Real-Leaders.com I N S P I R E T H E F U T U R E 4 WAYS TO TURN YOUR PANDEMI C SETBACK I NTO A COMEBACK WINTER 2021 DISPLAY UNTIL DECEMBER 31 INNOVATIVE IMPACT INVESTORS THE IMPACT ASSETS 50 50 HOW TO ELEVATE YOUR VOICE $50 TRILLION CLIMATE INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY WILL YOU BE A PART OF IT? LIFE-CHANGING IDEAS FROM YOUNG HEROES PREDICTIONS FROM THE PROPHET OF PROFITS “I believe we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance.” LARRY FINK CEO, BLACKROCK
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CONTENTS CEO SUCCESS 62 / My Journey From Cobbler to CEO of a Global Electric Vehicle Charging Company Pasquale Romano went from fixing shoes to running a listed, multi-million dollar company. A quick calculation convinced him he was onto something big. BUSINESS & INNOVATION 60 / 3 Amazing Business Solutions for a Brighter Future These companies have taken old ideas and turned them into something new. Could you think like this, too? MONEY 74 / Smart Money Sees the Post-pandemic World as a Chance to Rethink Our Values This type of outrageously bold thinking is needed to reshape our post-COVID society. 4 REAL-LEADERS.COM / WINTER 2021 PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT 34 / 4 Ways to Turn Setbacks Into Incredible Comebacks If you want to have a comeback, you’ve got to be willing to change. Here’s how. SPECIAL FEATURE 45 / 50 Innovative Impact Investors A celebration of investors around the worldwho are unleashing the power of capital for social good.
8 / Ever Wonder Why? Do you ever wonder howmuch money is enough? 22 / How to Run Your Business Like a Tomcat Fighter Pilot How to overcome stress and achieve your goals. 24 / Becoming a Billionaire Without a Business Plan Some of the most successful companies have learned that adaption is more important than prediction. INSPIRE THE FUTURE DEPARTMENTS COLUMNS 65 / Storytelling How ordinary people can become extraordinary speakers. 36 / Meet the Real Leaders Three impact leaders explain where the new opportunities lie. 10 / REPORT BACK 12 / ADVISORY BOARD SPOTLIGHT 16 / CHANGEMAKERS 14 / VOICES 82 / MENTAL HEALTH 90 / IMAGINE 84 / DESTINATIONS 88 / COMMON GROUND Page 68: The ultra runner bringing attention to the global water crisis. 86 / GIFTS FOR GOOD 70 / BIG PICTURE 66 / PODCAST PEOPLE 29 / WATCH LIST On the Cover On page 30, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, explains how to move from ambition to action with investing. Photograph: Axel Dupeux/ Redux. 80 / Investing Investment lessons I learned frommy 4-year-old son. 76 / Climate Action Four business opportunities to help fight the climate crisis. 75 / Innovation & Technology How can Artificial Intelligence help fight climate change? 79 / Social Impact 82-year-old engineer extracts drinking water from thin air.
Founder Mark Van Ness Founding Editor Grant Schreiber CEO Julie Van Ness General Manager Heather Mann Director of Digital Operations Kevin Edwards Copy Editor Carla Kalogeridis Digital Media Coordinator Noah Willerford Director of Strategic Alliances Leah MacKenzie Video Producer Tucker Hamilton Content Engagement Coordinator Madelyn Dwyer Head Office St. Thomas, U.S.V.I Contact us Advertise@real-leaders.com Editorial@real-leaders.com www.real-leaders.com Real Leaders is the registered trademark of Real Leaders Inc., a registered B Corporation. © Real Leaders® All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the prior permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed in Real Leaders are not necessarily those of the publisher. The individuals, companies, products and services featured in this publication are in no way endorsed by Real Leaders. ISSN 2222-3479 WINTER 2021 JOIN THE CHALLENGE ONETREEPLANTED.ORG/MILLION 800-408-7850 WE SUPPORT
8 REAL-LEADERS.COM / WINTER 2021 Do you ever wonder why somany people idolize money? Other publications gush with rankings and stories of the richest people in the world as if the mere hoarding of assets is admirable. We live in an era in the United States when 50 billionaires have stashed away as much wealth as 165 million of their fellow citizens (according to Bloomberg Wealth). Many, but not all, of those billionaires are intent on accumulating more. You have to ask yourself: Howmuch is enough? (Jack Sim has the answer on page 39.) If you are one of the least rich billionaires with only $1 billion to your name, and you are lucky enough to live another 50 years, howmuch would you have available to live on each year? Just to make the math simple, let’s say you are an eccentric billionaire who likes to sleep with your money, and you keep it in your bedroom, so you don’t collect any interest on it for the rest of your life. You would still have $20 million every year to spend. If you’re one of the top 10 billionaires, you get to spend 2 billion a year! This reminds me of the 1985 film Brewster’s Millions, starring Richard Prior. He has to spend $30 million in 30 days to qualify to inherit a $300,000,000 fortune (that’s back before the days of billionaires when $300 million was considered a lot of money). Spoiler Alert: It’s really hard to spend that kind of money without being laughed at. Maybe we should stop idolizing billionaires, but neither should we vilify them. Instead, why not show the same concern that we do for anyone afflicted with a hoarding disorder? Let’s encourage them to get help. There are an estimated 2,755 billionaires in the world today. Yet, only 223 have taken the billionaire Giving Pledge to give back at least half during their lifetime or upon their death for the common good. Do 92% of them intend to take their money with them or pass their money-hoarding affliction on to their