MEMBERS MAGAZINE Real-Leaders.com THE COMMUNITY FOR IMPACT SPECIAL EDITION: CL IMATE PROBLEMS MEET PROF ITABLE CL IMATE SOLUTIONS IDEAS FOR ENTREPRENEURS MEET THE 2022 ECO INNOVATION AWARD WINNERS “Run nature like you’d run a successful business .” DR. SYLVIA EARLE LEVERAGE THE POWER OF UNCERTAINTY HOW TO USE COLLABORATION TO FUEL A CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM DISPLAY UNTIL OCTOBER 3
CONTENTS CEO SUCCESS 62 / 3 Impactful Practices for Navigating Leadership These three CEOs demonstrate what impactful leadership looks like today. BUSINESS & INNOVATION 60 / 3 Mind-Blowing Innovations That Could Power the World The future is arriving sooner than you think. These three emerging technologies could change the way we live for the better. CLIMATE ACTION 76 / The Climate Spiral and the Power of Collaborating Around Creative Ideas This global collaboration shows how effective communication can reach broad audiences and help change minds. 4 REAL-LEADERS.COM / FALL 2022 CHANGEMAKERS 16 / Why Listening to Young Voices Can Be Good for Your Business The impatience of youth may be our best weapon against climate change. SPECIAL FEATURE 46 / 50 Companies Creating Positive Environmental Impact We honor the top companies applying innovative environmental solutions for the greater good.
8 / Ever Wonder Why? Do you ever wonder why we are facing so many existential crises today? 24 / How the World's Largest Family Businesses Are Proving Their Resilience Family businesses are vital for global economic health. Are you creating family values in your business? 22 / How to Fix Your Business Intelligence Blindspot Close that dangerous disconnect between what's known by your people, and what makes it to you. INSPIRE THE FUTURE DEPARTMENTS COLUMNS 20 / Mindfulness Leveraging the power of uncertainty to build long-term resilience. 10 / REPORT BACK 12 / ADVISORY BOARD SPOTLIGHT 14 / VOICES Page 68: Filmmaker Malcolm Woods shares his journey of overcoming fear, while filming The Last Glaciers . Here's his advice to business leaders. 36/ Cover Story Dr. Sylvia Earle explains why the life in our oceans holds way more value than just the creatures we pull out of it. In this photo, she poses off the coast of Cabo Pulmo, one of the most successful Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Mexico. Dr. Earle has made dozens of dives here, to highlight the fact that more MPAs are needed. Photo: Kip Evans 34 / Collaboration Collaboration brings back the gray wolf in Colorado, and Unilever's partnership with the UK government offers tips for public-private success. 82 / MENTAL HEALTH 90 / IMAGINE 84 / DESTINATIONS 88 / COMMON GROUND 86 / GIFTS FOR GOOD 33 / WATCH LIST 66 / PODCAST PEOPLE 65 / Storytelling How ordinary people can become extraordinary speakers. 75 / Money Unlocking the wealth of gold — by keeping it in the ground. 74 / Innovation & Technology Combating poverty with transformational technology. 80 / Investing How one farm is growing 'organic' returns for impact investors. 30 / ETHICAL FASHION 83 / PEACE
Founder Mark Van Ness Founding Editor Grant Schreiber CEO Julie Van Ness General Manager Heather Mann VP of Growth Kevin Edwards Director of Community Engagement Noah Willerford Special Projects Manager Madelyn Dwyer Email Marketing Manager Andre Pijeaux Copy Editor Carla Kalogeridis Video Producer Tucker Hamilton 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 FALL 2022 JOIN THE CHALLENGE READY TO MAKE A REAL IMPACT? While some leaders talk about sustainability, you can actually get trees in the ground. Join the Million Tree Challenge to support reforestation in our iconic National Forests. ONETREEPLANTED.ORG/MILLION 800-408-7850 JOIN THE MILLION TREE CHALLENGE WE SUPPORT
Feeding 8 billion people starts with just one Agrivida is developing agricultural biotech solutions to feed our growing population healthy food with a reduced environmental impact. Learn more at agrivida.com. kernel.
