I post student reviews of my courses. I post all, no cherry picking. This year, I only received three qualitative reviews for teaching the Senior Seminar in Leadership: Thanks for such an amazing semester – you and your class truly inspired me and gave me a new perspective on leadership and how to lead. — Just wanted to thank you for this semester and for teaching this class. I believe[…] Keep reading →

I finished the first draft of my next book, on sustainability leadership, this afternoon. I’m relieved, exhilarated, scared, worried, and many other emotions. For the first time, I skimmed through it. It’s rough. I feel like it’s too long, too short, too comprehensive, not comprehensive enough, and many other problems. Still, I know how much editing improves. I think it covers the main experiences, lessons, views, and ways forward I[…] Keep reading →

My college magazine profiled me: Joshua Spodek ’93 Found Connection by Disconnecting. The piece begins: On May 22, 2022, Joshua Spodek ’93, GSAS’99, BUS’06 disconnected the electricity in his West Village apartment. Nearly a year later, it’s still off. For Spodek, an environmentalist, executive leadership coach, motivational speaker, author, professor and podcaster, living off the grid is the latest effort in his mission to encourage personal and corporate sustainability. “You[…] Keep reading →

Rob and Andrew, hosts of America Out Loud’s radio show and podcast After Dark, hosted me. I’ve been on their podcast and they’ve been on mine. I think I can safely say we’ve become friends across political divides, exactly the sort that everyone annoyed by today’s polarization. The episode is titled Living the Simple Life Off the Grid With Josh Spodek. Here’s the audio: We spoke about Here are the[…] Keep reading →

I hear people talking about teaching children. I’ve been researching resources on teaching kids sustainability. I can’t find any that look like people who learned to live sustainably created them. I don’t hear as much about teaching adults, in this case, their teachers. Want to teach children sustainability? If their teachers don’t practice living sustainably themselves, it will be like people who don’t know piano trying to teach how to[…] Keep reading →

I went to my thirty-year college reunion over the weekend. I was surprised to find it didn’t affect me as much as reunions used to. After the big dinner, I walked south on Broadway to 96th Street. I felt like walking (the food was greasy and I had a few drinks so wanted to burn the empty calories). I used to walk those blocks every day. I felt sad at[…] Keep reading →

Look at the start of this sign I saw at Penn’s Landing after my fundraising bike ride: “African people, first enslaved by the Dutch and Swedes, . . . “. Is there some way to read that sentence that reflects history? Slavery has existed in many cultures since before Holland and Sweden existed, including Africa. Quoting Wikipedia’s Slavery in Africa page, slavery in Africa predates the existence of Holland and[…] Keep reading →