children and grandchildren? How sad would that be? Real leaders choose to invest their talent and money to benefit humanity. That does not require them to sacrifice and live like monks. Rather, there is a growing movement of purpose-driven capitalists demonstrating that they can do well by doing good. In this special edition, we recognize 50 Real Leaders of Impact Investing. These are leaders of impact funds that are 100% dedicated to investing in business solutions to serious social and environmental issues. Ten years ago, it wasn’t easy to find 50 impact funds. Today there are hundreds, and when we see traditional fund managers like Larry Fink at BlackRock present climate solutions as “an investment opportunity of at least $50 trillion,” you know the world is changing fast. Buckle up! Money does not literally make the world go around, but it certainly holds the power to turn it around! Let’s all put our money where our mouth is and invest in a future we can be proud of. And don’t be surprised if you make a good financial return in the process. MarkVanNess, Founder Mark@Real-Leaders.com EVER WONDER WHY? How Much Money Is Enough? “Two years ago, I anticipated a tectonic shift in capital. That shift is nowunderway, and it’s actually happening at a pace faster than I ever imagined.” —Larry Fink, CEO, BlackRock, theworld’s largest fundmanager (His full speech at the G20 Summit on page 30)
10 REAL-LEADERS.COM / WINTER 2021 REPORT BACK FOR OUR FREE WEEKLY WoW! WORDS OF WISDOM EMAIL SIGN UP HERE: WWW.REAL-LEADERS.COM/SUBSCRIBE Dr. Jane Goodall Awarded the Inaugural Real Leaders Lifetime Leadership Award At our monthly Meet the Real Leaders event in July, our guest speaker, Dr. Jane Goodall, was honored with a Real Leaders Lifetime Leadership Award. Now 87-years-old, Dr. Goodall has devoted her life to the study and preservation of the natural world since age 17. “Be passionate about what you do,” she told us, and we couldn’t agree more. The real leaders we speak to every day all have one thing in common — they seek purpose in a higher cause, and in so doing, build companies, organizations and causes that move the world in the right direction. We could think of no one better than Dr. Goodall to honor with our first Lifetime Leadership Award. Did you know we’re on Apple Podcasts? Open the app and search for “Real Leaders Podcast” Are You Being Wowed Every Friday? If you haven’t already signed up to receive our FREE weekly WoW! Words of Wisdom email, you should. These Friday morning emails are the perfect way to inspire your weekend and plan your Monday victories! To receive your free, weekly dose of inspiration, sign up here: Real-Leaders.com/Subscribe New Advisory Board We celebrate diversity of thought at Real Leaders, and couldn’t be prouder to announce our new Advisory Board for 2021-22. You can expect to see and hear from the following impact leaders in the near future: Kwame Taylor-Hayford, cofounder of Kin; Linda Fisk, CEO of LeadHERship Global; John Denniston, chairman of GSV Shared-X; Claudia Chan, founder of S.H.E. Summit; Jim Massey, former VP ESG sustainability, ethics, compliance at AstraZeneca; Parneet Pal, MBBS, chief science officer at Wisdom Labs; Peter Cherukuri, cofounder at Data Protocol; Joanna Hall, executive director of the U.S. Coalition on Sustainability. Keynote Speakers Keep Hope Alive During the Pandemic One of the most popular stories at Real-Leaders.com this past year has been on keynote speakers. It comes as no surprise when you consider that we’ve all needed some words of encouragement to see us through lockdown and a disrupted business world. Tens of thousands of readers turned to Real Leaders to find inspiration and encouragement, and to look and think about a specific topic in a way they may never have done before. The transition to remote work and digital meetings now demands that we all have a voice, whether we like it or not. Motivational speaking and the way you present yourself has become a critical business skill. Join us each month at Meet the Real Leaders, where you can add your voice to lively discussions with like-minded impact CEOs. Real-Leaders.com/Meet @RealLeadersMagazine @Real_Leaders @Real_Leaders @Real-Leaders @RealLeadersMagazine JANE GOODALL INST I TUTE
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12 REAL-LEADERS.COM / WINTER 2021 ADVISORY BOARD SPOTLIGHT Real leaders, in my view, are those that create not just “high” impact but “wise” impact. Wise impact refers to the ability of leaders to do two things. First, they must navigate uncertain business environments without burning themselves out, i.e., stay resilient, agile, and well. Second, they must build businesses that go beyond just “sustainability” towards “net-positive” outcomes for the economy and planet. This is a daunting proposition. However, if we are to solve the interconnected crises of climate, inequality, and health we face today, we don’t have a choice. My work is focused on this intersection of leadership, health, and impact. I bring a well-being lens so that leaders learn how to harness the body’s renewable sources of energy that enable them to make the best decisions – for their own health, and the health of their business and the planet. Two key influences informmy perspective: the evolution of the global healthcare story and making the connections between personal and planetary health. Globally, the leading cause of sickness and death comes from lifestyle-related chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, mood disorders, etc. The good news is that most of these outcomes are preventable when we pay attention to four key aspects of our daily lifestyle: what we eat, howmuch we move, how we sleep, and how we