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 →

Leaders: Seek This Outcome From Your Followers This simple feedback from your followers can tell you how you’re leading. By Joshua SpodekAuthor, ‘Leadership Step by Step’ @spodek One of the great joys and tragedies of leadership is that you’ll never exactly how well you led. An engineer can take a test. A baseball player can look at his stats. But leaders have no objective measure. Is that frustrating? It gets more[…] Keep reading →

In an under two-week period this month, pursuing influential people for the podcast, I met one of the greatest golfers of all time, Gary Player, at the Gary Player Invitational golf tournament, along with a few other greats and Michael Douglas. I actually shared a golf cart with Mr. Player. I’m scheduled to record a conversation with him for the podcast. I met a Nobel Peace Prize winner and invited[…] Keep reading →

Social and cultural change generally start from outside government. Government nearly always follows. Mandela, Gandhi, King, Havel, etc all started outside government. I’d love to see government lead, but the most effective thing for anyone who wants government to act to do is to act first. That’s why I’m acting, or one of the reasons. When enough other people see the pattern, they’ll stop blaming others’ inaction and act themselves.[…] Keep reading →

There’s a phrase out there “Punch a Nazi.” Here’s a video of someone acting on it. What effect do you think it has on people who agree with the guy being punched? Or people attracted by his message? I submit that punching the guy overall advanced his cause. When I search “Punch a Nazi,” the top results ask the ethics and morality of doing it. Talk about ethics, morality, and[…] Keep reading →

Last summer, I taught a short version of my course to working professionals. I taught it through NYU, though it’s one of the courses I teach independently online and in corporations. It overlaps with my coaching for leadership clients. Here are the student reviews—as usual, all of them, no cherry-picking. Summer 2018 leadership student reviews Yes, I would definitely recommend this course to others. The combination of interactive classes, consistent[…] Keep reading →

Which is more common–an athlete becoming a business or political leader, or a political figure becoming an athlete? Many athletes and become leaders in business, politics, and so on, but the reverse never happens. The difference tells me that sports teaches skills useful and essential to leadership. I had the honor of interviewing Marquis Flowers of the New England Patriots for the Leadership and the Environment podcast. His vulnerability and raw emotion revealed what athletes learn through their struggles,[…] Keep reading →