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This Sustainable Life — Science & Medicine
This Sustainable Life

Do you care about the environment but feel “I want to act, but if no one else does, it won’t make a difference,” and “But if you don’t solve everything, it isn’t worth doing anything”?

We are the antidote! You’re not alone. Hearing role models overcome the same feelings to enjoy acting on their values creates meaning, purpose, community, and emotional reward.

Want to improve as a leader? Bestselling author, 3-time TEDx speaker, leadership speaker, coach, and professor Joshua Spodek, PhD, MBA, brings joy and inspiration to acting on the environment. You’ll learn to lead without relying on authority.

We bring you leaders from many areas — business, politics, sports, arts, education, and more — to share their expertise for you to learn from. We then ask them to share and act on their environmental values. That’s leadership without authority — so they act for their reasons, not out of guilt, blame, doom, gloom, or someone telling them what to do.

Guests include:

Dan Pink, 40+ million TED Talk views

Marshall Goldsmith, #1-ranked leadership guru and author

Frances Hesselbein, Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, former CEO of the Girl Scouts

Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author

David Allen, author of Getting Things Done

Ken Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager

Vincent Stanley, Director of Patagonia

Dorie Clark, bestselling author

Bryan Braman, Super Bowl champion, Philadelphia Eagle

John Lee Dumas, top entrepreneurial podcaster

Alisa Cohn, top 100 speaker and coach

David Biello, Science curator for TED

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latest Episodes:

077: Overcoming adversity while still finding the fire; Scott Mautz, Part 2 Aug 21, 2018

Show notes

Sometimes what looks like a hurdle activates your team.

Scott details how he launched his book---last I checked at 96% 5-star reviews. He tells it from the trenches, so if you lead, hope to lead, or want to write a book, you’ll want to tune into this episode.

We also go into his challenge of saving electricity. He found that he was probably the biggest offender in the house. So he had to be humble first to lead by example. He didn't make excuses. What great leaders do?

Despite obstacles like his book launch and unexpected surgery, I think you’ll be surprised with how Scott took on his challenge.

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076: You learned leadership wrong; New England Patriot Marquis Flowers Aug 17, 2018

Show notes

Which is more common - an athlete becoming a leading political figure, or a political figure becoming an athlete? After talking to Marquis Flowers of the New England Patriots, I still say that leadership lessons from sports stars are some are some of the best I hear.

Listen in to this episode to hear about teams, commitments, riding highs, and getting through lows. As Marquis puts it, what's going to get you through when that 30 minute task suddenly takes 3 hours?

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075: Palestine and Coffee; RJ Khalaf, part 3 Aug 16, 2018

Show notes

Even leaders need to remember to check-in and communicate with their closest friends.

In RJ's third conversation here, he shares what integrity, listening, and communication mean for leaders. He acts with these skills in his professional and personal life. From running mentorship camps to sticking to his values on something so seemingly small as a disposable cup at a bus station, RJ puts actions behind his words.

Do you think it's coincidence that someone who acts on details also succeeds at such a global level? I don't, and I suggest that if you pay attention to such detail and act on it then you will help yourself more than anyone else and more than you expect.

Check out www.leadpalestine.com to learn more about his work, watch his TEDx talk, and listen to this interview to hear how you can start with simple actions to make big impact.

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074: Scott Mautz, part 1, Finding the Fire Aug 15, 2018

Show notes

Scott takes on a three-part challenge in this episode . . in the middle of a book launch!

We discuss how Scott is bringing his experience running multibillion dollar companies within Proctor and Gamble to helping people make sense of how they see work . . . and to create meaning and purpose in a world that doesn't do it for them any more.

We discuss the life of a leader, speaker, and leadership speaker---what I was new to when we spoke (and that he's helped me with before and since). He reiterates one of the major themes emerging from nearly every effective leader on this podcast---that effective leaders focus on the other person.

In his case, he focuses on helping others help others.

I'll put to you, the reader:

How often when you act for your environmental values are you doing it to help others?
How often when you act against your environmental values are you putting your interests first?
What do effective leaders do?

I’m interested to see how Scott holds up on his 3 part challenge while promoting his book. Stay tuned.

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073: Sustainable resources on a global scale; Jared Angaza, Part 1 Aug 14, 2018

Show notes

Jared and I have deep, engaging conversations, starting from before my appearances on his podcast a year before we recorded this one.

You’ll hear we quickly get deep on this one. It follows an earlier conversation a topic that many won't talk about or listen on, but that we consider essential, at least to talk about.

We discuss resources per person as our populations grow. Some societies controlled their population for thousands of years in concert with their available resources. I wonder how. What mechanisms did they use, since that duration suggests it wasn't by luck. If you know, please let me know.

What challenge will Jordan take on? I think you’ll really enjoy this semi-controversial conversation between the two of us.