manage our stress. However, our healthcare systems are primarily designed to treat individuals after they fall sick. As a Harvard- and Columbiatrained physician, I realized that the wisest impact I could have would be to move away from clinical practice, focus on prevention and behavior change, and help individuals stay well. I did this by designing and scaling well-being programs for executive health, and now in the workplace. The second influence came from noticing that behavior change depends less on the individual and mainly on the systems they are surrounded with. Our workplaces, communities, and businesses are currently set up for us to fail – just look around and notice that your health and well-being are rarely incentivized or supported no matter where you are throughout the day. Watching the global climate story evolve in parallel, I noted that when it came to sustainability, we’ve been ignoring the planet’s health Healthy Leaders Build a Healthy Planet By Parneet Pal, MBBS “WISE LEADERSHIP IS UNDERSTANDING THAT BURNING YOURSELF OUT WILL ULTIMATELY BURN THE PLANET OUT.” — PARNEET PAL in a similar fashion – our extractive business systems are designed for continuous planetary degradation. Our personal and planetary health is in a shambles. We are burning ourselves out and burning the planet along the way. Many years ago, I stumbled on the book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by WilliamMcDonough and Michael Braungart, and it blewmy mind. They had a vision for true renewal and regeneration within both technical and biological ecosystems. They talked about a world where waste equaled food, where nothing went from the cradle to the grave, where we took a page from nature to create a world of abundance and well-being. This inspired me to think about human health from this lens of renewal – how our bodies are not siloed entities in space but part of nature’s ecosystem. When we respect this connection and eat, live, sleep and work in concert with planetary circadian rhythms and food systems, we move more and more towards “net-positive” energy production in our cells. We begin to appreciate that what is good for us is also good for the planet. It’s impossible to be well on a sick planet. We can then show up in each moment for the many crises we face with greater focus, creativity, and compassion. This wise impact is also reflected in how we run our businesses and societies, creating a “net-positive” well-being economy. n ParneetPal.com Parneet Pal, MBBS, is a Harvard- and Columbiatrained physician working at the intersection of lifestyle medicine, technology and behavior change.
14 REAL-LEADERS.COM / WINTER 2021 VOICES HAVE AN OPINION YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE? EMAIL US AT INFO@REAL-LEADERS.COM I was part of a group of CEO’s and business leaders from around the world that joined Real Leaders and Jane Goodall at Meet the Real Leaders. We learned how we could use our businesses to have a positive impact on the environment and the people we work with. Jane shared these words of wisdom, “Do whatever you can to make the world a better place. We must think about what we can do to make a positive impact in your community.” Talk about a mindset shift. Lead ethically and change the world for the better!” FRANK KITCHEN Arizona Thank you to Real Leaders for organizing an inspiring and energizing fireside chat with Jane Goodall and some great breakout discussions! It will take a lot of collaboration and effort to address the systemic problems our world faces, but forums like these help to instill hope that the opportunity to create a thriving and sustainable world is still within our reach.” JASON BURNHAM New York Be the first to receive Real Leaders each quarter. Subscribe at: Real-Leaders.com/Subscribe I was delighted to come across Real Leaders magazine at an airport recently. Your stories are pure inspiration for budding social entrepreneurs, who seek others just like them. I had no idea that there were already so many amazing solutions out there.” WENDY PRICE Lincoln The pandemic has changed my perception of leadership forever. Many ‘heroes’ we idolized just two years ago have shown they are not up to the new challenges we see in the world today. Humble leaders that demonstrate that the buck stops with them, take responsibility when things don’t work out, and tackle uncharted territories have become my new benchmark of what a real leader looks like — all captured perfectly at Real Leaders.” VICKI DODD Phoenix I had the privilege of being in the same Zoom room as Jane Goodall. I have been a fan of her work for a long time and her passion for the environment is contagious. Thank you Real Leaders for making it happen. We all can make a difference, one step at a time. First step is learning, there is a lot of noise around. Be curious, ask questions and find out how you can make a difference.” RICHA GUPTA Toronto My Real Leaders group at the Impact Collaborative is an essential part of my monthly schedule. Being a CEO is a unique and often lonely role and being a social business CEO is even more unique. Without Real Leaders I could never have found such a diverse and like-minded group of impact CEOs to share my challenges.” BLAIR KELLISON Sebastopol Whether you’re a CEO of a company with 500 employees or 5, the Real Leaders Impact collaborative has been incredibly valuable in developing my executive leadership skills, expanding my thinking and helping me problem-solve with leaders who’ve experienced similar challenges.” MEESHA BROWN New York JOIN THE REAL LEADERS IMPACT COLLABORATIVE Real-Leaders.com /Impact-Collaborative RYLEY EDWARDS I’m sorry sir, I’m afraid we’re not that kind of gated community.