8 REAL-LEADERS.COM / FALL 2022 Do you ever wonder whywe are facing so many existential crises today? From authoritarianism and nuclear missile threats to the climatecrisis-induced extreme weather disasters and a constantly evolving pandemic... Some days it can feel pretty overwhelming, and I sometimes feel powerless to change our course. The challenges we face seem just too big and require too many leaders and countries to collaborate to protect our species and society. But then it occurred to me that humans became the dominant species on the planet because of our ability to collaborate and create innovative solutions to the challenges we faced. Unfortunately, our ancestors created a short-sighted world where we are rewarded for short-term choices. We humans are living just like all other animals live today —without much regard for the future. But even a squirrel stores nuts in anticipation of a long winter ahead. Surely humans are wiser than squirrels! We can prepare for the extreme weather ahead and choose not to be the cause of our own hardship. By making wise choices for our health, we also make the right choices for preserving our world. I don’t always make the right choices or far-sighted EVER WONDER WHY? Our Ability To Collaborate Will Save Us All “We are on a mission to unite farsighted leaders to transform our short-sighted world. Join us!” decisions, but when I do, I always feel better, and that feeling of being powerless to make a difference diminishes. There is one thing we have the power to correct that is at the root of every existential crisis: We have the power to transform from short-sighted choices to far-sighted choices. That means moving away from thoughtless instant gratification and attitudes of "let tomorrow be damned," to a fiduciary for the future attitude. When making choices, I now ask myself: Generations from now, will people be glad that I made the choice I did, or will they condemn my choice? If each generation of children are taught that their role on Earth is to make the world far better for everyone than how they found it, imagine how that shared purpose would guide our choices and how quickly we could transform into a thriving, far-sighted world. One immediate action you can take is the free online B Lab assessment tool for business where you are scored on your choices, such as energy efficiency, supply chain, waste, and employee benefits. You may have noticed that we describe this concept in our Real Leaders mission statement: Real leaders are uniting farsighted leaders to transform our shortsighted world. We encourage you to join the movement by scanning the QR code above. MarkVanNess, Founder Mark@Real-Leaders.com The Real Leaders Impact Collaborative B Lab Business Impact Assessment
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10 REAL-LEADERS.COM / FALL 2022 REPORT BACK FOR OUR FREE WEEKLY WoW! WORDS OF WISDOM EMAIL SIGN UP HERE: WWW.REAL-LEADERS.COM/SUBSCRIBE In April, Real Leaders joined One Tree Planted in San Francisco for "Forest Fest 22" — a gathering of Earth-conscious thought leaders wanting to change the world, one tree at a time. Discussions around reforestation technology and sustainable leadership were capped off with everyone getting their hands dirty planting trees at Golden Gate Park. Joining this effort was Noah Willerford, our director of community engagement (above, left) and Kevin Edwards, vice president of growth. One Tree Planted has planted more than 40 million trees in 43 countries across the globe since 2014, and in 2021, they more than doubled their impact from 2020 — with 23.5 million trees. The Real Leaders website has been posting stories on social impact for more than 10 years. We have thousands of inspiring stories and impact solutions from around the world — just a few clicks away. Bookmark us for regular updates on the people, companies and ideas that are changing our world for the better. Real-Leaders.com 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 for Monday victories! To receive your free, weekly dose of inspiration, sign up here: Real-Leaders.com/Subscribe Keeping the Conversation Going Real Leaders joined more than 150 impact business leaders in Portland, Oregon, in April at the MO Summit to lend our voice to an important debate: that leaders today are living in an Age of Consequence. We are currently witnessing both breakthroughs and breakdowns in the world, and the new breed of sustainably-minded leaders should be unafraid to let one thing collapse as they build rules for a new era. Recognizing that you can't have success without failure, the discussions explored how to break down to break through, and how to use every transaction as an opportunity for both profit and longterm prosperity. @RealLeadersMagazine @Real_Leaders @Real_Leaders @Real-Leaders @RealLeadersMagazine Real Leaders Digs Deep Find Thousands of Inspiring Business Solutions Online
Join the Impact Revolution Business is evolving and Real Leaders is at the forefront of this change. Our global reach, diverse platforms and impact leadership strategies will prepare you for the next big business opportunity — profitable social impact. Join the Real Leaders Impact Collaborative if you are a leader looking to collaborate for greater impact. WE SUPPORT Members.Real-Leaders.com/Become-a-Member JOIN US Sion Tesone | CEO, TISSINI Kerry Siggins | CEO, StoneAge Will Chen | CEO, P.L.A.Y. Sandra Moore | CIO, Advantage Capital
12 REAL-LEADERS.COM / FALL 2022 ADVISORY BOARD SPOTLIGHT My last experience with pivoting was scary. The world was changing fast, yet I knew nothing about sustainability and social impact at all. I knew these were crucial skills to acquire, but didn’t know where to begin. Should I go back to school and take a sustainability course? How do I break into this strange new world? Once I’d identified a few strategies, it was simpler than I thought. I sought out and joined groups in areas where I needed to fill my knowledge gaps. Once I was familiar with the basics, I offered my services as a tech advisor or became a mentor to some incubators, and even a judge for some sustainability competitions. Immersing myself in this world of sustainable business was a way of absorbing information, experimenting with it, and developing my own insights and ideas on how I could become a part of it. Whether it was a Slack channel or a club or group, I slowly began breathing the air of the space in which I wanted to find myself. I’m also a firm believer in manifestation and kept repeating: “I want to become involved in tech for good and social impact.” Gradually, I began surrounding myself with like-minded people, a journey that ironically led me back to someone I had worked with for nine years. She was an industry leader around sustainability — unknown to me at the time — and was someone with whom I could deeply engage around social impact. When I mentor young people today, I encourage them to dabble — often, and as early as possible. Just like launching a new product, you should experiment and learn as you perfect it. Keep shortening the feedback cycles, learn from the failures, and highlight the wins. Don’t overthink, just start doing. The role of playfulness and fantasy is a very underrated and ignored practice among CEOs, yet this is exactly the realm in which many great things have happened throughout history. I spoke with a woman recently who’s building a 1,000-story mall in the metaverse; the only limiting factor in today’s exciting world of technology is people's imagination. The metaverse is a simulated digital environment that uses augmented reality (AR), My Journey Toward Social Impact By Joanna Hall “THE ROLE OF PLAYFULNESS AND FANTASY IS A VERY UNDERRATED AND IGNORED PRACTICE AMONG CEOS, YET THIS IS EXACTLY THE REALM IN WHICH MANY GREAT THINGS HAVE HAPPENED THROUGHOUT HISTORY.” — JOANNA HALL virtual reality (VR), and blockchain, along with concepts from social media, to create spaces for rich user interaction mimicking the real world. For companies struggling to create a new business model around sustainability, these new tools offer a perfect solution — you can start from scratch by building a sustainable version of what you might become in the metaverse, risk free. And you don’t have to go it alone. The skills needed to reinvent yourself will come through collaboration —weaving together multiple people, companies, and ideas to achieve your goal. Get creative around how you put these teams together; that in itself is a highly creative act. Our tagline at my new social impact venture, SustainChain, is "further, faster, together." I’ve come to realize that collective action at scale is where the new business opportunities lie. Establishing a network of trust among values-aligned business leaders, can create something really meaningful. While you’re struggling with solutions to a business problem, there may be a completely unrelated business out there, ready to scale, that has the solution for you. The only way you’ll ever know is if you jump in to the "solution zone" — found among impact entrepreneurs around the world. You never know what you might find. n SustainChain.world Joanna Hall is executive director of the U.S. Coalition on Sustainability and head of product for public utility tech platform SustainChain.
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14 REAL-LEADERS.COM / FALL 2022 VOICES HAVE AN OPINION YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE? EMAIL US AT INFO@REAL-LEADERS.COM As someone always wanting to widen my knowledge on business, I have found your magazine to focus on stories that I have not seen elsewhere. Congratulations on a product that stimulates new ways of thinking around old problems." JAMES DE LOUVAIN Paris, France “I’m passionate about community service and giving back. Honestly, nothing makes me happier! But I’m also interested in leadership, organizational development, productivity, and personal success. Real Leaders brings together my areas of interest, offering insight from a diverse range of experts who illustrate how doing well professionally and doing good for others are not mutually exclusive.” SALLY PETERS Portland, OR Be the first to receive Real Leaders each quarter. Subscribe at: Real-Leaders.com/Subscribe Real Leaders has become a regular feature in my reading list. Combined with other, more ‘newsy’ type magazines, I enjoy the bigger picture and philosophical approach your magazine takes toward some issues.” LAURA KEHOE Pasadena, TX A good mentor always works with a degree of selflessness, even when it becomes uncomfortable at times. I enjoy the tough topics your magazine tackles, as well the discomfort zone it creates.” KYE SEGAL Chicago, IL I love your work and Real Leaders magazine is absolutely great. I came across your magazine at JFK and was like, Wow! At long last a magazine that deals with pressing leadership issues that make a real difference.” DEAN VAN LEEUWEN London RYLEY EDWARDS Many issues that were made to seem trivial in the past have become mainstream business opportunities. I am delighted that Real Leaders has grasped this opportunity and offered entrepreneurs a business plan for the future.” TAMARA LEE Sacramento, CA Like most of his species, Bob ignored existential threats. JOIN THE REAL LEADERS IMPACT COLLABORATIVE Members.Real-Leaders.com/Become-a-Member It’s invigorating to collaborate with stir-it-up thought leaders in the Real Leaders Impact Collaborative. This is definitely no business-as-usual peer group. As a company that cares deeply about how to create meaningful opportunities for people and communities, it’s fantastic to build relationships, perspectives, and ideas with this team. We push the boundaries on each other’s thinking, and it makes a stronger difference — together.” MELANIE DULBECCO San Francisco It’s the banging of the drum, getting the word out, spreading the seeds and the message — that’s what I appreciate so deeply about Real Leaders. The work you do elevates the conversation around what we all need to hear and do right now. The examples of leadership that you highlight allow us to learn and give us icons to follow.” JAY WILKINSON Nebraska
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16 REAL-LEADERS.COM / FALL 2022 KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS INSPIRING THE FUTURE AS A CHANGEMAKER? EMAIL US AT EDITORIAL@REAL-LEADERS.COM e've been conditioned by the mainstream media to only focus on one crisis at a time. It was nothing but non-stop coverage of the global pandemic for two years, punctuated by the odd severe storm warning. Then, racial tension, social justice causes, and deadly police force morphed into political insurrections and conspiracy. More recently, a war in Eastern Europe created continuous coverage on TV. Each time, the issue at hand was raised to a national or global crisis level. Yet one problem continues to march on relentlessly, untainted by human news cycles or political squabbling: the climate crisis. It's an issue that 20-year-old Mexican-Chilean climate activist Xiye Bastida has devoted her life to, which she intends to keep firmly on the global agenda. She was the recipient of the UN Spirit award in 2018 and is currently a student at the University of Pennsylvania, which acts as the home base for her role as one of the lead organizers, along with Greta Thunberg, of the Fridays For Future youth climate strike movement. "The important thing to remember is that none of the aforementioned crises are unrelated," says Bastida. "They're all connected somehow, and a climate crisis can worsen these social, political, and weather crises. Take the Ukraine-Russia crisis as one example. We've heard much commentary from economists and politicians about energy security and the reliance of Europe on Russian fossil fuels. This has sparked a debate in the United States about what energy security means. But, instead of languishing over a lack of preparedness to store enough fossil fuel for a crisis, the debate should focus on what comes next: What clean energy source will allow countries to achieve energy democracy?" For Bastida, a safer future is a climate-conscious future, a future where people aren't afraid that another conflict will create suffering from a lack of basic needs. There have been many parallels drawn between the pandemic and the climate crisis. One example is how we cared for our wellbeing and safety during COVID-19. "Yet, we also need to look after the environment's health, too," says Bastida. "And also the health of movements, and robust scientific thought. These all contribute to a healthier world. We can't just pick and choose what we'd like to hear from our scientists or allow political agendas to skew the meaning of environmental health.” Bastida spoke alongside numerous world leaders at the White House climate summit in April 2021, where she called for immediate action, highlighting climate change's uneven effects on poor and indigenous communities. In his introduction of her, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that drought and intense flooding awoke Xiye to the fact that “climate change is here, now” early in her teenage years. Her uncompromising passion for climate solutions was on full display when she told Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador that he "lacked ambition" for his proposal to phase out the country's reliance on fossil fuel at a snail's pace and cling to coal for the foreseeable future. A pet peeve of Bastida’s is endless debate. She sees so many concerned people establishing platforms, forums, and events to discuss the problems, but it's action she wants to see. Call it youthful impatience or exuberance, but today's young people don't care about grand speeches from self-important people seeking to sound right for their CHANGEMAKERS Why Listening to Young Voices Can Be Good for Your Business The impatience of youth and why it may be our best weapon against climate change
