How to Define and Measure Success in Life and Career - Andrew Hutson

In Chapter 2 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Andrew Hutson answers "How Do You Define and Measure Success in What You Do?"  Hutson looks at objective success measures that be tracked over time.  He also looks at how this impacts personal life and career goals, noting how a successful project may not necessarily raise personal or professoinal wellbeing.  Hutson is a senior project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he advises corporate partners such as Wal-Mart on sustainable supply chain initiatives.  Hutson holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MEM from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.  He earned his BA from Michigan State University. 

How to Make Work Meaningful and Lasting - Andrew Hutson

In Chapter 3 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Andrew Hutson answers "How Are You Learning to Make Your Work More Meaningful and Lasting?"  Hutson, an environmental advocate, finds lasting purpose working to preserve the Earth and habitat for future generations.  Fundamentally this is why he does what he does.  He looks at meaningful in the context of both to self and to others.  Hutson is a senior project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he advises corporate partners such as Wal-Mart on sustainable supply chain initiatives.  Hutson holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MEM from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.  He earned his BA from Michigan State University. 

Career Benefits of Graduate School Research Training - Andrew Hutson

In Chapter 4 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Andrew Hutson answers "How Has Your Graduate School Education Helped You Become a More Disciplined Thinker?"  Hutson, an environmental advocate working in the private sector, notes how his PhD research training is useful in his career advising clients and solving industry problems.  He notes how his graduate school and PhD training has given him problem solving methods - structured thinking skills - that have made him a more effective professional.  Hutson is a senior project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he advises corporate partners such as Wal-Mart on sustainable supply chain initiatives.  Hutson holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MEM from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.  He earned his BA from Michigan State University. 

How to Develop Practical Problem Solving Skills - Andrew Hutson

In Chapter 6 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Andrew Hutson answers "How Have Your Problem Solving Skills Developed Since Joining EDF?"  Hutson notes how he has become more practical working at EDF, or the Environmental Defense Fund, as an advisor to corporate clients.  He notes the results-driven nature of EDF generates a gratifying feeling of accountability and ownership associated with managing a project from start to finish.  Hutson is a senior project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he advises corporate partners such as Wal-Mart on sustainable supply chain initiatives.  Hutson holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MEM from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.  He earned his BA from Michigan State University. 

Learning to Lead in an Environmental Career - Andrew Hutson

In Chapter 8 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Andrew Hutson answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?"  Hutson notes the importance of getting ahead of the issue and understand how to solve it in ways others are not thinking about it.  He details creative, collaborative, and innovative ways to think about problem solving.  Hutson puts this in context of his environmental work overcoming media and general public challenges to scientific findings and the leadership requirements necessary to communicate, educate, and lead.  Hutson is a senior project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he advises corporate partners such as Wal-Mart on sustainable supply chain initiatives.  Hutson holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MEM from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.  He earned his BA from Michigan State University. 

How Inspirational Leaders Teach Big Thinking - Andrew Hutson

In Chapter 9 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Andrew Hutson answers "What Has Reading Gandhi Taught You About How You Set Goals?"  Ghandi teaches Hutson why and how to think big, especially when and where it is needed.  This big thinking helps Hutson set seemingly impossible to accomplish goals in his own work in the environment.  Hutson is a senior project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he advises corporate partners such as Wal-Mart on sustainable supply chain initiatives.  Hutson holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MEM from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.  He earned his BA from Michigan State University. 

How Politics Impact Non-Profit Environmental Career - Andrew Hutson

In Chapter 10 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Andrew Hutson answers "How Does Politics Effect What You Do in Your Non-Profit Environmental Work?"  From an environmental community perspective, Hutson has seen it go from being on the verge of transformative legislation to combat climate change to needing to defend the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) right to do its job.  While Hutson finds some shelter working for private sector clients, he still feels the public and media pressures and resistance to general environmental and sustainability efforts.  Hutson is a senior project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he advises corporate partners such as Wal-Mart on sustainable supply chain initiatives.  Hutson holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MEM from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.  He earned his BA from Michigan State University. 

