Marching to 2030 - Both a Personal and Planetary Milestone

Making the Next Five Years Count Before Turning 50

Something I’m Learning

Happy New Year, friends!

As we tick into a new year and this wee newsletter crosses the 18-month mark, I’d love to get some quick feedback on what is and isn’t working for you. Would you do me a HUGE favor and respond to this anonymous reader survey? It will take less than 2 minutes of your time. THANK YOU!

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A few weeks ago, I read a LinkedIn post that jolted me. My friend Ben Keene, who like me has recently started working concertedly on climate change, shared three observations: first, that while there’s still a very long way to go, there’s so much progress being made to address climate change; second, we have just kicked off the second half of what’s been called the ‘decisive decade’, so we need to move a lot faster; and third, on a personal note, he’s disappointed by his own impact in the first half of the decade and wants to make up for it in the second half in time for his 50^th birthday in 2030.

Ben’s unsparing reflection made me look back at my own work over the last five years. While it certainly wasn’t a specific plan, in hindsight, the last five years were about exiting my first start-up and embarking on a winding and unpredictable ‘climate journey’ towards a new one.

So far I’ve been fairly quiet about this new start-up, the Climate Talent Initiative (CTI), as we figure out our strategy, programs, branding and business model. Everything’s still in beta but we’re working closely with partners on a 3-year plan. I’m hoping we emerge from our cocoon in Q2 with a targeted strategy for the near future and a clear north star for the rest of the decisive decade. (For a preview, here’s a thought bubble I wrote about a year ago. CTI is being built around this idea that as more people make careers out of addressing the climate crisis, we’ll make exponentially more progress across society as a whole.)

Like Ben, I will turn 50 in 2030, at the end of the decisive decade, and I too want to make these next five years truly count – by helping others do so too. Which will give us all cause to make it a real birthday party. So let’s go!

Something to Consider

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Something to Quote

You have to make your game in the time that you have. If you’re always aiming for perfection, you won’t make anything at all.

- Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow