Electric Ladies Podcast

Doing well by doing good is a universal value - but is it only for the lucky few? Nancy Pfund, Managing Partner of DBL Investors, who has been featured in the New York Times as a pioneer, talks with Green Connections host Joan Michelson about how to do it. What are the key components? Is there a trade-off?  Listen to this fascinating discussion with this powerful and kind former lead investor in T...

Dell Computers is one of the Fortune 500 leaders in integrating sustainability across the company. How? Why did the company go private (rather than stay a publicly-traded company)? How do you change behavior to achieve their ambitious goals? Listen to GCR host Joan Michelson's short conversation with Dell's Chief Responsibility Officer, Trisa Thompson, to find out. This segment is also available o...

Listen to this fascinating discussion with one of the world's foremost business leaders and innovators, Dr. Sophie Vandebroek, Chief Technology Officer of Xerox. You'll hear about: "The democratization of energy" and how will it give us - consumers and business leaders - control over what type of energy we use for which purpose and when! Breakthrough battery technologies that are about to transfor...

Did you know the U.S. Dept. of Defense is the largest energy consumer on the planet -- and the Army is the largest one in the federal government? The Army's Net Zero Initiative 's goal is to reduce its total energy and water use to "net zero," and to reduce waste in landfills to net zero too. So how do this-- and how well is it working? Listen to this fascinating and engaging discussion with the p...

Debbie Levin personally converted Hollywood's television and movie productions into a greener way of doing business – and awards them when they do, as founder of the Environmental Media Awards. Awardees include Gwyneth Paltrow, 21st Century Fox, "Steve Jobs" the movie, and even "Star Wars." In this brief interview at an Environmental Media Association gala, Levin tells Green Connections host Joan...

If you met Leilani Munter you would never guess she was one of the highest-performing race car drivers on the planet. This dynamic woman is transforming the race car industry – one race, one tree-planting, one solar-powered race car pit at a time. Literally. Listen to this biologist-turned racing phenom Leilani tell Green Connections host Joan Michelson how crossing driving a race car off her buck...

"It's easier to change the world if you have money." Julie Lenzer Kirk, award-winning serial entrepreneur and head of the Economic Development Administration Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE) at the U.S. Commerce Department.  As a mentor to entrepreneurs and an author, Kirk shares juicy insider tips for fulfilling the entrepreneur's 'hierarchy of needs" based on her own successes (an...

By innovatively solving a technical exhaust problem, this creative team from NG1 Techflo Exhaust won the Clean Tech Open – and all the funding and contacts that come with it.  What can you learn from their experience – and do you want this on your truck? "One class 8 truck can save 40,000 lbs of carbon /year" with the NG1 system, and potentially $5,000-$10,000 in related costs, according to the NG...

Remarkable clean energy innovations, the challenges of a carbon tax, jobs, and investing in clean energy - told with great stories. All from a man who carries the legacy of one of the most renowned (and provocative) United States Presidents. Listen to this engaging and enlightening interview with an activist scion of one of the most famous families in U.S. history. Ted Roosevelt IV tells Green Con...

Your brain and heart are 73% water, your lungs are ~83% water, your skin is 64% water, and your muscles and kidneys are 79% water.  Even your bones are 31% water. Yet 1.2 billion people live under water stress on the planet – and have you noticed that you're paying more for produce? It's the economic impact of the severe drought threatening our food supply. We've all seen the images from Californi...

Tired of buying the same types of gifts? Listen to Jules Pieri, Founder & CEO of the creative gift site The Grommet on unique gifts "made by real people with stories and values worth sharing."  Listen to Jules share some of her favorite picks from their catalog and the cool stories of the makers behind them.  For Dad, the grad, Mom, birthdays, anniversaries or holidays, The Grommet Holiday Catalog...

Homes and buildings use an astonishing 40 percent of energy in the US – but author Sheri Koones shows us another way. Her book series of "Prefabulous" homes – from economy to luxury – give you a tour of the homes and how they were built so you can learn how to do it too. If you think "prefab" means mobile home, think again and listen in to this engaging interview with Green Connections host Joan M...