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072: Teaching leaders how to lead; Daniel Bauer, Part 1 Aug 10, 2018

Show notes

(Spoiler alert: Daniel takes on the biggest challenge so far. You could argue his circumstances make it easier than it sounds, but he's coming from Texas!)

Leadership education and practice can begin in school. Sadly, in most systems it doesn't.

My K-12, college, and graduate school nearly completely lacked training in the social and emotional skills of leadership, and I went to some of the world's great schools.

That's why I wish the world had more Daniel Bauers.

Beyond being a successful leader as a principal, he is also helping other principals lead more effectively too. He’s promoting servant leadership and leading by example within and outside educational bureaucracies.

He doesn't have to. Most of my teachers and principals were satisfied to do their best in their classrooms and schools. Leaders create movements, instigate conversations, and influence systems.

Daniel and I became friends before this conversation and seeing the challenges he takes on regularly, I’m not surprised by Daniel's commitment here. Listen and consider what you're capable of.

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071: The importance of high-level coaching; Jordan Harbinger, Part 1 Aug 07, 2018

Show notes

Jordan and I got to be friends over a decade ago before he moved to California. We'd get burritos around the corner from my place.

In the meantime we toured North Korea not once but twice together and I've seen him in Los Angeles.

This time I hosted him and his wife for my famous no-packaging vegetable stew.You get to hear from him how it tasted (spoiler alert: he says it tastes great).

He shared the importance of high-level coaching. Listening to Jordan on the Jordan Harbinger show, it's easy to think he was born with the skills of one of today's great interviewers. He's humble enough to share what I think we all need reminding of---that help from people with more skills and experience helps.

In other words, he got coaching and a lot of it. He also mentions practice and preparing more than necessary.

He and his wife consider themselves environmentally aware and conscious, but, as with nearly everyone, he shares that he may waste water showering and shaving. He doesn't know the answer, which he incorporates into his challenge.

He openly shares what he doesn't know and potential flaws---what most of us hide. Any wonder why he emerged as a leader among leaders?

Noticing these subtle things and making ourselves conscious of what we normally suppress tells us what to focus on to improve by our standards.

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070: Seth Godin: a teaser Aug 02, 2018

Show notes

This short recording is a teaser for my full interview with Seth Godin, who needs no introduction. It begins and ends with messages from Seth, sandwiching my top-level impressions from meeting with him at his home and talking at length.

He talks about his new book, This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See, in our conversation so the full recording will come out when the book does, in November.

I prepared by reading Linchpin and Purple Cow, and watching hours of his video and reading dozens maybe hundreds of his blog posts. Then since talking to him, I've reread, rewatched, and read Tribes in his voice, and his work came alive beyond my expectations.

Because of hearing him speak on a topic I've spoken to others on so much, I found he answered in unique ways, at least ways I hadn't heard before. Several times I thought he was off track but as he clarified, I realized he was steps ahead of others, anticipating and staving off arguments and excuses.

I learned a lot about leadership and the environment---my topic.

If you haven't heard Seth on the environment, you'll love his application of marketing and leadership to it in the full conversation. You'll learn about leadership, marketing, education, personal growth, and all the things you expect from Seth, but from a new perspective.

Some things I disagreed with or thought he missed, so I'm not blanket or blindly praising him.

He and I connected when he wrote a blurb for my book and he was generous enough to meet me at his home. He met my train on his way back from his farmers market with two full bags of vegetables. We spoke about volunteering, CSAs, and salt-of-the-earth, community supporting things. I saw they letters and cards of gratitude from people he's helped and how touching and heartfelt they are.

Catch you in November for inside scoops of Seth's next book, This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See.

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069: Why you will follow me to fly less Aug 01, 2018

Show notes

2 minutes and 53 seconds to show you the trends people are following back to what used to be normal and healthy.

Fight against clean and pure all you want.

You'll follow eventually.

Why not start now and lead?

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068: "You've got to do what you believe in"; Tensie Whelan, part 2 Jul 27, 2018

Show notes

Tensie and I talked about wine, creating and changing habits, and eating bugs, which happens when you work with the Rainforest Alliance.

We also talk about dealing with people when you change, influencing them, and perspectives that make these things work. The people she influences run multi-billion dollar companies.

Tensie described and lives the point of this podcast: a lifetime of acting on your values, what you care about, not imposing on others, and having fun.

I didn't hear a whisper of guilt, blame, doom, gloom, helplessness, despair, or what many people associate with acting on the environment.

I talk to a lot of people who say that they're doing all they can for the environment---usually people still with a lot of easy changes they'd probably like once they did them.

Despite all she's done, she found something she could work on. However modest, it didn't stop anything else. On the contrary, it led to more---more self-awareness, fun, interacting with others, and leading others.

When you expect the change to improve your life, you find more. Why wouldn't you, as Tensie did?

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