16 REAL-LEADERS.COM / WINTER 2021 KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS INSPIRING THE FUTURE AS A CHANGEMAKER? EMAIL US AT EDITORIAL@REAL-LEADERS.COM “I AM PASSING THE BATON TO YOU,” said Jean-Michel Cousteau, as he handed 12-year-old Slater the delicate skeleton of a sea urchin. Slater had been invited to visit the island where the famous marine biologist and documentary filmmaker had started a children’s camp for youth to learn about ocean sustainability. It all started the year before when Slater wrote an essay for the MY HERO project. The assignment was to write about someone who inspired her. Not only did the famous oceanographic explorer answer her questions, he also invited Slater to visit the camp. “That was the first time I felt like someone who was very important took me seriously and wanted to listen to what I had to say,” she says. “He was a big influence on me.” When she met him in person, she recorded a video interview with him. With a writer for 4 Life-Changing Ideas fromYoung Heroes Young people have been at the forefront of social change across the globe and throughout history, especially today in the climate justice movement. It takes courage to face the prospect of a long future with eyes wide open — given projections for how much change the planet will see in a young person’s lifetime. Here are four inspiring young people who are acting to reconcile humanity with nature and creating new business opportunities along the way. “TO BE TRULY RADICAL IS TO MAKE HOPE POSSIBLE, RATHER THAN DESPAIR CONVINCING.” — RAYMOND WILLIAMS, WRITER AND ACADEMIC By Marianne Larned CHANGEMAKERS a father and a mother who was a film producer, Slater had always been in love with telling stories. She made her first film when she was only 6 years old. Slater also loved watching movies. When she was 14 years old, she sat in her parents’ living room and watched An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary made by Davis Guggenheim about global warming. It was eye-opening for her. “I remember about halfway into the film, I started crying and I didn’t really stop for several hours,” she says. “It scared the hell out of me. It wasn’t something that I understood or knew how to fix, and the people who could fix it were not doing anything.” Slater felt betrayed. All her life, she had been told that she had opportunities in life, things that she could do and dreams she could realize. Suddenly, she started to question this. “None of it felt like it was real anymore because there was this big thing called climate change rising up in the middle of my life that made everything uncertain and unstable,” Slater says. “And I wanted to do something. I wanted to Youth Unstoppable Slater Jewell-Kemker / Canada SCYTHIA F I LMS
WINTER 2021 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 17 Rise and Grind Fergus Moore / Scotland be the person who had tried to do everything they could.” In May 2008, when she was 15, Slater went to the Youth Environmental G8 Summit in Japan. For the first time, she got to meet young people from all over the world whose lives were being impacted by climate change — and they had all had enough. Slater brought her camera to the summit. There she made lifelong friends, and she started what would become a 12year documentary film project. She decided she would tell the story of the environmental youth movement from within. The result was a documentary titled Youth Unstoppable. After the summit in Japan, Slater traveled to several other climate conferences, in Copenhagen, Cancun, Paris, Poland, and Madrid, and she always brought her camera. At the conferences, she would simply walk up to people and ask them questions. “At the beginning, I would have to say that a lot of it was adrenaline fueled by terror,” she says, laughing. But soon she realized that she was in a position of power: She had the ability to share these people’s stories, and they needed their stories to be heard. One thing that kept Slater going is the friendships she made along the way with other young climate activists. “It was a lot of fun,” she says. “You’re going up against something, and you feel like what you’re doing is right. You feel this sense of camaraderie, being part of this community that has a purpose.” Besides, giving up the fight against climate change had never been an option for Slater. “We all share this feeling that this is the most important thing we’ve ever come across,” she says. “It’s a mixture of perseverance and stubbornness, but it’s also the feeling that I am doing something that might actually matter. That it might affect other people and create positive change.” In the end, Slater worked on Youth Unstoppable for 12 years. She shot over 500 hours of footage and spent 19 months editing. It was finally released in 2018 and has played in over 100 film festivals worldwide and garnered 13 awards to date. “I’ve had young people come up to me and say that for the first time, they felt like they were actually spoken to as human beings and not just spoken down to,” she says. “And I’ve had older people come up to me and say that they had lost all hope. And that they feel reinspired that our generation actually cares and is doing something.” YouthUnstoppable.com “I’VE HAD OLDER PEOPLE COME UP TO ME AND SAY THEY FEEL REINSPIRED BECAUSE OUR GENERATION ACTUALLY CARES AND IS DOING SOMETHING.” — SLATER JEWELL-KEMKER FERGUS MOORE HAD LONG DREAMED OF BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR. His grandfather, a successful small business owner and venture capitalist, had instilled in him a desire to build something out of nothing. He saw from an early age that being a businessperson has its perks, like the ability to set your own hours and priorities. But it also gave him the ability to create things and see them take shape. He always knew he wanted to make something that would have an impact — whether that be on environmental, social, or economic issues. He didn’t know it at the time, but his neighbor Scott Kennedy shared the same dream. When the two young men were placed on the same team for a class entrepreneurship project, it turned out to be a fortunate pairing. RISE AND GRIND
