In the Best Of episode, we look back at Dan Wideaier of Bolt Threads. Dan Widmaier is a bioengineer who’s taking on the fashion and beauty industries. As the Co-Founder and CEO of Bolt Threads, he’s ushering in a new era of regenerative lab grown materials that can help us reverse course when it comes to the health of our planet. In this episode Dan and I talked about the science behind Bolt Threads’ patented materials, and how they’re being adopted by big brands like Stella McCartney and Adidas...
Jan 10, 2023•34 min•Season 4Ep. 25
In the Best Of episode, we look back at Bryce Fluellen of Everytable. Bryce Fluellen is the Executive Director of Social Equity Franchise at Everytable. They are redefining the fast-food landscape by selling nutritious, fresh, made-from-scratch food at fast-food prices in underserved communities. To that end, they’re reducing meal prices to meet the minimum income of each community. Bryce is a master chef who has worked with nationwide restaurants to drive systemic change to benefit underserved ...
Jan 03, 2023•43 min•Season 4Ep. 24
In this Best Of episode, we look back at Martin Wittaker of JUST Capital. Whether you know it or not, JUST Capital is playing a crucial role in business by supplying the economy with critical knowledge that holds companies accountable based on what they hear directly from the American public and how the American public believes they should behave. In this episode, JUST Capital CEO Martin Whittaker and I had a thought-provoking conversation around the present and future of business. We explored h...
Dec 27, 2022•41 min•Season 4Ep. 23
In this Best Of episode, we look back at Sally Uren of Forum For The Future. Sally runs a leading sustainability non-profit called Forum For The Future that works directly with big brands and business leaders to create global change. Together we discuss the future of humanity (literally), and how we’re seeing very different trajectories play out simultaneously in real time. And what I particularly love about this conversation is that Sally points to growing movements, such as regenerative agricu...
Dec 20, 2022•30 min•Season 4Ep. 22
KoAnn is the Founder and CEO of Sustainable Life Media, producers and conveners of the internationally respected Sustainable Brands community. Through Sustainable Brands, she and her team lead the global conversation about how 21st-century brands can, and are delivering new business value through innovation for environmental and social purpose. In this episode, we discuss the evolution of sustainability efforts around the world and the positive progress we're making, as well as exciting and disr...
Dec 13, 2022•42 min•Season 4Ep. 21
David Clark is the Founder and CEO of The Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance, an international initiative ensuring climate change is recognized as the human rights crisis that leading scientists and human rights advocates, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, have declared it to be. In this episode, he reveals the state of the climate movement and how companies large and small can participate in meaningful ways that support much-needed business growth while...
Dec 06, 2022•49 min•Season 4Ep. 20
It’s hard to overstate Paul Hawken’s contribution to transforming the relationship between humanity, business and the natural world. His books and leadership have built the foundation and laid out the roadmap for how we work together to address the climate crisis. It was a privilege to speak with him about his new book: Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation. Paul Hawken Paul Hawken starts ecological businesses, writes about nature and commerce, and consults with heads of stat...
Nov 29, 2022•44 min•Season 4Ep. 19
The beauty industry is undergoing a massive transformation. Pascal Houdayer is CEO of Orveon, a new and disruptive enterprise at the forefront of this reinvention. As a purpose-driven leader with 30+ years of experience in Beauty & Personal Care, he’s committed to exposing the dirty secrets of “clean” beauty and realizing his vision of “pure beauty” as part of holistic health and wellness. In this episode, he shares how to plan, launch, and disrupt a powerful and pervasive industry, and how ...
Nov 22, 2022•49 min•Season 4Ep. 18
Waste is one of the most dire and distressing issues we face today both for our own lives and for the planet. Tom Szaky is the founder and CEO of TerraCycle, a global leader in the collection and repurposing of complex waste streams polluting our planet. The company operates in 21 countries, working with the world’s largest brands and companies to recycle products and packaging that currently go to landfill or incineration. In this episode, he shares why it has become such a growing and seemingl...
Nov 15, 2022•47 min•Season 4Ep. 17
Dr. Tom Hunsaker is an international bestselling author and thought leader who previously served as Associate Dean of Innovation for the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He also helped to pioneer the Global Challenge Lab, a cutting-edge capstone course that engages students with global organizations to solve challenges related to growth and impact. In this episode, he shares what leadership can and must look like to ensure your company thrives in turbulent times while also scaling its im...
