering double-digit compound annual growth in net sales. This positions us to capitalize on the growing demand for sustainable materials.
RL: What is your best strategy for finding investors?
Singh: Communicate your vision clearly and demonstrate tangible results. Building strong relationships and maintaining transparency helps attract the right investors. Getting your story out there — whether at conferences, trade shows, virtual webcasts, or in-person meetings — creates valuable opportunities to engage with new potential investors.
RL: What is your long-term, mission-oriented dream?
Singh: Our long-term dream is to lead the building products industry toward a fully circular economy, where waste is eliminated and most of our materials come from recycled or renewable sources. We aim to inspire a broader shift across industries toward sustainable practices that positively impact both people and the planet.
RL: What is your best advice for fellow impact CEOs?
Singh: Stay focused on your big ambition while creating a maniacal focus on execution. Hold fast to your mission and values, especially when challenges arise; authenticity resonates with customers, employees, and investors. Prioritize delivering real, measurable impact and embrace innovation. Do not be afraid to take calculated risks. Building a strong, purpose-driven team is also crucial; surround yourself with passionate, experienced individuals who share your vision and are committed to delivering results and making an impact.
It all fell apart so quickly. On Dec 8, 2008, I had raised millions of dollars for a distinguished arts charity. Three days later, Bernie Madoff was arrested, and we lost millions. I had been at this job for three years, starting when I was 26. Donors called, furious.
I took responsibility, even though the decision had been made carefully 15 years prior. Everyone had an opinion, but no one had a solution. The charity needed to survive and to fulfill $1.7 million in obligations to kids and other nonprofits. My incredible board chair, Bill Schwartz, led by example, and without him I would never have gotten the chance to succeed.
I had to say to a notable billionaire, “I am extremely sorry we are in this situation. It was not my intention when I was 13 years old and had never been to New York City to convince a multimillion-dollar foundation to invest with someone who eventually would be proven to steal all this money so that I can be in the situation of being yelled at by you and likely losing my job.”
The man paused, hearing how ridiculous and misdirected his anger actually was. That was my first lesson in taking responsibility. The second came when working with Paul and Kristina Dalio, along with their father, Ray Dalio, years later. Two days into my position, we faced an extremely challenging choice that, in hindsight, could have been made differently. I immediately took responsibility for fixing it, but that wasn’t good enough.
What I learned, which has shaped me to this day, was that I had to take full responsibility for the decision that had been made by someone else as if I had made that decision, which led to my making the most informed next step possible. I wasn’t to blame for what happened. It wasn’t about my ego or even my desire to fix it. If I hadn’t accepted that full responsibility, then the outcome may have been colored by the fact that I knew deep down I hadn’t created this challenge in the first place.
That was my second lesson in taking responsibility. The third one defined my life. There is a lot written about the power of hearing “no.” At this point, I had heard “no” about 10,000 times, or even more. As I faced numerous challenges to resurrect the arts charity from disaster, I sat above the blame game. Instead of walking away defeated, I stayed curious, taking the time to learn about what made that investor/business leader/philanthropist actually passionate, and what they were focused on.
I purposefully expanded my circles by getting involved in dozens of things completely antithetical to my day-to-day. Everyone told me I should stick to my “tribe” and network in it. I did — and also said “yes” to everything else. Two years later, I had a network of thousands of people from over two dozen circles. And I had three things no one else had — but at that time I thought I only had two.
First, I had built trust amongst everyone by leaning in, delivering value, and asking nothing in return. Second, all of these incredible people had told me their passions in order for me to help them, which meant now I knew what they wanted.
A few years passed, and then every week was filled with 10–15 calls from extremely connected people asking me for introductions they couldn’t get for themselves. That’s when I realized the third thing: I had built a diverse network based on action and trust with the most valuable resource in business and philanthropy, the connector. This is the person who knows everyone, makes introductions all the time, and now trusted me.
I had built trust amongst the trust makers, people whose soft skills of vulnerability and curiosity had become strengths, and all of whom acted with generosity and practiced daily gratitude. I had been told as CEO to focus on what was in front of me, and we’d get through it. Instead, I chose to expand my capabilities, study everyone around me, and learn who to spend my time with.