How Results-Driven Goals Transform Organizational Culture - Andrew Hutson

In Chapter 11 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Andrew Hutson answers "What Has Your Work Taught You About the Value of Results-Driven Goals?"  Hutson, a project manager working at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) finds a results-driven culture helps him be a better, and more fulfilled, manager.  He notes how a results-driven framework works well in his particular non-profit organization, blending donor and foundation relationships with an MBA and environmentalist employee base that works with private sector clients.  Hutson is a senior project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he advises corporate partners such as Wal-Mart on sustainable supply chain initiatives.  Hutson holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MEM from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.  He earned his BA from Michigan State University. 

Positive Psychology Impact on Environmentalist Career - Andrew Hutson

In Chapter 12 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Andrew Hutson answers "What Do You Find Most Challenging About Working in the Environment Business?"  Hutson notes the psychological challenges working in a field focused negative trends around growing environmental problems.  Specifically, it is about staying positive and objective in the face of big problems.  Hutson is a senior project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he advises corporate partners such as Wal-Mart on sustainable supply chain initiatives.  Hutson holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MEM from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.  He earned his BA from Michigan State University. 

How Environmental Innovation Works in the Private Sector - Andrew Hutson

In Chapter 13 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Andrew Hutson answers "What Has Your Environmental Work at Intersection of Public and Private Sectors Taught You About What Makes Innovation Work?"  First, Hutson notes, comes value creation.  This comes before solving problems or identifying needs.  Private sector environmental value creation and profitability must precede environmental benefit.  Hutson is a senior project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he advises corporate partners such as Wal-Mart on sustainable supply chain initiatives.  Hutson holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MEM from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.  He earned his BA from Michigan State University. 

How Project Manager Gets Chance to Work Abroad in China - Andrew Hutson

In Chapter 14 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Andrew Hutson "How Did You Get the Opportunity to Work Abroad in Hong Kong and Shanghai?"  Hutson, a project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), works on projects in energy efficiency and manufacturing.  This client work in consumer goods and retail takes him to Hong Kong and southern China, where Hutson has the opportunity to meet ambitious, energetic young professionals working  to make China a better country and become industry leaders.  Hutson is a senior project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he advises corporate partners such as Wal-Mart on sustainable supply chain initiatives.  Hutson holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MEM from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.  He earned his BA from Michigan State University. 

What Building and Selling Company Teaches Entrepreneur - Audrey Parker

In Chapter 8 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, entrepreneur Audrey Parker answers "How Has Going Through a Full Cycle of Starting, Growing, and Selling a Company Been Most Educational in How You See Your Career?" She finds the greatest value learning it is possible and that the cycle works. In each period, Parker immerses herself in the process, finding the most personal satisfaction in growing the company. In the end, she finds reward knowing the business she helped build was surviving and thriving and poised for future growth. Parker is currently on a one-year sabbatical. Parker co-founded CLEAResult, an energy management consulting firm. In 2010, CLEAResult ranked #144 in the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies. In late 2010, CLEAResult was sold to General Catalyst Partners. Parker graduated from Wake Forest University.

Fabian Pfortmüller on How to Apply Sustainable Design to Build an Ecofriendly Brand

In Chapter 13 of 19 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, community builder and entrepreneur Fabian Pfortmüller shares how his company Holstee applies sustainable design to build ecofriendly products.  He prioritizes values and sincerity to create positive impact across people, planet, and product.  He contrasts traditional definitions of "green business" with the Holstee focus on sustainable design, including products created by India-based NGO companies.  Pfortmüller is co-founder of Sandbox Network (www.sandbox-network.com).  He also co-founded an innovation think tank, Incubaker (www.incubaker.com), and is part of the group's first spin-off, Holstee (www.holstee.com), an apparel brand for people who would like to wear their passion.  Pfortmüller graduated from Columbia University and its School of General Studies. 