18 REAL-LEADERS.COM / WINTER 2021 CHANGEMAKERS In addition to their passion for entrepreneurship, the two shared a few other things. Both young men were working in coffee shops to pay for school. After making thousands of coffees — and throwing out filter after filter of spent grounds at the end of their shifts — they both started to realize something: Coffee grounds, like cups and straws, represented a major source of waste that the industry hadn’t really taken into consideration. Each year, in the tiny country of Scotland alone, between 40,000 and 50,000 tons of coffee grounds are thrown away. Across the UK, it’s half a million. Worldwide, that number is exponentially higher. Most of the coffee grounds in the world end up in massive, smelly landfills where they emit methane — a major greenhouse gas contributing to nearly half of global warming. By 2050, as many as 3.4 billion tons of food waste will enter the global waste stream, and coffee grounds are a small but important part of this. Fergus and Scott knew it didn’t have to be that way. “We were seeing firsthand the amount of food waste going out in the trash at the end of every single shift, and it was something that didn’t feel right to us,” Fergus says. “It felt like there was definitely more value there. It seemed to be something that people could use.” And so, at the age of 23, they teamed up to try to develop a solution to all that coffee-ground waste. Overwhelmed with the scale of the issue, they began with some online research. They discovered many ways that used coffee grounds could be recycled: as fertilizer or compost, as a natural face scrub, even as insect repellent. What started as a class project has now turned into a full-scale company called Revive Eco. After three years of work in the lab, Fergus and Scott are testing out their creation. They weren’t the only people who believed in the project. A quarter-million-euro grant from Zero Waste Scotland helped them develop the technology and test it in a lab before taking it to the real world — and they’re still just 26. Despite being a small startup, they’re already speaking with some of the biggest players in the coffee industry. What if these companies got on board? What could they accomplish then? In February 2020, they completed the prototype of an invention they had been testing — an industrial-sized machine that converts coffee grounds into environmentally friendly products. Just as two young entrepreneurs in Scotland can play a role in tackling food waste, so too must an entire generation. And they won’t just need help from the titans of the coffee industry, but also from other changemakers, and — perhaps most importantly — from consumers. “Our generation seems to be far more interested in sustainability and leading a more impactful life, rather than simply making as much money as possible,” Fergus says. “I think change does have to come from a shift in mindset, and I would hope that our generation can be the one that can push people toward that direction.” Revive-Eco.com “WHAT HUMANS DO OVER THE NEXT 50 YEARS WILL DETERMINE THE FATE OF ALL LIFE ON THE PLANET.” — DAVID ATTENBOROUGH, ENVIRONMENTALIST Disinvestment For a Sustainable Future Alyssa Lee / USA AS A FRESHMAN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-LOS ANGELES, ALYSSA LEE HAD AN EYE-OPENING EXPERIENCE. “What really woke me up was a speech by Van Jones on plastic pollution as a social justice issue. It was the first time I had ever heard the term environmental justice. It was the first time I had heard of environmental issues related to issues of class and race.” RISE AND GRIND
WINTER 2021 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 19 CHANGEMAKERS “FIRE MADE US HUMAN, FOSSIL FUELS MADE US MODERN, BUT NOW WE NEED A NEW FIRE THAT MAKES US SAFE, SECURE, HEALTHY, AND DURABLE.” — AMORY LOVINS, CHIEF SCIENTIST, ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE Alyssa was eager to discover where plastic pollution came from, how it’s disposed of, and where it’s shipped and processed. What she learned was devastating. “It’s all about the hidden costs, the ‘sacrifice zones’ of living the way we live, and who has to bear the brunt of that.” Alyssa began changing her habits. She started small by using less plastic, and one thing led to another. She and a few students started a food cooperative that focused on environmentally friendly products, as well as issues of labor justice. The more she understood American society’s dominant institutions, the bigger the issues she began to focus on. “And what bigger issue does the environmental community face than fossil fuels?” she points out. Digging into the research, Alyssa was shocked to discover that many universities across the country were investing in and profiting from the very fossil fuel companies that were causing environmental catastrophes. She just couldn’t stand to see the negative impact of an influential institution such as hers on the next generation of young leaders. In 2013, she started the Fossil Free UCLA Divestment Campaign, and by 2020, it was announced that the investment portfolio for the entire University of California system — not just UCLA — was fossil free. In 2015, Alyssa expanded the divestment movement by joining forces with the Better Future Project, where she started working as a divestment organizer. There she provided coaching and mentorships to hundreds of students in New England who were working to get their colleges to divest. But by 2018, the Better Future Project was at a crossroads: organizations like 350.org and the Divestment Student Network were no longer actively working on fossil fuel divestment. The Better Future Project was fighting the fight alone. So they decided to form Divest Ed to fill this crucial gap, and Alyssa moved into a new role as its director. “We have an enormous opportunity as students to really shape our institutions to make a very powerful political statement about not just climate change, but specifically the fossil fuels industry,” she says. “And divestment is one of the most powerful statements they can make.” The divestiture movement spread worldwide, and as of 2020, it was comprised of hundreds of institutions. About 1,200 of these institutions had $14 trillion divested from the fossil fuel industry, including 60 colleges and universities; religious institutions like the Catholic Church in Greece; municipalities like the City of Denver; state pension funds in New York City; foundations such as the Rockefeller Foundation; and entire countries, like Norway, that have taken a stand for the environment and against fossil fuels by divesting. “How we decide to live is a lifelong process,” Alyssa says. “It’s a constant, iterative, dynamic experience. It’s never too early or too late to decide you want to fight for justice. At the center of this decision is the choice to make a connection against all odds. Connecting to those whose circumstances are completely different from yours, connecting to the earth’s history and to its wisdoms and pains, and connecting to yourself. Making these connections is hard, emotional work. It requires rigor, self-interrogation, and living with constant uncertainty. But if you accept all this, fighting for justice, at its core, is about the capacity to build radical joy for yourself and for others.” Alyssa has a message of resilience especially for youth who want to get involved in remedying social justice, sustainability, and other environmental issues. “Being a good person and fighting against injustice is a constant battle. It’s not always easy. But when you make a difference, it is all worth it. I wish I had learned earlier how to be okay with being uncomfortable and being uncertain, because some of the greatest personal gains I’ve made are when I’ve come out the other side of a difficult situation.” Divested.BetterFutureProject.org GETTY IMAGES