Every year, I faced criticism for my focus, but the data never lied. I was responsible for 60–85% of the fundraising for the arts charity, bringing in 200–350 donors annually. My close rate for meetings was 45%, which fell so far above the norm in fundraising because I had begun to master connection at a whole new level.
I would not have succeeded and gotten to this point in my career as CEO, which I have been for 20 years, now running my own companies, if I had stayed the course without these lessons:
I embraced the power of “no” and turned it into incredible actionable insight.
I gave without an expectation of return, building trust through action.
I led with humility, never defensive, but instead focused on the outcome.
Embracing purposeful community will change our world — as long as we all do the self-work needed to do more than just help ourselves and blame others, and we rise up as leaders to enrich others before we enrich ourselves.
My Keys to Building Capital Relationships
1. Capital raising is a long game, so build a relationship first to demonstrate your value. This is about building relationships, not transactional interactions.
2. People only invest in other people, so embrace the principles of vulnerability and curiosity to be a leader who asks what your investors want to see from their investment and in you, rather than telling them only what you want.
3. You would never invest in someone who tells you to “trust me;” you would only invest in those who have demonstrated how they would hold your trust, so embrace the principles of generosity and gratitude, as they keep doors open without being opportunistic.
4. Anytime you get a no, offer to help with what that investor needs. In return, they will value you and make the intro you actually want. By being a connector, you build a stronger community even if your day-to-day interests do not become integrated.
5. Don’t partner with people whose values are not aligned. Be bold and share what you want and what you believe. Make sure you hear back as to any investor’s “why” as well.
Cymbiotika is a wellness company that revolutionizes health through advanced supplements that support optimal vitality and well-being. With a focus on holistic wellness, Cymbiotika is leading a movement toward improved quality of life by offering science-backed solutions for enhancing internal health. Here, Cymbiotika Founder and CEO Shahab Elmi shares his knowledge and experience with Real Leaders.
Real Leaders: How do you thrive in the impact space?
Shahab Elmi: As a rapidly growing company Cymbiotika integrates cutting-edge supplements and holistic wellness practices to enhance the well-being of its community. Cymbiotika is a movement dedicated to improving lives and making a meaningful impact in the wellness industry.
RL: What milestones have you achieved this year?
Elmi: Cymbiotika launched six innovative products and achieved a significant retail expansion in The Vitamin Shoppe and Sprouts. Cymbiotika was recognized by Inc. Magazine as No. 31 on the Pacific Region’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies list and secured a spot on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies.
RL: What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome?
Elmi: Cymbiotika’s greatest challenge has been navigating the significant demands and product shortages that have heavily impacted its cash flow. The company’s rapid, triple-digit growth year over year has created overwhelming demand. As a result, the company has completed a first round of external funding to sustain its growth.
RL: What is your best strategy for finding investors?
Elmi: Thanks to the company’s viral success, high-profile celebrities and athletes have become advocates for the products, which has naturally attracted inbound investor interest. Building and nurturing these relationships has been key to Cymbiotika’s growth.
RL: What is your long-term, mission-oriented dream?
Elmi: Cymbiotika’s dream is to help as many people as possible live longer, healthier lives. Central to this mission is creation of a powerful hub for learning, empowering individuals with the tools they need to make informed decisions about their health.
RL: What is your best advice for fellow impact CEOs?
Elmi: Instead of running from failure, embrace it. It’s an integral part of the journey to success. Confidence in your mantra and purpose is crucial; it’s what will guide you through tough times. Embrace those challenges — remember, resilience is what builds champions.
Asking the next question unlocked lasting impact for my company.
I thought the leap was getting on the plane. Turns out the real leap came when I realized we’d been doing it wrong all along.
For 10 years I was the frog on the log. I told everyone I was going to jump — someday. I’d been talking about doing structured outreach work for nearly a decade. Then in November 2011, 30 days after saying “go,” I stepped off a plane in Paraguay with 12 people, 30 bags of dental equipment, and no real idea what we were walking into.
We set up our first clinic on the basketball court of an orphanage with 236 children. We had no instructions for the chairs, no practice run for the clinic flow, and only a loose plan. Half of our team were dentists. The other half including me, a CPA, were suddenly dental assistants. The Paraguayan Ministry of Health had even licensed us all as dentists for the week.