Nov 08, 2022•48 min•Season 4Ep. 16
Nelson Switzer is a Managing Partner at Climate Innovation Capital. His career has included advising and leading the sustainability, environmental, and corporate responsibility offices of some of the world’s most influential companies, including Nestlé, PwC, Centrica, and the Royal Bank of Canada. He is recognized as a pioneer in the fields of sustainability strategy, sustainable finance, and ESG, and as an expert in climate change, water, and pollution. In this episode, he shares how the invest...
Nov 01, 2022•51 min•Season 4Ep. 15
James Citron is the CEO of Pledge, the world's first software platform to empower brands to find their purpose and integrate impact into their core to create better businesses and achieve sustainable social impact. In this episode, he shares how to leverage technology most effectively to ensure that every donation dollar does the greatest good, and how companies, nonprofits, and donors can combine their efforts to provide much-needed support through these very turbulent times. Lead With We is pr...
Oct 25, 2022•41 min•Season 4Ep. 14
When it comes to social impact, Starbucks has been leading the pack for decades. In fact, it’s hard to keep track of all their initiatives, from local community grants to groundbreaking standards it created to source ingredients like coffee beans and cocoa. In this episode of Lead With We, I got the chance to chat with Virginia Tenpenny, Starbucks’ Chief Social Impact Officer, who shared how Starbucks brings purpose to life on a daily basis, the future of leadership, localizing large-scale impac...
Oct 18, 2022•29 min•Season 4Ep. 13
Matt Bertulli serves as the CEO and co-founder of Pela, an international company leveraging sustainability to make “everyday products without everyday waste”. With products ranging from phone covers to sunglasses to Lomi composting machines, Pela sits at the forefront of how business reimagines and reengineers how we live while building a high-growth business. Inspiring and ingenious in equal parts, Pela reveals what a multistakeholder movement looks like to realize a sustainable future. Lead Wi...
Oct 11, 2022•50 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Kevin Edwards is the General Manager and Host of the Real Leaders Podcast, a Top 100 Podcast for both US and Canada Business News. Since 2015 he’s recorded more than 500 interviews with impact CEOs to educate and inspire listeners about the future of leadership. In this episode, Simon and Kevin share how to combine your personal and professional lives to be the best leader you can be, and how business leaders can and must show up to thrive in these changing and challenging times. Lead With We is...
Oct 04, 2022•53 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Rob Cameron is Nestlé’s Global Head of Public Affairs and ESG Engagement. He brings 25 years of experience in the fields of sustainability and corporate responsibility. Nestle is the world's largest, most diversified food and beverage company. It has a unique global footprint and sells products in over 180 countries working to enhance the quality of life and build a healthier future for people across the. In this episode, we'll discuss how a company with such a complex and consequential footprin...
Sep 27, 2022•55 min•Season 4Ep. 10
Brenda Demers is the CEO of SmartyPants Vitamins, where she most recently led the company’s integration into the Unilever's Health & Wellbeing collective — while propelling the business to a Top-10 share position in the multivitamin category through her focus on marketing and operational excellence. In this episode, she shares how to build and scale a company that not only wins over employees and consumers, but also drives extraordinary growth while creating critical impact. She also explain...
Sep 20, 2022•48 min•Season 4Ep. 9
We're excited to launch this new POV format where, once a month, I go head-to-head with a featured guest. For our first POV episode, we welcome Heather Clancy, the Vice President and Editorial Director at GreenBiz. GreenBiz Group is a media and events, member-based company that recognizes the inextricable link between climate change and social change. Join Heather and I in a critical discussion around the climate and sustainability landscape, how business is showing up, and why we both believe t...
Sep 13, 2022•1 hr•Season 4Ep. 8
Patagonia is an outdoor apparel company based in Ventura, California with a mission to save our home planet. It was founded in 1976 by Yvon Chouinard and was the first B-Corporation in the state. Rick was Vice President of Environmental Initiatives and Special Media Projects for Patagonia for 15 years during which he founded the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. In addition to his accomplishments at Patagonia, Rick is recognized as one of the world’s foremost mountaineers. Along with Yvon and anoth...
Sep 06, 2022•47 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Tracey Franklin is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Moderna, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company playing a critical role in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic. Its enduring mission is to deliver on the promise of mRNA science to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients. Over the last two years, they were challenged to do so while facing extraordinary pressures, expectations, and conditions. In this episode, Tracy shares how Moderna works to solve this global heal...
