Joan Sotkin invited me back to her podcast, Prosperity Place. We mostly spoke about environmental leadership, but it was the first public mentioning of my book coming out in a couple months. From the podcast page, the highlights: People think that acting for the environment is a sacrifice when in fact it’s fun. Regarding the environment, leadership by example doesn’t work. Josh manages to only throw out one small back[…] Keep reading →

People keep describing my unbroken sidcha practices and avoiding polluting as disciplined. Regarding avoiding packaged food and not flying, they describe it as extreme. Actually, some describe it all as extreme. Let me ask you this: which is easier, to take heroin sometimes and try to avoid getting addicted or never to take heroin at all? It seems to me easier never to take it. Then the risk of getting[…] Keep reading →

Business school humbled me from before I started my first classes there. I came in thinking, “I have a PhD in physics, so all the math will be easy, and I ran a company, so I know all the business. I’ll have fun for a couple years and earn a degree that will be my passport to success.” On the contrary, I found finance and accounting not about math, but[…] Keep reading →

This Friday, join my free webinar, hosted by Columbia College’s alumni, open to the public. Register here or click the screen shot below We’ll cover how to create meaningful connections with anyone in minutes, even if you’re shy or consider yourself an introvert. Everyone loves the exercise, as far as I know. You’ll see it in practice and you’ll be able to use it in your life with anyone immediately.[…] Keep reading →

The latest crazy talk people have hit me with is describing not flying and avoiding garbage as “unsustainable” and “impossible.” Many say I’m wasting my time. As best I can tell, they’re excusing themselves for living against their values, but it’s let me to see my behavior in new ways. Call me crazy, but I believe polluting less is the future, no matter how impossible it seems for people who[…] Keep reading →

I saw some Japanese people on an Amtrak train. I wondered what it must feel like to ride decrepit trains running slowly, stopping often, late by hours, and creaking when they’re used to fast trains, where 1 minute late is significant. I got to thinking how to modernize Amtrak if we wanted. A technological change won’t do it. You can’t just bring their fast trains over and run them at[…] Keep reading →

People keep praising my polluting less by avoiding packaging and avoiding flying, but few change themselves. Would-be leaders talk about how others should change their behavior while they don’t change themselves. Here’s an article by the CEO of Coca-Cola, Why a World Without Waste is Possible, describing some change other people did but not change he did. Maybe he’s reduced his personal pollution, but I don’t see it. I suspect[…] Keep reading →

Have you noticed how many of today’s most successful people chose to leave our educational system–Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, Erin Brockovich, Elon Musk, Sean Combs, Lauren Hill, Michael Dell, Whoopi Goldberg, Larry Page, and Sergei Brin, to name a few. Ever wonder why people who chose to leave mainstream education became so successful? Why did breaking the once-standard advice “stay in school” not work[…] Keep reading →

I’ve spoken to a lot of people about environmental action and inaction. While I haven’t done double-blind randomized controlled experiments, I have seen one broad trend: People who act on their environmental values do so for others. People who don’t act on their environmental values do so for themselves. Action Typical reasons people give for acting include: “I want to leave the world better than I found it,” “Other people[…] Keep reading →