20 REAL-LEADERS.COM / WINTER 2021 Eyewear With a Conscience François van den Abeele / Spain CHANGEMAKERS FRANÇOIS VAN DEN ABEELE’S IDEA FOR CLEANING UP PLASTIC IN THE OCEANS EMERGED OVER TIME. As a journalist, he’d covered social and environmental issues in over 130 countries in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions, like Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. From what he’d seen, the crisis of plastic pollution in the waterways was devastating impoverished communities, and the scale of the neglect was monumental. Francois was troubled and often thought about this problem — and about what could be done. “You don’t just get out of bed one day and say, ‘I want to manufacture eyeglasses out of plastic waste,’” he says. “I started to wear glasses later in life, so by then, they were more on my mind.” One day he thought, “Hey, glasses are something people all over the world wear. Frames are made of plastic. Then the gears began turning.” While Francois had no experience in fashion, he was a quick study. He discovered that fashion is a $100 billion a year industry, and that it is among the most environmentally damaging, ranking only behind oil and gas in terms of its negative impact. His vision was ambitious, but it was not unrealistic. He’d worked with impact businesses before. “I soon realized that this was a way to create a sustainable product that was profitable and could help clean up the oceans.” In 2016, he put together a team, gathered up 20 kilos of recycled plastic, brought it to a processor in Italy, and made Sea2See’s first run of products — 20 sunglasses. “It was a big idea and there were a lot of skeptics. Even my wife thought it was a crazy idea, using marine waste for frames. But there they were.” The product was a hit almost immediately. To keep up with growing demand, Francois began working with fishermen in Spain to gather plastic. He then expanded his operation to France. Now he works with African fishing communities in Ghana, Senegal, and Togo, and he is hoping to expand to other African countries as well. Together they clean up polluted waterways while providing a much-needed revenue stream for these once-marginalized fishermen. “When I first went there, they thought I was crazy,” he says. “They wondered why this guy was going to pay them for collecting waste.” To his critics, François responded, “Waste has value. And cleaning it up has a value too— it benefits everyone.” Over time, François has leveraged the power of this new community of fishermen to address other regional problems. With the excess plastic that remains after the frame-making process, he launched a line of watches that supports the nonprofit organization Free the Slaves, to stop child exploitation in places like Lake Volta in Ghana where children are forced to work. “The sale of one watch finances two weeks of education for each kid that is saved. Our campaign is called Time for Time, because we all have time; and I believe we should give meaning to our time by giving back to the most vulnerable among us.” And not all the waste collected by Sea2See goes into glasses or watches; they are also building a recycling plant to provide recycled plastic to various industries. François believes that the future of all business is sustainable business, and this is where the youth can really lead the charge. “If you want to start any type of business, it should have an impact beyond whatever product or service you are offering. There are so many things you can do. I know it’s tricky. It takes time. But if you have the resolve, you can do it. Try to have an impact. That’s what I’ve tried to do. And if I can inspire people to try and have an impact in the same way, I’ve done my job. So, do it! Get involved. Sweat. Work. Bring your ideas to reality.” n Sea2See.org “IN ORDER TO ATTAIN THE IMPOSSIBLE, ONE MUST ATTEMPT THE ABSURD.” — MIGUEL DE CERVANTES, AUTHOR Marianne Larned is the founder of The Stone Soup Leadership Institute, a non-profit organization that invests and trains young people around the world to become leaders in their communities. These stories are from her latest book, Stone Soup for a Sustainable World: Life-Changing Stories of Young Heroes. StoneSoupLeadership.org SEA2SEE
28 JUL. PAST EVENT Your Opportunity to Collaborate For Impact With Fellow Purpose-Driven CEOs PAST SPEAKERS Connect with like-minded CEOs at our Free monthly networking events called Meet The Real Leaders. The events give impact CEOs an opportunity to meet, collaborate, and learn from each other for greater success. DR. JANE GOODALL Environmentalist JACK SIM Founder, UN World Toilet Day, social entrepreneur RAJA RAJAMANNAR Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Mastercard SUZY AMIS CAMERON Founder, One Meal a Day ATTEND FOR FREE Real-Leaders.com/Meet