FALL 2022 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 17 “WE CAN'T JUST PICK AND CHOOSE WHAT WE'D LIKE TO HEAR FROM OUR SCIENTISTS OR ALLOW POLITICAL AGENDAS TO SKEW THE MEANING OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH.” — Xiye Bastida CHANGEMAKERS SHANIQUA DARV IS
18 REAL-LEADERS.COM / FALL 2022 CHANGEMAKERS “WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO TRUST YOU; WE DON'T WANT GREENWASHING OR DECEPTION. AND WHEN WE SEE YOU DOING THE RIGHT THING, WE'LL SUPPORT YOU. YOU LOSE EVERYTHING BY LYING TO US.” constituencies or employees. To garner respect from the next generation, they will have to demonstrate action, a quality Bastida and her peers value more than anything else in the climate movement. "There's so much time being wasted on debates that focus on what might be real or just plain conspiracy that it's stopping us from finding real solutions. COVID has taught us a lot about communication, data, and storytelling. It's shown us the appropriate response to a crisis: creative engagement on a global scale. So why can't we act like this around climate action?" One significant challenge is that people like to focus on their immediate surroundings. If you live in a forest, why should you consider people's experiences in a desert thousands of miles away? If you're a farmer in middle America, why should you care about the health of the oceans? Bastida, who's been taking classes in climate psychology, agrees that most people only respond to what's immediately in front of them. "But we've also seen a shift in climate messaging that compounds the issue," she says. "Twenty years ago, the world was told we had 100 years before climate change became a threat. This was too far in the future to have any meaningful impact on most people's lives. Now we're being told that the climate crisis is happening now. So again, there's a sense of detachment from reality for billions of people. Unless you live on a sinking island or an area prone to frequent wildfires, you might say, 'Climate crisis? What climate crisis?' But this is where the power of youth comes in," says Bastida. The young people of today are connected like no generation before. "We know what is happening around the world with our friends on any given day," she says. "They don't even have to be close friends; our generation feels an affinity to each other based on a cause, not physical distance." Bastida and her friends know about the 39,000 tons of clothing dumped in the Atacama Desert in Chile that even the charities don't want, much of it from rich countries addicted to fast fashion. The UK throws away 13 million items of clothing every week, and 70% of it is sent overseas, according to sustainability charity WRAP. While some companies try to hide mountains of dirty laundry in a desert that will take 200 years to degrade, Bastida and her fellow climate activists are exposing them through social media. Businesses that are harming the environment have more to fear than persistent investigative journalists these days — even more powerful is a teenager with social media and a mobile phone. Bastida is adamant that acting local is the place to start when wondering how to become involved in the fight against climate change. "You might start with the water quality of your neighborhood," she suggests. "Let people know that any impurities in your drinking water are not a coincidence; some companies have chosen to pollute the water, either through negligence or cutting corners to increase profits. Likewise, the quality of the air you breathe is determined by corporate lobbying to governments, which usually results in those less economically powerful ending up with toxic manufacturing near their homes. "When you approach the climate crisis from an angle of social justice, you show people that environmentalism is not just about plastic straws and turtles but about human health, security, and long-term economic stability." Surprisingly for a climate warrior, Bastida's strategy to shift people's views on the climate crisis is not about telling people to become greener. "Large soft drink manufacturers have spent millions of dollars pushing plastic bottle recycling campaigns, shifting the guilt and responsibility onto individuals to act," she says. "But what we really need are campaigns that challenge companies to stop producing plastic bottles in the first place. We want to be able to trust you; we don't want greenwashing or deception. And when we see you doing the right thing, we'll support you. You lose everything by lying to us." Many seemingly good ideas can backfire if not thought through properly. For example, a few years ago, a greening project in Mexico gave fruit trees to impoverished communities to stimulate the economy and encourage tree planting. However, the recipients ended up burning vast swaths of virgin forest to make room for planting the fruit trees. As a result, it created more problems than before. "Solutions must be fully thought out before they begin," says Bastida. While the world remains dazzled by technology, science, and new exploration, there's indigenous wisdom that's been around for centuries from which we can draw inspiration and solutions, Bastida points out. "We're not asking business leaders to throw out cutting-edge innovations and replace them with old techniques," she explains. "Rather, we'd like FEL I X KUNTZE
FALL 2022 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 19 CHANGEMAKERS to see people embody different morals and philosophies in the work they already do." Growing up as a member of the indigenous Mexican Otomi-Toltec nation, Bastida, whose first name means "rain," was given clear ancestral wisdom on living in harmony with nature. Now living in New York in one of the most polluting nations on Earth, the irony is not lost on her. But at age 19, she still feels she has something to teach older business leaders. "The seven generational principle is one such lesson," she explains. "We should make decisions today based on the wisdom and knowledge of the past seven generations to ensure the stability of the next seven generations. Business plans, budgets, and political careers are so short-term — quarterly, yearly, four-year cycles — but we're not thinking long-term enough for what's needed for a stable and healthy planet." Young people have energy; older people have wisdom. Consider inviting people of various ages to your board to invigorate an idea. "Keeping intergenerational conversations