What Happens to the Next Ramon?
By the second morning, we’d already seen heartbreaking cases — children with teeth fused to their jawbones, mouths ravaged by decay. Then I noticed a boy lying in one of the darkened rooms downstairs. “That’s Ramon,” someone said. “He wasn’t feeling well enough to come up yesterday.”
When he rolled over, I saw a swelling the size of a golf ball on his cheek. I called over our surgeon, Dr. David Jones. His easygoing face turned serious instantly. We carried Ramon upstairs. Over the next 30 minutes, Dr. Jones drained an abscess so severe that when he finished, he said, “Steve, I’ve never seen anywhere near that much infection in a patient in my 40 years of practice. I don’t think Ramon would have gotten out of that bed alive.” I should have felt relief. Instead I felt dread. I asked myself, “What happens to the next Ramon when we’re back in the U.S.?”
Starting Isn’t Enough
That question wouldn’t let go. I called over our local partner, a 26-year-old missionary named Judah. “If I were to leave you my equipment and supplies, could you get a local dentist to come back here with you every month or two to provide care and be a resource so we know the next Ramon also gets support?” He thought for a second and then replied, “You’d probably need to help me with some gas money.”
That was it — the moment the Smiles for Everyone Foundation changed forever. We went from one-off service trips to building ongoing, sustainable dental outposts. Today we operate in nine countries and turn every $1 raised into more than $25 of delivered care.
Here’s what that day taught me: Starting is everything, but starting isn’t enough. The real leap in leadership is asking the next question: How does this last when I’m gone? That’s when you stop being the frog and finally hit the water.
Crusoe Energy Systems is a vertically integrated AI infrastructure company dedicated to sustainably powering computing. Here, Crusoe CEO and Co-Founder Chase Lochmiller shares his knowledge and experience with Real Leaders.
Real Leaders: How do you thrive in the impact space?
Chase Lochmiller: To minimize the environmental impacts of computing-led innovation, Crusoe takes an energy-first approach to providing a sustainable and cost-effective AI cloud platform. Since our inception in 2018, we’ve dedicated ourselves to driving change in advanced computing by utilizing wasted, stranded, and clean energy sources to sustainably power our data centers and AI-focused cloud computing infrastructure. Crusoe leverages cutting-edge technology to catalyze human progress across the globe while mitigating the ecological consequences typically associated with large-scale data processing.
RL: What milestones have you achieved this year?
Lochmiller: Crusoe avoided over 680,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by scaling Digital Flare Mitigation® (DFM) technology in the U.S. We expanded to 33 sites across six states, including 12 new deployments. Our company prevented over 5.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas from being flared and avoided over 8,500 metric tons of methane emissions. We generated over 635,000 megawatt-hours of electricity by harnessing stranded energy. We expanded internationally through a partnership with Unblock Computing. Lastly, Crusoe licensed our technology to enable a reduction in flaring by over 85 million cubic feet across two sites in Argentina.
RL: What is your best strategy for finding investors?
Lochmiller: None of this would be possible without the lasting commitment and dedication of our employees, investors, energy partners, cloud customers, and other key stakeholders — many of whom have been with us from the beginning. We cannot begin to express our appreciation enough for the many people working tirelessly to bring our mission to life. The key is finding the right people, partners, employees, and stakeholders who not only believe in our mission but can help us grow and succeed.
RL: What is your long-term, mission-oriented dream?
Lochmiller: Crusoe is working to transform the system of computing infrastructure — from the energy that powers it, to the data centers that serve it, to our purpose-built AI computing stack that supports the work of innovators using our technology. Through our vertically integrated approach, we are reimagining how large-scale AI computing should operate from the ground up. Our mission is to align the future of computing with the future of the climate, and that drives us day in and day out.
RL: What is your best advice for fellow impact CEOs?
Lochmiller: We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to continue to shape and scale the computing industry as we strive to always do more and do better, and that is the advice we would pass on: Strive to always do more and do better.
The husband-and-wife team tell raw, personal stories that show how to triumph over the uncertainty that they say most certainly awaits new entrepreneurs.