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: Given what you do at Holstee running a marketplace for sustainable products, what does it mean to be green?

Fabian Pfortmüller: We think about that a lot and we actually don’t call ourselves a green company because it’s a very fuzzy term, what does it really mean to be green? Nowadays every single big company has something on it’s logo that says ‘We’re green’ or ‘We care about the environment’. I believe to be truly green or to be sustainable is to be genuine and to really - you as a brand not just say like ‘Oh, we going to recycle some stuff’ but to be really caring about those values.

The way we treat it in Holstee is that we say whatever we do needs to have a positive impact on all stake holders involved and we summarized it in people, planet, product: the people who work on it, the planet that kind of gets the resource and the product itself needs to be something that’s not going to fall apart after five days or so, that needs to be sustainable as well and… in terms of is that green or not, we have a lot of products which are not recycle material, so they’re not green in the classical sense but they were done with an NGO that hires some of the poorest women in India and gives them like jobs and treats them well and gives them fair wages, we think that’s just as important.

How to Make a Vegetable Garden More Sustainable - Cathy Erway

In Chapter 12 of 19 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with Erik Michielsen, author, food writer, and rooftop gardener Cathy Erway shares how she is innovating her vegetable garden to be more sustainable. Over the course of her first season, she learns the importance of making the garden work within the existing environment and how sub-irrigation can improve efficiency. Erway also learns to apply traditional Japanese composting technique to enrich the soil. Erway is the author of "The Art of Eating In: How I learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove." She writes two blogs, "Not Eating Out in New York" (http://www.noteatingoutinny.com ) and "Lunch at Six Point" (http://www.lunchatsixpoint.com ). Erway earned her B.A. in Creative Writing from Emerson College.

How Oxford PhD Studies Shape Conservation Biology Career - Alayne Cotterill

In Chapter 13 of 13 in her 2010 interview with Capture Your Flag Host Erik Michielsen, wildlife biologist and Oxford University Lady Margaret Hall PhD candidate Alayne Cotterill details what it was like returning to school after years doing field work across Africa. Cotterill benefits by deadline-driven learning, adding new tools such as statistics and data modeling to improve her conservation biology field research. Learn more about Alayne's work at http://www.lionconservation.org. Learn more about Lady Margaret Hall at http://www.lmh.ox.ac.uk/.

How Lion Field Work Informs Oxford PhD Research - Alayne Cotterill

In Chapter 12 of 13 in her 2010 interview with Capture Your Flag Host Erik Michielsen, wildlife biologist and Oxford University Lady Margaret Hall PhD candidate Alayne Cotterill shares how she applies field work studying lions to her doctorate research. Cotterill emphasizes the importance of using field research to ask the right questions when designing a PhD and following this up with the necessary academic training and field research. Learn more about Alayne's work at http://www.lionconservation.org. Learn more about Lady Margaret Hall at http://www.lmh.ox.ac.uk/.

How Female Biologist Earns Peer Respect in Male Dominated Industry - Alayne Cotterill

In Chapter 11 of 13 in her 2010 interview with Capture Your Flag Host Erik Michielsen, wildlife biologist Alayne Cotterill shares how she developed peer respect and support working in a male dominated African conservation biologist world. She prioritizes not becoming masculine and quietly asserts herself, staying tough and refraining from showing weakness. Over time, the quiet confidence earns Cotterill support. Often isolated from human interaction, Cotterill turns to humor and writing to engage her family support network and help her through difficult times. Learn more about Alayne's work at http://www.lionconservation.org.

How Project Design Informs Conservation Biology Career - Alayne Cotterill

In Chapter 10 of 13 in her 2010 interview with Capture Your Flag Host Erik Michielsen, wildlife biologist Alayne Cotterill shares why designing a project from scratch, from concept to funding to execution, has been a major milestone in her wildlife biologist career development. Cotterill, a conservation biologist who studies large animal behavior, including lions, details how working in the African bush necessitates adaptability in her project work. Learn more about Alayne's work at http://www.lionconservation.org.