Making the Wrong Call
Ten years ago I made an ethical lapse that still makes me wince. I was under pressure, and I made the wrong call. At the time, ClimeCo was growing fast. I was working on a large environmental commodity transaction and had been collaborating with a friend at a major trading company. When his firm passed […]
Seeing Eyewear Differently: Karun
Beyond sustainability, this company is working toward regeneration with its recycled glasses. Cigarette butts. Used fishing nets. Old carpets. Their next stop is typically the landfill, but one company sees these items as ready for their next life and in an unexpected place — on your face. Karun makes fashionable eyewear from recycled materials. Founded […]
Breaking Up With Wall Street
One spring night in 2005, I was walking back to my New York apartment still energized from a major professional win. As CEO of Deutsche Bank’s U.S. Private Wealth Management division, I had just led a transformation: turning an annual $130-million loss into a division with a 25% profit margin. I was managing more than […]
From Devastation to Destiny: How Losing Everything Led Me Here
I never thought I’d become food insecure at 44 years old. For 23 years I built a career I was proud of: 16 years in finance managing $4.5-billion commercial portfolios, fundraising $250,000 for a nonprofit organization in four years, and on the flipside, I spent weekends for 20 years in event production. From the outside […]
A Simplicity Revolution
Empower your team by fixing work. How often does unplanned or unnecessary work hijack your time or push back your goals? This is a common reality for many leaders today, leaving them wondering if they need to get organized or multitask. But what if the issue isn’t you? What if the problem lies in how […]
How Losing Out on a Dream Building – and $135,000 – Became My MBA
That failed deal gave me the tools to help build a thriving firm. In 2015 I tried to purchase my favorite building in downtown Norfolk, Virginia. The Monticello Arcade is a beautiful 1907 historic structure where Work Program Architects, the architecture firm I co-founded in 2010, had its office. I loved that building from the […]
My Kid Doesn’t Want My Company — What Now?
This transition model was the solution I needed to secure my succession plan. Sometimes the right choice isn’t the easiest or most obvious one, but after extensive research and careful consideration, I transitioned my company into an employee-owned business. Here’s an inside look at why I chose this model, how we made the transition, and […]
Fall 2025 Gifts for Good
Shop these cozy fall favorites and discover products that are better for people and planet. Prosperous Pours: Candles Igniting OpportunityProsperity Candle’s studio is a place of new beginnings where women who resettled in the U.S. from overseas refugee camps earn a living wage as candlemakers. The B Corp’s candles contain all-natural soy and coconut waxes, […]
Why Not Give 75%?
There was never one grand moment when everything changed. No crisis, no revelation. Just a steady pulse — an inner voice that’s been there for as long as I can remember: Do good in the world. It’s not a motto or a marketing line. It’s the question I try to keep close. Not every decision […]
Backyard Peace Story
It was a warm California afternoon, the kind that hums with possibility. I was sitting in a circle of extraordinary leaders in Los Angeles — people I had admired from afar for years. The energy in the room was electric yet deeply peaceful, like every heart had been cracked open. I felt like I had […]