Mike and Kass Lazerow wrote a newly released love letter to entrepreneurs starring a four-letter word. If you’ve ever launched a business, the book’s title, Shoveling $h!t, won’t surprise you — in fact, many battle-worn business warriors are surely reading this and nodding their heads in surrender. The book encourages embracing the beauty of the struggle and draws from decades of helping entrepreneurs build companies.
Kass and Mike are serial entrepreneurs and investors best known as the co-founders of Golf.com (sold to Time Warner in 2006) and Buddy Media, the leading social media marketing platform that sold to Salesforce in 2012 for $745 million. Since then they have focused on providing capital and advice to the world’s most innovative founders and have been co-founders and early investors in almost 100 startups generating more than $10 billion in realized gains.
They served as angel investors and advisors to Scopely, which sold to Savvy Games for $5 billion in 2022, and Liquid Death, the canned water company whose “evil mission” is to make people laugh and drink healthy beverages more often, all while helping to kill plastic pollution. He is business development, sales, and product. She is operations and HR.
“The first thing I look at when deciding whether to invest in a startup is the market,” says Mike. “I’ve never seen huge companies come out of tiny markets, so it always starts with that, but the most important thing is the founders. Do they know what they don’t know? Are they humble enough to realize that they’re not going to know the answer to everything? I’m not looking for someone to spin me a great story. I’m looking for humility and authenticity. If they tell me they have the product vision but they aren’t a salesman, that’s the perfect answer to me because I know they get it.”
When considering an investment, Mike and Kass don’t care much about the competition because most markets aren’t winner takes all. They are more focused on building a psychological profile of the founder: Who are they? What motivates them? What’s the product, and why is it different? How well do they know the customer?
Sales and marketing is next. “We care a lot about whether your product can get to market,” says Mike. “You need to be able to explain how to get this into your customers’ hands. How do they find out about it? How do you deliver it?”
Finally, does the financial model make sense? “Yes, you’ll pivot, you’ll change,” Mike says. “But if it doesn’t make sense at the beginning on a piece of paper or back of a napkin, it’s not going to make sense when you launch it.”
So what’s trending right now? Mike and Kass say now is a critical time for investors to look at social impact companies. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion as a corporate marketing term is dead — DEI has been killed,” Mike says. “However, the principles behind it have never been more essential for businesses to embrace because any business that isn’t diverse and celebrates equality for everyone — not only in the company but customers and partners, any company that’s not inclusive to their stakeholders — what kind of company is that? Look at the news. It’s depressing. This is a better time than ever to double down on these principles.”
For example, Kass and Mike are helping Dylan Zajac’s company, Computers 4 People, fix the inequity gap when it comes to computer access across the world. “Dylan’s goal is to donate a million computers, and he’s been working on this all through college. He even came up with a way to give computer lessons to the people he’s giving the computers to,” says Kass. “I love it because I’m seeing a big group of young adults who are very much looking for companies to run that have a social good component, if not the whole business model.”
Oh, $h!t
Kass and Mike hear a lot of pitches, and there are a few things that make them cringe. “First is if they’ve done zero research with their name, and it’s pretty obvious that it’s going to get them in trouble down the road and they’ll have to pivot and rebrand,” says Kass.
Another concern is the inflation of titles. “Everyone wants to seem cool, so when everyone in the group is running around with some C-level title with zero experience, that also makes me cringe,” she continues. “How are you going to operate efficiently and move at the speed you need to as a startup with as many pivots as you’re going to need to do? You’ve got to protect who you hire, give those people the right titles, and put the structure in place from the beginning.”
Mike’s No. 1 pet peeve is a lack of focus. “One of the questions I ask is: What are the top three priorities for your business this year? You would be shocked at how many young founders — and frankly, business owners — don’t know that,” he says. “If you don’t know what you need to be focused on, how do you know where you’re going and what you want to accomplish? If you as the founder don’t know it, your whole organization definitely doesn’t know it. We like clarity. You have to know how to spend your resources, and if you don’t have clarity of vision, you have no chance.”
The Culture Formula
The Lazerows are often asked how to build a strong culture, especially in remote work environments. “It definitely stems from leadership,” Kass says. “It’s your job as the leader to make sure you know what you’re concentrating on. What is the mission of this company over the next 12 months? Your job is to make sure everyone is on the same page.”
Kass emphasizes that an important part of the culture formula is making sure everyone understands the focus. “They’ve got to understand it because they have a role in that focus,” she points out. “The goal might be $10 million in revenue, but you have to show them how every team within the company should work to get that. You explain it, you show diagrams on how every person in the company connects to that mission, and then your job is to say it over and over and over again. You can never say it enough. You’re saying it in one-on-one meetings, in small groups, to teams, to investors, in press releases.”
Kass says most companies believe that it’s easier to have people remote, but there are problems with that. “You learn a lot from being around other people. You learn the skill of reading other people, understanding how to negotiate, how to pick up on little nuances,” she says. “As the leader you have to show them how you interact with people. Companies hate when I say this but if they are going to have remote teams, then the leaders need a budget so they can go around the country. If you can’t afford to bring everyone in, you’ve got to do the road show, you’ve got to have hubs, you’ve got to have in-person meetings. I feel very strongly about this.”
Building culture is about the traditions, the symbols, the celebrations. “Whether you have a remote workforce or everyone in person, culture isn’t just about the good times,” Kass says. “It’s getting through a necessary pivot or losing a big customer. Is everyone going to stay with you even though they’re scared about the unknown and what’s going to happen? Do they believe the leaders got this? Are the leaders communicative and transparent about everything? Don’t shine the turd. Culture is built on the tough times and how you tell people what’s happening and what they should be doing.”
Mike adds that while he and Kass are realists, his belief is that companies should be in person. “If I am starting a company today, I want to be together,” he says. “I think we’ve all got to go back to the office, even if it’s hybrid. That’s the way you execute strategies and have any chance of creating relationships that stick.”
Forget Work-Life Balance
In the new book, Kass and Mike write about the imbalanced life of an entrepreneur. “You can only do one great thing at a time,” says Kass. “When I think about entrepreneurs and the amount of crap thrown at them — you lose your office space, three people quit, there’s a lawsuit, you have to rebrand — there’s never enough time to do everything at its top level.”
She says she and Mike accepted from the beginning that they would be sacrificing their kids’ childhood for a while. “Our hope was that we could give more back to them when they were a little bit older,” she says. “We calculated for that. We didn’t have many friends outside of work. Spring break was our family time.”
“There’s no balance because it’s unlimited work,” Mike says. “You’re not just doing a job — there’s this whole world that you’re in charge of — and that leads to a lot of fear and doubt. You will be miserable many days, and you’ll say to yourself, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ You will be miserable and realize at the same time that it’s the only thing you were put on earth to do. It’s where you’ll find your passion, your purpose, but it comes with significant personal costs.”
Kass and Mike want to help leaders embrace the uncertainty because they say that’s the best way to handle the fear — not eliminate it but thrive inside it, and be able to make better, more confident decisions.
“Don’t try to separate personal from business — just live your life,” Mike advises. “If it’s important, make it part of your day-to-day living. Make giving back part of your nine-to-five, not just nights and weekends. You’ll get better at navigating risks and helping people. All of a sudden you’re a better employer, mentor, friend. You’re communicating better, having the hard conversations, staying healthy. There will be this new-found calmness inside the shitstorm. The shitstorm doesn’t go away — and you don’t want it to — because the shitstorm is what takes people and companies to the next level.”
Check Your Ego
The sacrifices paid off for Kass and Mike, who live happily in New York City and Hudson Valley and have three grown children and two rescue dogs. “One of our family’s favorite phrases when our kids were young was, ‘We never give up, and we always give back,’” says Kass. “I love that even with everything going on, our kids saw and recognized this was our way. There’s no better drug out there than giving back as leaders with unconditional support and love to help glue the culture together.”
Even with disruptions, rising costs, and trade wars, they believe it’s a great time to be an entrepreneur. “The best time to start a company is today,” says Mike. “Whether you’re in a depression or have zero revenue, you’re not going to do less than zero. It’s time to build — but always be ready to pivot.”
“The pivot is not something to fear,” adds Kass. “It’s something to embrace just like other uncertainties. Your ego can’t drive decisions. If ego drives the decision, you’re too late. You might have to pivot three, four times. Ask, ‘What do my customers really want, and did I build that?’ You literally have to step aside and check your ego.”