Remember the last time you lost power…Did you lose documents on your computer? Was your home suddenly dark, leaving you fumbling around for a flashlight? Was it a bad storm?  Our power-dependent lives are brought to a screeching halt when we lose electricity – and it's scary, even life-threatening too. What if it doesn't have to be that way? Microgrids are one of the new technologies turning the u...

Based on her experience working with Fortune 500 companies like Boeing, Nathalie Udo shares her practical insights into taking a large company from awareness that they need to be more eco-friendly to action steps on how to do it. These include insights she wrote about in her book "Organizational Survival" co-authored with  Gregory Balestrero. You'll want to take notes on this one! Although 80% of...

Do you want to invest with principle but are concerned about making the most financial return too? The long time CEO of Calvert Investments (now retired), Barbara Krumsiek frankly discusses the pros and cons of socially responsible investing (SRI) in this engaging conversation with Green Connections host Joan Michelson. What is it exactly, what are the do's and don'ts of successful socially respon...

Two young entrepreneurs, Andrea Shreshta and her cofounder Anna Stork, won $200,000 from Mark Cuban, along with his mentorship, on "Shark Tank" for their solar powered inflatable light, LuminAID . And they have grown in leaps and bounds since. How did they do it? Developed in response to the massive earthquake in Haiti, LuminAID was born out of the need they saw for one of life's basic necessities...

"Wind and solar are crushing fossil fuels," according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance on April 6, 2016. How is this happening? Transformative innovation. One of the transformational leaders is Jennifer Baird, CEO of Accio Energy who Green Connections host Joan Michelson spoke with in this fascinating interview from the ARPA-E Innovation Summit.  Their innovative, blade-free wind technology was awa...

Americans love their SUV's and the number of electric vehicles on the road is still only a small percentage of all vehicles. Transportation is one of the top energy users on the planet and car manufacturers respond to what we buy – not what we say. Anna Schneider, Vice President of Industry-Government Relations at Volkswagen of America shares with host Joan Michelson the auto industry's challenges...

Many folks joining the clean, green economy are coming from another industry or at least changing jobs as the industry evolves. So, h ow can we successfully navigate career transitions? In this straight-talking, engaging interview with Green Connections host Joan Michelson, renowned leadership coach Dani Ticktin Koplik of dtkResources shares the top three things to know going in that will lead you...

There is no tradeoff between luxury and sustainability , says Cindy Ortega, SVP and Chief Sustainability Officer of MGM Resorts, who ensures their 23 luxury resorts worldwide use the most viable sustainable options - with surprises. Part change agent, part CFO, and part sustainability evangelist, Cindy shares practical tips for selling sustainability (or any change) internally, motivating employee...

The #1 cause of many business failures is: Being blind to threats and opportunities. So what are we missing – and how do we stop the blindness?   Find out how our blind spots keep us stuck -- and how to see new, contrary ideas -- in this engaging interview, Green Connections host Joan Michelson talks with TED Talk phenom Margaret Heffernan, author of "Willful Blindness: Why we ignore the obvious a...

Reducing energy and water use in big businesses is a "big pivot" that requires and/or affects all their stakeholders -- and requires innovative solutions. It can even change their business model. Listen here to the Global Head of GE Ecomagination Deb Frodl tell Green Connections host Joan Michelson about how they chose eight huge multinationals to collaborate with to find innovative solutions and...

"Change, adapt or die."  In this conversation with Green Connections host Joan Michelson, author Jeffrey Hayzlett encourages audiences to "own who you are," to "think big, act bigger" (the title of his new book), and to listen....carefully... But how do you "act big" when you don't have the money? How do you know when to adapt and when to hold firm? What's his number one tip for succeeding in busi...

The effervescent Geeta Nadkarni – who wowed the audience of 1700 professional speakers at the National Speakers Association "Influence" conference – tells us how to be a "media magnet" by doing our own public relations. In this short interview, Geeta and Green Connections host Joan Michelson (also a pr maven) share some easier-than-you think tips for leveraging the media to build your audience wit...

Grapes as eyeballs? Coach, author and speaker, Laurie Guest explains to Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson how to use stories, images and humor in your conversations and presentations to engage and influence your audience. That can be a lunch meeting for two, an internal meeting of five, or a conference with hundreds. They also talk about the third rail of business: how to set your fees and manag...