alive is crucial," says Bastida. "One of the mistakes we made when we started the youth climate strike was saying to our elders, 'You have stolen our future,' instead of saying, 'How can we work together to achieve that future?' I'm a huge advocate of not shutting down the voices of the generations before us. We've never had so much information in one place in history, and we're going to lose everything unless we appeal to every person who has the means to create positive change." Bastida acknowledges that young people see a mentor as highly desirable in advancing their careers, yet may ignore wisdom from older generations in the context of climate action. It's a gap she hopes to close. "Age does not always equal wisdom," she says. "We live in a world that praises and promotes specialization in a certain profession, but that sometimes blocks out the answers and solutions to everything else. My goal is to know a little about many things in the world. The best way to find ideas that help solve the climate crisis is to open your mind to how other people see the world. Sometimes we all need to do more listening and less talking." n // Ask: Where doesmy energy come from? And consider how you might move toward a greener, more renewable solution. Some airlines are offsetting their carbon emissions by planting trees in the middle of the Amazon jungle, but these can create other problems — privatizing indigenous land to plant trees, planting trees that aren't indigenous to the region, or disrupting natural systems. While many initiatives have good intentions at heart, a deeper understanding of the broader issues is sometimes needed. Netflix is a good example of a company that deals directly with beneficiary communities in their quest for carbon neutrality to ensure no hidden surprises when dealing with third parties. // Don't greenwash. Don't create an Earth Day campaign where you commit to a certain percentage of your products being sustainable. It's a big red flag for environmentalists like Bastida, who see this as a one-off marketing campaign and not permanently built into your company values. "Youth consumers don't want to see you appear once a year with an Earth message," she says. "We're a generation that wields enormous consumer power, so just think of the benefits of being authentic with us." // Tell young people the truth. The power of social media allows for transparency like never before. If the tomatoes in my tomato sauce come from a farm that sickens a community downriver from the manufacturing plant, we'll get to hear about it. Young people use their mobile and social communication channels to make decisions. Stay on their radar in a good way — it can be profitable too. // Don't be afraid to admit you're not perfect. Admitting you don't know where to start when it comes to climate action or sustainable business is OK. Saying, "We haven't done well, but are trying to do better," is a better strategy than painting a perfect picture that falls short. It's not easy; even within the climate organizations Bastida works with, some forget that communicating transparently is something they hold others to but sometimes forget to do themselves. // Apply the principle of reciprocity. Whatever you take, consider what you might give back. The agricultural sector worldwide creates some of the biggest factors contributing to climate change — such as carbon emissions and soil degradation — but regenerative farming has shown that any industry can apply the same principles of giving back to ensure a more sustainable outcome. // Collaboration is everything. Make people realize that doing things your way will be beneficial for them. Selflessly approach a new project by explaining the benefits to them first. Bastida's metric for collaborative success is when she attends climate conferences where she sees new faces every time. "The effectiveness of collaboration is diluted when you interact with the same 10 people at every event, on every panel discussion," she says. Shake up your collaborative mix more often. BASTIDA’S TOP TIPS FORBUSINESS ERIC SUCAR
20 REAL-LEADERS.COM / FALL 2022 MINDFULNESS Adam Markel is a resilience researcher, workplace expert and leading international speaker for organizations such as Equitable, P&G, The Home Depot, Cannon, and CitiBank. This is an excerpt from his new book Change Proof: Leveraging the Power of Uncertainty to Build Long-Term Resilience. ONE OF THE BIGGEST LESSONS I HAD TO LEARN AS A LEADER WAS THE VALUE OF REDUNDANCY. For your people to know what you want, you're gonna have to keep saying it over and over again. Every time I sent a memo or gave a speech, I was worried that my employees would roll their eyes and say, "Here he goes again." I thought, "No one wants to listen to a broken record." I was more concerned with being interesting. So what I did was constantly refresh and renew my message. Without my realizing it, what happened was that my desire to be interesting was getting in the way of me being clear. Clarity is what we're after. That's what redundant messaging gives us. It gives us the ability to be clear. Once you find out who you are, you have to make sure that everyone who crosses the doorway of your business knows who you are. They shouldn't have to guess. They're not mind readers. Redundancy is the key to your mindset. How many of you know for certain that if you wake up in the middle of the night, the hamster of your thoughts will jump on the wheel of your mind and whirl from worry to anxiety to panic as you run disaster scenarios through your head? We run through all the bad things that have happened in our past, and LEVERAGING THE POWER OF UNCERTAINTY TO BUILD LONG-TERM RESILIENCE "NOTHING IS EITHER GOOD OR BAD, BUT THINKING MAKES IT SO." — WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, HAMLET By Adam Markel