Mike and Kass also encourage entrepreneurs to fully integrate the impact that they want to make into the business. “Businesses and entrepreneurs are the biggest drivers of good in this country,” he says. “It feels so good to use your resources and your company for good. When you give, you get so much more in return. You get a company with a purpose and people who feel like they’re not only working together but doing good together.”
I believe we can end extreme poverty within our lifetime.
Growing up in India, my family counted every rupee. My mother had to sell her jewelry to send us to school. Our greatest wealth was our community of family and friends, our grit, and our determination to build a better tomorrow. For those in poverty, relationships and commitment are the currency that carries you through even the most uncertain times. My own experiences have taught me that true leadership is forged in crisis.
My own personal journey — in life and in business — shows me that there is a way forward to achieving a world where all people go to bed with food in their belly and a roof over their head. It’s a bold goal, especially as we see our world growing increasingly unstable, but I believe we can end extreme poverty within our lifetime.
That belief has never been truer in my eyes, especially as we begin this new technological revolution. Technology is always the disruptor. I saw it firsthand when introducing ATMs and other banking innovations in India for Citibank. My organization, Opportunity International, has spent the last 50 years seeking innovations to better serve the poorest in the world.
Already we have replaced millions in lost resources, preserving vital support, training, and financial services for small businesses across Africa. Hundreds of small and micro-business owners who would have otherwise faced collapse are continuing to receive the tools they need to build their businesses and keep their children in school, ensuring the social and economic fabric of their communities remains intact.
In Silicon Valley the term “human-centered design” is how engineers and product developers frame their ability to meet the needs of their clients. Microsoft, Apple, and others make painstaking efforts to get into the heads of their audiences, seeking to build products that can become truly impactful in the lives of the consumer. In the humanitarian world, it can be considered many things: strengths-based programming, informed care, cocreated interventions. The name matters not, but the essential lesson must not be ignored: Innovations must be rooted in understanding the people we serve.
Recently we’ve embraced generative AI to drive tangible, scalable improvements for underserved communities around the globe. We believe that AI can be even more transformative for the people we serve than anywhere else — but when trying to help those at the base of the economic pyramid, technology for technology’s sake can cause more problems than solutions.
Here are three practical lessons I’ve learned about integrating AI successfully within an organization.
1. Solve Hidden Barriers First
When serving people in extreme poverty, economic limitations are only the surface issue. The deeper you go, the more you encounter nonobvious barriers that have little to do with money. Social and economic structures, communal norms, and even geographies produce challenges at the heart of what keep our clients from achieving success. Successfully serving these populations means explicitly recognizing and addressing those hidden, structural obstacles first.
Thirty-five years ago Opportunity International pivoted from offering individual loans to a model of group lending focused on under-supported populations. This wasn’t just a financial innovation; it was a recognition of social dynamics and cultural barriers that kept people from participating in formal financial systems. Likewise today our AI tools are designed with these realities in mind. Local languages, offline environments, and cultural context all play a critical role. When you overcome the hidden barriers, the rest will flow together.
2. Your Client Is the True Expert
Our most successful innovations are born not in boardrooms but in the communities we serve. Our generative AI chatbot for farmers in Malawi started with conversations in a rural village outside of the nation’s capital. A farmer named Anna told us how difficult it can be to find support and training to navigate ongoing weather crises. Her insights, day-to-day challenges, and aspirations helped inspire the very development of our chatbot. The result? An AI solution that is not only helpful but embraced.
The tool’s success led us to launch an internal innovation accelerator we call the Collaboration Laboratory to scale this approach. Every year we bring together all 200+ of our staff, most of whom are in the field every day, to develop ideas for new interventions that are informed by their experience with our clients. In partnership with the people we serve, we select the best ideas, develop and test prototypes, refine them, and build fully functioning tools alongside our users. It’s not about scaling tech. It’s about scaling trust.
3. Prioritize Leverage, Not Complexity
AI’s power lies in leverage and scale — the ability to serve more people better at lower cost. For those of us working in the impact sector’s constrained environments, this is a game changer, but it only works if you resist the temptation to over-engineer. Our best AI tools are the simplest. They address real client problems in intuitive, accessible ways.