22 REAL-LEADERS.COM / WINTER 2021 LEADERSHIP T ime spent in the cockpit of an F-14 is a grueling experience — the pressure mounts as you prepare to land on what feels like a bobbing 300-footlong postage stamp — in the disorienting darkness. The weight of your mission, the awareness of what’s at stake, and countless external factors compound by the millisecond. No matter how many times you’ve nailed it before, landing on an aircraft carrier can be life-or-death dangerous. The recent pandemic and economic fallout further compound the pressure and uncertainty you face as a business owner. You want to ensure everyone in your organization is supported, whether they are battling physical, emotional, or financial burdens. Repetitive practice and relentless preparation are requirements to navigate peak stress and overwhelm, whether operating a supersonic, twin-engine fighter jet or leading your team. Identifying where to fix your focus, formulating a flight plan, and communicating with your team increase your chances of success. AS ONE OF THE FIRST FEMALE F-14 TOMCAT FIGHTER PILOTS IN THE U.S. NAVY, CAREY LOHRENZ HAS LEARNED THAT UNDERSTANDING WHAT IS — AND ISN’T — WITHIN YOUR SPAN OF CONTROL CAN HELP KEEP STRESS AND ANXIETY AT BAY AS YOU OVERCOME OBSTACLES AND ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS. By Carey Lohrenz HOW TO RUN YOUR BUSINESS LIKE A TOMCAT FIGHTER PILOT Carey Lohrenz (right) is a leadership speaker, business consultant, military aviation pioneer, and author of Span of Control: What to do When You’re Under Pressure, Overwhelmed and Ready to Get What You Really Want. CareyLohrenz.com
WINTER 2021 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 23 LEADERSHIP “STUDY YOUR SPAN OF CONTROL.” Span of control in the corporate world indicates the number of direct reports you can effectively manage. In the Navy, the concept carries a different interpretation. Effectively managing your span of control — knowing what you can, and should, control at any given time — keeps you alive and helps you accomplish your mission. “FORMULATE YOUR FLIGHT PLAN.” Without a solid flight plan, your chances of reaching your destination on time are minuscule. Working in a leadership capacity in your organization means your flight plan involves others; your chances of victory increase with a spirit of collaboration and accountability. Beware of the “drift factor” — in aviation, it can take an aircraft off course; in your day-to-day life, you may find yourself drifting due to a lack of awareness, pressure and overload, distractions, and ego. Building checkpoints and markers of success into your flight plan will keep the team on track and energized. To keep everyone aligned and moving forward — especially in times of crisis and uncertainty — I recommend adopting a three-phase approach: Prepare. Perform. Prevail. ● Prepare. Bring teammembers together for a period of planning. Establish the mission objective, analyze threats and obstacles, review resources, and walk through the steps needed to reach your goal. Don’t overlook asking, “Has anyone ever done this before?” Schedule the debrief before acting on your plan, or it will fall under the radar. ● Perform. Fighter pilotsmust act without hesitation, take control, and push the envelope or they will come up short. Performing means following the plan in the face of fear. The confidence needed to execute is rooted in thorough preparation. Set your sights on seeing the upside; let your growth mindset be your superpower. Your solution-based thinking will serve the team well as you face contingencies (expected and otherwise). ● Prevail.The debrief is vital to improving future performance. Foster an environment that encourages open discussion around wins and misses as you highlight lessons learned. The goal is always to improve. “FIX YOUR FOCUS.” To help students master the prioritization of tasks amid chaos, the Naval Academy introduces the concept of “the Bucket.” The Bucket represents the finite capacity pilots have for “input and subsequent action in the low-altitude environment.” Students learn that the most important tasks must go into the Bucket first. Removing distractions and identifying your top priorities applies in business as well. I have found that namingmy top three priorities for the day is a simple tool with immediate benefits. I write down what my most important work looks like each day — just three things. Failing to do so inevitably results in precious time wasted, teetering between task switching and task overload instead of engaging in focused work. Research shows us that we pay a significant price when attempting to multitask — losing up to 40% of our productive time. “COMMUNICATE TO FLY IN FORMATION.” The Blue Angels’ classic V-formation showcases their undeniable technique and talent. In the workplace, the uplift created by operating in alignment — with shared goals and values — helps everyone soar faster toward the goal. Your one key vision should be accessible at all times; strive for something that is simple, memorable, and repeatable. Staying in sync calls for consistent communication and being honest with one another about what’s working and what isn’t. Communicate in a manner that is concise, precise, clear, and consistent. In highstress situations, be aware that one’s ability to process information is compromised by as much as 80%. Especially in high-pressure scenarios, keep the following in mind: ● Speak clearly and slowly. ● Anticipate, prepare, and practice. ● Establish trust by establishing that you care. ● Repeat themost important points. ● Balance each negative with three to four positives. ● The first and last things you say aremost likely to be remembered. ● Speak in short sentences and use simple words. ● Clarity around your destinationmakes for amore effective and efficient flight. n
24 REAL-LEADERS.COM / WINTER 2021 LEADERSHIP Meet the Real Leaders. Connect with like-minded CEOs at our FREE monthly networking events. Sign up here: Real-Leaders.com/Meet M ost startups need a business plan because they depend on venture capital funds or banks for financing Understandably, pitching a business idea to potential investors typically requires a business plan. But how decisive are business plans in determining the success of an entrepreneur? It’s a good question, and one that by no means only applies to startups. “Sometimes You’ll Have To ‘Zig’ When The Blueprint Says ‘Zag.’” In his autobiography, Michael Bloomberg, No. 9 on the Forbes list of the richest people in the world with assets of $55 billion, details the earliest days of his company. One of his key insights is that rigid planning can do more harm than good: “You’ll inevitably face problems different from the ones you anticipated. Sometimes you’ll have to ‘zig’ when the blueprint says ‘zag.’ You don’t want a detailed, inflexible plan getting in the way when you have to respond instantly.” While his competitors were still busy trying to come up with the perfect final design, he was already working on the fifth version of his prototype. “It gets back to planning versus acting. We act from day one; others plan how to plan — for months.” Bloomberg stressed that making forecasts about new business ideas is mostly a useless and meaningless task. “The noise in the assumptions you have to make is so great, and the knowledge you have of strange areas so limited that all the detailed analysis is usually irrelevant.” By Dr. Rainer Zitelmann BECOMING A BILLIONAIRE WITHOUT A BUSINESS PLAN GETTY IMAGES / L INTAO ZHANG