Aug 30, 2022•44 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Jessica Rolph is the co-founder and CEO of Lovevery, a company best known for its award-winning subscription play kits, designed by child development experts and distilled to their purest purpose to be exactly what children need at each stage of life. In this episode, she shares how to design, launch, and scale a high growth and high impact business that combines the best interest of its customers, the greatest potential for profit, and the deepest commitment to the planet and our future while a...
Aug 23, 2022•44 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Daniel Epstein is the founder and CEO of Unreasonable. An international company dedicated to supporting growth equity entrepreneurs, re-purposing capitalism, and bending history in service of people and the planet. Part investment firm, part media house, and most importantly a global community of like-minded and passionate change agents, Unreasonable partners with multinational institutions and respected brands to support impactful growth stage entrepreneurs. In this episode, Daniel shares how t...
Aug 16, 2022•57 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Angela Baker is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Qualcomm, a leading global technology company enabling a world where everyone and everything can be intelligently connected. In this episode, Angela explains how 5G technology not only drives transformative innovation but also holds the key to myriad avenues of impact, from regenerative agriculture to education to health and safety. And how such technologies can accelerate and scale dramatic improvements in people's lives at a time when it's cr...
Aug 09, 2022•48 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Carina Cortez is the Chief People Officer at Glassdoor. Built on the foundation of increasing workplace transparency, Glassdoor offers insights into the employee experience powered by millions of company ratings and reviews, CEO approval ratings, salary reports, and more – all by the employees themselves. Carina is passionate about building the future of work and helping people find meaning in their work at a time when this is critical to every business. In this episode, she shares what she had ...
Aug 02, 2022•44 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Over the past 25 years, Lotus Foods has imported over 25 million pounds of certified organic rice from a multi-country network of rice producers whose lives and communities have been transformed by access to markets and organic and fair trade premiums. In this episode, Co-Founders Caryl Levine and Ken Lee share how their commitment to organic and regenerative practices is generating more rice from less land, preserving valuable genetic biodiversity, saving hundreds of millions of gallons of wate...
Jul 26, 2022•50 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Bryce Fluellen is the Executive Director of Social Equity Franchise at Everytable. They are redefining the fast-food landscape by selling nutritious, fresh, made-from-scratch food at fast-food prices in underserved communities. To that end, they’re reducing meal prices to meet the minimum income of each community. Bryce is a master chef who has worked with nationwide restaurants to drive systemic change to benefit underserved populations and communities. In this conversation, he shares how his p...
May 10, 2022•43 min•Season 3Ep. 26
Adam Grogan is the President of Greenleaf Foods, a portfolio of leading plant-based protein brands including Lightlife Foods and Field Roast that are transforming the future of food. Greenleaf Foods, SPC is a wholly-owned, independent subsidiary of Maple Leaf Foods Inc, a one hundred year old iconic brand headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Adam leads Greenleaf’s strategic direction, financial performance, innovation, customer development and distribution. In this episode, he shares how Greenleaf ...
May 03, 2022•48 min•Season 3Ep. 25
Stacey Tank is the Chief Transformation Officer at Heineken, the world's most international brewer, where she oversees the company's new growth strategy, ‘EverGreen’ and its latest sustainability and ESG vision, Brew a Better World 2030. She reveals how a complex, global enterprise reengineers its business and reimagines the role of its brands to not only serve moments of celebration that bring people together, but also a regenerative future that benefits all. Stacy Tank: Stacey Tank is currentl...
Apr 26, 2022•47 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Seth Goldman is the, Co-Founder and Chief Change Agent of Eat the Change which is a food company focusing on sustainable and plant-based ingredients to empower us to, "eat the change you wish to see in the world." Before co-founding, Eat The Change Seth was the Founder of Honest Tea the multi-million organic tea company that was acquired by Coca-Cola in 2011 and is Chair of the board of Beyond Meat the plant-based meat substitutes company. In this conversation, Seth talks about why he is passion...
Apr 19, 2022•46 min•Season 3Ep. 23
Michele Mosa is the Director of Corporate Citizenship at Samsung Electronics America. In her role, Michele guides their transformative initiatives, including Samsung’s annual ‘Solve For Tomorrow’ Contest. The contest is open to all public school students and encourages them to build solutions and address the most pressing issues impacting society. Michele reveals why it is so critical for her company to support public teachers, help mentor the innovators of tomorrow, and build a brighter future ...
Apr 12, 2022•38 min•Season 3Ep. 22