When we designed our AI application to help teachers develop lesson plans, our focus wasn’t on how advanced the tech could be — it was on how easy it could be to use. If a farmer in a remote village can access key crop advice without needing a smartphone or internet connection, we’ve succeeded. That’s the kind of leverage that leads to scale.
As CEOs our role is to foster innovation that truly matters. AI presents an unprecedented opportunity to fundamentally transform lives. Our designers and engineers spend much of their time thinking about how to achieve success, but it is your client who will show you why they need a product in the first place. In the end the most important piece to the AI puzzle isn’t the technology. It’s the people.
My journey to self-love and realignment led me to reroute my career.
I was flying first class, but I felt like I was crashing. Somewhere over the country — maybe the third or fourth trip that month — I looked out the window and realized something terrifying: I’d traded my family and identity for frequent flyer miles and fleeting prestige.
I’ve been on over 1,500 flights in 19 years. I told myself I was doing it for them, my family, to give them a good life, but up there, midair, it hit me: This wasn’t a good life — not for them, not for me. I had given everything to the organization. I withheld nothing. I sacrificed myself. I sacrificed us.
It was around the COVID-19 pandemic when the weight of it all landed. My marriage was ending. My sense of self was unraveling. I started therapy. I called in a few close friends who actually cared about my well-being. I hired an executive coach. I began the long, humbling work of finding the real me — the one not built on applause and achievement but on something truer.
That’s when I saw it: This all started in childhood. I had learned early that performing was the price of love, that if I just achieved enough, impressed enough, succeeded enough, maybe I’d be worthy. I lived like that for decades. Corporate America rewarded it, titles and bonuses reinforced it — but it was a lie.
I realized I am enough without performance. I am worthy of love for simply being Eric — not the version the world applauds but the one God created. That truth wrecked me, and it rebuilt me.
Since then everything changed. I stopped leading for approval and started leading from alignment. I became a five-time marathon finisher with a goal to run all seven World Major Marathons. (Three down, four to go — London 2026 is next.)
I partnered with Team World Vision to help bring clean water to kids in Africa. We’re building wells, spreading hope, and working to end the clean water crisis.
And I launched Inspo Strategic Advising & Coaching because I felt called to help leaders in corporate America lead differently, holistically. We’ve developed frameworks to help build “The Inspired Culture” — a way of leading that prioritizes people over performance and purpose over profit.
But none of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t learned to love myself first, if I hadn’t decided that who I am is more important than what I do.
To my fellow CEOs, if you feel like you’re winning on paper but empty in your soul — pause, look out the window, and ask yourself: Is this really the life I want? It’s never too late to reroute the flight path.
Here’s why I approach everything with an owner mentality.
Several years ago in my career, I was the chief information officer for a large, family-owned business. This business had a very significant technology infrastructure and a large engineering department. It became clear to me that our network wasn’t built to handle the demand that engineering required, and the engineers were waiting for 20 to 30 minutes to download files.
After much review and planning, I went to the owners of the company and told them we needed to spend about $1.4 million to upgrade our network. I started to explain the network configuration, bandwidth, etc., and the owner stopped me. He said, “I don’t understand any of this, nor do I want to. I hired you because you’re an expert in this field. I have one simple question for you: If this was your company and you were spending your money on this, would you do it?” I replied, “Of course I would. I’ll never recommend something that I wouldn’t do if it was my money.” To which the owner replied, “Then go do what needs to be done.”
At that moment I realized it’s not about the details of the project. Of course these are important to be successful, but it’s about ownership — ownership of the project, ownership of the financial impact, ownership of the success of the company, ownership period. If you make every decision like an owner, there’s a high probability that you’ll do the right thing.
This defining moment came to me over 20 years ago, and I’ve kept it present with me throughout my career. In one such teachable moment, I was the CEO of a contract manufacturing company, and one day I was walking through the facility with the quality assurance manager. She was explaining to me some of the changes they were making in the facility to make it more efficient. As we were walking I saw some trash on the floor and stopped to pick it up. The manager turned around as I was walking toward the trash can and asked what I was doing. I told her I was picking up the trash. She responded, “We have janitors for that.” I asked her, “If you have a housekeeper and you were walking through your house and you saw trash on the floor, would you pick it up?” Of course you would because you own the house. You have to act like an owner at your place of work too.