WINTER 2021 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 25 LEADERSHIP Dr. Rainer Zitelmann is a historian and sociologist, author, businessman, and real estate investor. His recent book is Dare to be Different and Grow Rich: Secrets of Self-made People Who Became Rich and Successful. “If You Plan, You Lose. If YouDon’t Plan, YouWin.” The Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma is just as skeptical as Bloomberg when it comes to rigid business plans. Worth $34.6 billion, the founder of Alibaba is now the richest man in China. When he was trying to get his business off the ground, he approached venture capitalists in Silicon Valley to raise money. The investors he met expected him to present a fully developed business plan. But, much like Bloomberg, Jack Ma did not have a business plan. His motto was: “If you plan, you lose. If you don’t plan, you win.” But from the outset, he thought big and set very ambitious goals. Shortly after he founded his company, he told a journalist: “We don’t want to be No. 1 in China. We want to be No. 1 in the world.” He was so convinced of his future success that he even had a meeting filmed in his modest apartment in February 1999 — as a document for the company’s later history. During the small meeting, he posed the following question: “In the next 5 or 10 years, what will Alibaba become?” Answering his own question, he said, “Our competitors are not in China but in Silicon Valley… We should position Alibaba as an international website.” Google’s Founders StartedWithout A Business Plan Larry Page and Sergey Brin, worth $50.8 and $49.0 billion, are ranked No. 10 and No. 14 on the Forbes list of the richest people in the world. They also have some things in common with Michael Bloomberg and Jack Ma. They didn’t have a fully fleshed-out business plan when they started, and they changed their business model again and again. The two creators of Google, both born in 1973, had a bright idea: They wanted to build the best search engine in the world. According to the book, The Google Story, “Neither of the guys had a clear idea of how the company would make money, though it seemed to them that if they had the best search engine, others would want to use it in their organizations.” Pivoting Are all of these examples just exceptions? Just how important are business plans? A 2010 scientific study compared the growth of more than 11,000 companies. The study found that planning improved business performance. However, the study also demonstrated that this applies more to established companies than startups. And the researchers stressed that for any business plan, setting goals and being willing to change the business model is more important than trying to predict business developments in detail. An important concept in terms of understanding the success of many startup companies in Silicon Valley is pivoting. This involves being prepared to radically change the original business model at a moment’s notice. The goal is not to implement an original concept and prove how good the initial plan was. The goal is to establish a strong market position. If that means abandoning the plan and giving the company a completely new and different direction, then it’s time to pivot. n “IT GETS BACK TO PLANNING VERSUS ACTING. WE ACT FROM DAY ONE; OTHERS PLAN HOW TO PLAN — FOR MONTHS.” — MICHAEL BLOOMBERG GETTY IMAGES / KIMBERLY WHI TE
26 REAL-LEADERS.COM / WINTER 2021 ETHICAL FASHION The average American puts 100 lbs of clothes per year into the trash. Clothes and shoes are by far the fastest-growing waste stream. According to the EPA, only about 15% of clothes and shoes in the United States are currently reused or recycled. To increase the diversion rate, we need investment by reverse logistics and recycling companies. These companies need to find enough value in discarded clothes and shoes to pay for the costs of collection, sorting, resale, and recycling. Keeping up with this expanding tragedy is hard work that requires scalable solutions. The growing trend of inaccurate information risks putting large-scale collectors and recyclers — those doing the heavy lifting on an escalating problem — out of business. The COVID closet cleanout trend has led to a torrent of clothing hitting thrift stores and collection bins, along with an equal flurry of terribly misguided press about clothing reuse and recycling of textiles. Well-meaning journalists and bloggers are encouraging consignment, swapping, and thrifts as the first stop for your best-quality unwanted clothes, telling people to place only their damaged items in collection bins. This has terrible environmental “THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ‘AWAY.’ WHEN WE THROW ANYTHING AWAY IT MUST GO SOMEWHERE.” — ANNIE LEONARD, CREATOR OF THE STORY OF STUFF The Clothing Donation Model Is Broken Alex Husted (above) has a solution for the antiquated one-stream, consignment, donation model for recycled clothing. consequences, for without the bestquality items, there isn’t enough value in the waste stream to pay for expanding collection efforts. The only way recycling at necessary scale will happen is through the efforts of for-profit recycling and reverse logistics companies. These companies collect used clothing through charity partnerships, clothing collection bins, home pickup, and municipal partnerships. They pay the hefty cost of collection through the value of the goods collected. The highest-value materials can be reused again as clothing. By selling reusable materials into secondhand markets, these companies subsidize the cost of properly downcycling and recycling the remaining materials. Think of it this way: We can’t recycle your ripped towels if we are not also able to resell your designer jeans. The fashion industry should produce far less and better quality items that last, and consumers should drastically curb their consumption. But while we wait for the “shoulds,” clothing recycling businesses are the only ones equipped to handle this waste — and they need your help to make it happen. The bulk of used clothing is bought by and sold in overseas markets — over 70% of the world shops secondhand clothing. If trade with these foreign markets stops, fast fashion imports will increase in these same nations as V ICTOR BI LCIK
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