FALL 2022 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 21 MINDFULNESS when we're not doing that, we're thinking of all the bad things that might happen in the future. It's our personal version of "doom scrolling." For many of us on our resilience journeys, our misfortunes become like landmarks we visit on the cross-country journey that is our lives. When I was a kid, our family would take a yearly trip through New England, stopping in places like Hyannis, Bethel, and Stockbridge. Thanks to my mother's gift for being a travel agent, we stayed in beautiful places and created lifelong memories. We forgot about the endless hours in a hot and crowded car. And later, as we all got older and we told the story of those same trips, even when we blew out an alternator or something that left us stranded on the side of the road for hours in the middle of the night, we laughed about it. After all, we made it through. We were forged a bit in those moments of trouble together. Those are the stories we tell because they make us who we are. It's the things you never planned for, the times when things went wrong, and the ways in which the trip was just one darn thing after another. The darn things. Those are what we remember and mostly laugh at years later. The darn things don't appear on Trip Advisor or Kayak. But as I get older, I realize that my entire life is a collection of memories that include some darn things despite my best intentions to the contrary. We're all striving to do good in the world, to be our best in our professional lives and our personal lives. We have plans on top of plans, all created in good faith. Sometimes those plans go to hell in a flaming handcart. Many of you have lost your business, your job, or a loved one to the pandemic. The business you planned to give to your children. The job you expected to retire from. The partner you were going to grow old with. There's no way to assuage the grief of that loss. All the books in all the libraries of the world will not make it different because the painful and unavoidable truth is that it will never be different. It will never be the way you thought it was going to be. “ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN EVERY CULTURE, THOSE LEVERAGING UNCERTAINTY ARE THE PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES WHO DON'T RESIST CHANGE WHEN IT HAPPENS. THEY DEVELOP NEW RELATIONSHIPS. THEY RIDE THE NEW SITUATIONS INSTEAD OF PANICKING.” Our work is about finding your way out of the darkness of darn things and into the light. Out of the valley and back up to the heights. To not just survive the darn things that happen around you, but to alchemize them into the stuff of real growth. The key to mental resilience is realizing that all we can control in life is how we respond to events. We have that choice. We have that power. Mentally we can stop worry and anxiety dead in their tracks. Change is guaranteed. How we respond to change is not. That is our task. There's a quote from renowned acting teacher Sanford Meisner that goes like this: "That which hinders your task is your task.” You're obsessed with something you want, but there's an obstacle in your way. It's that thing between you and what you want; that is what you really need. The thing that's stopping you from accomplishing the things you desire? That's your genuine desire. You think what you can't control or don't know keeps you from performing at your best. You think, "Once everything settles down, then I'll be better." But that's not how it works. All over the world, in every culture, those leveraging uncertainty are the people and businesses who don't resist change when it happens. They develop new relationships. They ride the new situations instead of panicking. You don't fight the current; you ride the current. Surfers don't mourn a wave they miss or even when they wipe out (which is often). They just get on the next one. You can do this by taking the courageous decision to throw out the old mental maps and make new ones. Mental resilience isn't a life free from the twin wolves of worry and anxiety. It's about harnessing our energy in creative ways so we can domesticate them and let them pull our sled. We make friends with change, so we don't have to worry about it. n It can be tough being a social impact CEO. The Real Leaders Impact Collaborative offers a confidential space to share and grow. Scan the code above to find out more.
22 REAL-LEADERS.COM / FALL 2022 LEADERSHIP The famous Iceberg of Ignorance study, produced by Sidney Yoshida, posited that frontline workers were aware of 100% of the floor problems an organization faces, supervisors were aware of only 74%, middle managers 9%, and senior executives were aware of only 4%. Since 1989, this information flow has gotten worse, not better. The sheer amount of information now being collected is mind-spinning. The scale and speed of digital transformation (DX) has left no industry unturned. According to Statista, in 2022, spending on DX is projected to reach $1.8 trillion. By 2025, it's forecast to reach $2.8 trillion. This mass shift toward the digitization of every kind of business, from manufacturing to mango production, has led to a tsunami of data. We've become collectively fixated on building and deploying artificial intelligence to track and analyze every data point on which we can get our digital hands. Every mouse click, written word, and action taken by a person or machine is logged. The goal? To tap this data treasure trove and run smarter businesses, cut waste, preempt breakages, increase output, refine processes, build better relationships with our customers, and master all manner of other operational aspirations. But while we've insatiably invested in artificial intelligence to analyze every data point, what we've blindly disregarded is arguably our most valuable one: our people. Our human intelligence — those on our organizational frontlines — understands problems and solutions not through complex analysis but by earned personal experience. We need to get better at asking our people what they think. Listening Differently. One of the most effective, successive waves of business transformation should be about finding ways to tap the intelligence of our people, building channels for human information to flow unencumbered from bottom to top and side to side. Here are a couple of practical applications MOST LEADERS KNOW IT'S A PROBLEM, BUT FEW HAVE FOUND A SOLUTION. EVER SINCE THE ICEBERG OF IGNORANCE FLOATED INTO OUR COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS BACK IN THE LATE 1980S, LEADERS WHO WERE PAYING ATTENTION BECAME INCREASINGLY AWARE OF A DANGEROUS DISCONNECT BETWEEN THE INFORMATION KNOWN BY THE PEOPLE IN THEIR ORGANIZATIONS AND THE INFORMATION THAT MADE IT TO THEM. By Jessica Nordlander HOW TO FIX YOUR BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE BLINDSPOT