Another example is my most recent venture as an owner and CEO of Alter Eco. Having been on the board of Alter Eco, I could see the potential in the brand, but something was missing, and it was clearly the ownership of the team. There was minimal communication from the management to the team, and the team didn’t feel empowered to act as owners because the management didn’t act as owners. When the opportunity came along to acquire the company, I knew that turning it around wouldn’t be easy, but it would be possible if I had a team that took ownership — and that’s exactly what has happened.
Everything you do, every decision you make should be made like an owner. This isn’t limited to financial decisions. If your company employs people, treat them like you want to be treated. If your company manufactures products, make sure they are the type of products you would want your family to purchase. And if your company has the ability to impact the world around you, make sure you tackle these things like an owner of your destiny. Leave the world better than when you found it. Wake up every day as an owner.
I thought my business expansion failed, but then I rebuilt stronger.
When I decided to expand Left-handesign from Singapore to Australia, it felt like the natural next step. Our purpose-driven, plantable stationery created waves in Singapore. We found our niche, built a loyal community, and made a measurable impact in our mission to replace single-use plastic with products that could grow into herbs and flowers. I believed in our story, our mission, and our design philosophy. The momentum felt right.
So I made the leap, but it wasn’t just a market shift. I moved countries — personally, physically, emotionally, and professionally — and I underestimated what it would take.
Australia, for all its similarities to Singapore, was a completely different terrain to build a business in. I had to start from scratch — no network, no brand familiarity, no local infrastructure — and yet, I approached it like a continuation, not a beginning.
We poured funds into everything we thought was necessary — product development tailored to local preferences, marketing, certifications, local partnerships, and packaging innovations. What I failed to plan for was that our cash flow, once steady and predictable, was now stretched across borders. I didn’t account for the lag in awareness-building. I didn’t give our story the time it needed to take root.
The sales didn’t match the investment, and slowly our cash reserves began to shrink. I had moments of absolute panic. There were days when I would look at the numbers and feel a physical ache. Had I made a massive mistake? Had I risked the business for a dream that was too soon?
But here’s where the real shift happened: I stopped trying to scale. I started to listen. I went back to the people, the heart of our work. I reconnected with our community in Singapore to stabilize the foundation and leaned into slow, intentional growth in Australia.
Instead of assuming I knew what the Australian market needed, I asked. I observed. I collaborated. We adjusted our product-market fit. We focused on impact storytelling. We aligned with local sustainable initiatives and built partnerships one conversation at a time.
I learned to manage cash flow with eyes wide open — cutting what didn’t serve and investing only in what truly moved the needle. We stopped chasing vanity metrics and focused on values. Our B Corp certification in Australia became a pillar of trust and transparency.
What I once viewed as failure became a refining fire. We didn’t break — we rebuilt with stronger roots.
That experience taught me that growth isn’t always about up and to the right. Sometimes, it’s about going inward, slowing down, and remembering why you started. It’s about building not just a business, but an ecosystem that supports resilience.
Today, we operate proudly out of Singapore and Australia. We built awareness, grew our reach organically, and reignited our revenue. And every time I see a child plant one of our pencils or a corporate team choose our gifting sets over plastic-filled merchandise, I remember the cost of that joy.
To any founder reading this, don’t fear the fall — fear not learning from it because that moment you think you’ve failed just might be the moment you finally grow.
How I Make Smart Money Moves
Design for profit and purpose. Align your pricing and business model to ensure financial sustainability and environmental/social outcomes — impact shouldn’t mean operating at a loss.
Track cash flow like you track carbon. Treat your finances with the same rigour as your sustainability metrics. Know where every dollar is going, and ensure it supports your mission.
Invest in what reflects your values. From ethical suppliers to green tech, spend where your values lie. Your money is your loudest vote.
Build a buffer, not burnout. Purpose-led founders often overextend themselves. Prioritize creating a safety net — for you and your team — to grow without panic.
Collaborate, don’t compete. Share resources, co-create with aligned brands, and reduce overheads through circular thinking. Abundance grows when we think regeneratively.