FALL 2022 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 23 LEADERSHIP Jessica Nordlander is COO of ThoughtExchange, and an ex-Googler with an MSc in Applied IT. She was recently named "Sweden's Most Innovative Leader" and "Top 40 Under 40 in Canada.” She aims to rethink corporate innovation and operationalize moxie and speaks about digital transformation and digital innovation. and ways leaders can drive positive business outcomes by leaning on team intelligence over the artificial kind. I'll start with one I use myself. Strategic Alignment. In my current position, I have built an annual strategy process based on a series of company-wide conversations to strengthen our cultural and strategic alignment. Over a year, we run a strategyinforming conversation, tapping into the collective intelligence of our remote workforce by asking what single important thing we should consider when building our strategic plan. Then, using the insight gathered to help inform decisions, the senior leadership creates the annual strategy. When it's launched, we ensure that it is well understood and potential hurdles identified through a second companywide conversation. Halfway through the year, we involve the entire company in a third conversation about our plan to see where we are being successful and where we are falling short. The results? An annual strategic plan that has the insights of those at the frontline baked directly into the heart of it, and, as a result, has buy-in from all corners of the organization. This, augmented with data points that we capture through other channels, has significantly reduced our risk of blindspots. New Leadership Integration. The Harvard Business Review estimates that between onethird and one-half of all new chief executives fail in their first 18 months. Succession is a complicated business. Even when robust leadership onboarding programs are in place, these tend to focus on relaying corporate and operational dynamics, providing detail on ongoing projects and financial projections, etc. They don't attempt to recognize the myriad of more complex political, personal, and cultural dynamics that exist within a company by way of its people. These are far more likely to impede the progress of a new leader — at best being a distraction, at worst being destructive. Going directly to a new team as part of the onboarding process and allowing them to share honest opinions, questions, and concerns anonymously, an incoming leader can immediately understand the field they're stepping on to. The honest feedback received from a process like this might not be all sunshine and rainbows, but understanding where real problems lie and how to address them will better ensure a new leader can be confident that they're informed as they take over the reins. Following that pre-boarding conversation, I would recommend tapping into the collective intelligence as part of the traditional 30-60-90-day plan and making sure that a leader communicates any actions that have been taken because of the insights they were provided with. Going directly to the people in an organization before taking over and asking for their opinions will allay fears, build early team trust, and lead to far more healthy working relationships. With their opinions and concerns aired and addressed, team members are far more likely to adapt, abandon old habits and behaviors, and get behind a leader who has demonstrated genuine curiosity and empathy as they transition the company. Valuing Intelligence. Accurate business intelligence shouldn't always be defined by the amount of data we can collect, but by the value it can deliver. By electing to tap the human intelligence present at every touchpoint of our organizations, we might just find that the person closest to the problem is the one with the best solution. n “WITH THEIR OPINIONS AND CONCERNS AIRED AND ADDRESSED, TEAM MEMBERS ARE FAR MORE LIKELY TO ADAPT, ABANDON OLD HABITS AND BEHAVIORS, AND GET BEHIND A LEADER WHO HAS DEMONSTRATED GENUINE CURIOSITY AND EMPATHY." "MOST LEADERSHIP ONBOARDING PROGRAMS DON'T ATTEMPT TO RECOGNIZE THE MYRIAD OF MORE COMPLEX POLITICAL, PERSONAL, AND CULTURAL DYNAMICS THAT EXIST WITHIN A COMPANY BY WAY OF ITS PEOPLE."
24 REAL-LEADERS.COM / FALL 2022 LEADERSHIP Like many businesses, family-owned enterprises have had their share of challenges in the current economic landscape. As each continues to make its way through the many obstacles presented by the pandemic, a looming recession and global conflicts, the 2021 EY and University of St. Gallen Family Business Index reveals just how vital family enterprises are for the global economy's health. The resilience of these family businesses becomes even more evident as they continue to lead in job creation and opportunities within their communities. By Mary Sigmond Paul Dickerson, CEO of CREDO and a longtime leader of his family business SWEPCO, explains that most family businesses are resilient because they take the long view, focusing on decades and generations rather than meeting Wall Street's quarterly earnings report. "Most are well diversified and global, keeping their debt low. Their offices aren't lavish, but their factories are first-rate. Cash is king, and family enterprises reinvest earnings back into the company." Dickerson's family enterprise is an 88-year-old manufacturer of protective coatings and high-performance industrial lubricants with plants in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The family businesses represented in the Index collectively generate $7.28 trillion in revenue and employ 24.1 million people worldwide. That constitutes the third-largest economic contribution in the world (after the United States and China) by revenue — despite the global economy shrinking by 3.5% in 2020. This revealing trend magnifies how family businesses are vital to the future health and growth of every country's economic well-being and post-pandemic recovery — and the trend shows no signs of slowing. A Pandemic Brings Out the Best For all the challenges COVID-19 presented, family businesses had the opportunity to showcase their agility, commitment to innovation, and sense How theWorld’s Largest Family Businesses Are ProvingTheir Resilience “I ENCOURAGE FAMILY LEADERS TO HAVE A COURAGEOUS CONVERSATION AND THEN MAKE HIRING, RETAINING, AND PROMOTING WOMEN LEADERS PART OF THEIR 5- TO 10-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN.” — PAUL DICKERSON
FALL 2022 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 25 LEADERSHIP of social responsibility by pivoting during the pandemic. Carlos DeAldecoa Bueno, president of Eximius Coffee, owns a coffee storage and processing plant and the largest liquor distillery in Texas. During the pandemic, he put the entire distillery operations on hold and shifted production and bottling lines to manufacture hand sanitizer. "Carlos donated $200,000 worth of hand sanitizer to first responders, nonprofits, and the community in Texas," says Dickerson, "and shipped over 80,000 gallons (about 30,000 liters) of hand sanitizer throughout the United States." The Family Business Index revealed numerous scenarios of family-owned enterprises pivoting during the pandemic — including restaurants creating makeshift drive-through lines to serve families affordable meals during the food shortage to owners not drawing a salary to make sure their people had paychecks. Building Success Across Generations The success of family businesses often comes down to the planning and vision of the first generation, with the next generation building on that legacy while following its own approach. Of course, success takes time, and although the COVID-19 pandemic has made the next generation's survival more difficult, the Index cites 75% of the family businesses are over 50 years old. However, youth is not necessarily an impediment to the growth or the scaling of a family business. Most of the reasons a family business doesn't survive are preventable with proper succession planning and a strong commitment by family leadership. But scaling a business beyond its founders is tricky. At 30, Tze Boon Ong (above), chairman of the board at ONG&ONG, took over the family architecture business after the death of his parents. To survive, Ong believes it essential that each new generation have a hunger for not just keeping the company alive but looking to innovate, grow, and steer the business in a revolutionary direction. Ong says success for him will be “in making my role obsolete — then I know I've done my family company a service." Sustaining the Focus onGender Diversity The 500 largest family businesses have 4,418 board seats; family members hold 1,041. Of those, 17% are female and 83% male. The share of companies with female family members on boards is 31% and is on par with global industry benchmarks. Gender diversity among chief executives is equally challenging to family businesses and non-family firms. Five percent (27) of the family businesses on the Index have female CEOs, comparable with industry benchmarks of 8% (41) of Fortune Global 500 companies. Moreover, female “IT'S ESSENTIAL THAT EACH NEW GENERATION HAVE A HUNGER FOR NOT JUST KEEPING THE COMPANY ALIVE BUT LOOKING TO INNOVATE, GROW, AND STEER THE BUSINESS IN A REVOLUTIONARY DIRECTION.” — TZE BOON ONG
26 REAL-LEADERS.COM / FALL 2022 LEADERSHIP CEOs are marginally more likely to be family members than external appointments. Change starts with intention, Dickerson says, and finding talented female business leaders and creating the conditions for success must be a stated business objective. "I encourage family leaders to have a courageous conversation and then make hiring, retaining, and promoting women leaders part of their 5- to 10-year strategic plan. Next, appoint a task force to promote female leadership in the business, family council, and other family governance structures." Beyond being the right thing to do, Dickerson believes it's smart business. "In the war for top talent, neglecting 50% of the candidates (women) will be a huge disadvantage. We have a long way to go, but I believe there is room for optimism. As this generation of leaders retires, attitudes toward women in leadership will shift." What NextGenBrings to the Table The average family business board member is 61 years old, but the next generation brings more age diversity and new leadership to boards. One in five businesses on the Index has a next-generation member (40 or younger) on the board or on the management team. This represents a significant opportunity for boards to diversify and extend their talent pool. "Embrace the next generation of leaders and the entrepreneurial spirit they offer," Dickerson tells his peers. "Tap into their vision for the business; they are the pathway to renewal and rebirth of the family business. Over time, the core business normally looks little like its founding one. And turbulent times often accelerate this transition." Dickerson advises family businesses to formalize their internship programs, utilize innovation sprints as a source of new ideas, and let NextGen run with the strong concepts developed and see what they can do. More thanProfit Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) is no longer a passing trend, especially for the next generation of family-owned business leaders. Presently, the total valuation of ESG assets is around $30 trillion. That's more than 25% of the managed assets in the entire market. A good proportion of the family businesses on the Index report formal ESG metrics, including 53% (264) reporting at least once on the GRI Sustainability Disclosure Database. Fifty-one percent of those companies come from EMEIA (Europe, Middle East, India, and Africa), followed by 30% from the Americas, and 19% from Asia-Pacific. The United States has the highest number (42) of family companies that contributed to the GRI database. Employees, customers, investors, and other stakeholders demand that companies play a more active role in addressing the world's greatest challenges. As a result, NextGen family business owners will most certainly make ESG a top priority. Stable and Agile: Families Find the Right Balance The Family Business Index reveals how important family enterprises are for the health of the global economy. Despite the pandemic, the largest 500 family businesses globally have proven their economic dominance and resilience. Longevity and stability have mattered as these businesses have managed their long-term business outlook with an ability to pivot in the short term. Being ready to value more diversity and skills from both the next generation of leaders and women leaders is a small step for them — particularly when talent is the key to addressing ESG, innovation, and future consumers. "It is no surprise how family businesses can now attract top talent in the marketplace," says Dickerson. "Many accomplished difference makers are tired of constant change in their firms; they long for stability, family comfort, and putting down roots." n Mary Sigmond is a content strategist, an award-winning storyteller and a contributor to YPO’s CEO Insights. YPO is a global leadership community of more than 30,000 chief executives in 142 countries driven by the belief that the world needs better leaders. “EMBRACE THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS AND THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT THEY OFFER. TAP INTO THEIR VISION FOR THE BUSINESS; THEY ARE THE PATHWAY TO RENEWAL AND REBIRTH OF THE FAMILY BUSINESS.” — PAUL DICKERSON
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