Cycle Times

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” Bill Gates.

There are a lot of ways to make a program grow. Scale seems to be the word that everyone gravitates toward. I love scale, and I have also found scaling challenging and risky (acknowledging that there are people who are MUCH better at this than me). I am going to focus on cycle times.

Every organization has a variety of cycles. There are annual cycles, quarterly cycles, monthly cycles, weekly cycles, etc. Some of these cycles are well thought out. I have also found that many of these cycles are either a product of the market or a product of habit.

Cycles of Habit

What do I mean by a product of habit? There are some things we do “because they have always been done that way.” There are leadership parables (link) about this, and honestly, we all do this to a certain extent. I think we call it “culture.” Fiscal year (FY) and calendar year (CY) cycles seem to drive cycles of habit. These are things like annual carbon footprints, annual budget requests, annual audits, etc. I’m sure as I start listing those, the seasons of your job are starting to flood your mind, and your to-do list might be on your mind.

Markets Cycles

We’re all familiar with market cycles. Whether it is pumpkin spice *anything*, technology, fashion, you name it. Some of these cycles reflect an important reality, and some of these cycles are just the way things have been.

Increasing Cycle Time

There are critical areas of all of our work where increasing cycle time accelerates and improves outcomes. A great example is utility bills. Most organizations pay their utility bills. Some organizations review their bills annually, maybe seeing if their consumption matches historical usage. Aggressive organizations assess their utilities monthly, which is the maximum cycle time most utilities facilitate. Making a jump from annual assessments to monthly assessments is at least 12X more data points and may start to change your decision making. 

• Annual – Big picture changes
• Monthly
• Weekly
• Daily
• Hourly
• Realtime

The first time I knew I was depressed was the first time I got high on marijuana. I was a highschooler. I was sitting in the back of a Honda driving through suburban Park City, IL. I knew I was there to get high. Five of us, passing a bowl while snaking through the suburbs. The high hit and I could think about was how sad I was. 

I had been sad for at least six years, probably longer. From what I’ve read, cannabinoids can knock out enough of the brain noise that we might know where we’re actually at. Our brain produces cannabinoids naturally to help the brain filter. Additional cannabinoids could help this process.

The first time I knew I was anxious was the first time I ate mushrooms. I was in my junior year of college, and I ate ~½ an eighth. I didn’t feel anything until I couldn’t keep my head straight. We took an adventure out to the college track, meandered through the neighborhoods, zoned out at the popcorn ceiling, and realized that the elapsed time was thirty-odd minutes. My type-A mind was blown. How could so much happen in so little time? More importantly, how could it happen without my micromanagement? 

The first time I knew the world we live in was incomprehensibly beautiful was the first time I did LSD. I was newly married, on a camping trip in the Uintas, and took half a tab. Just enough to make the trail sparkle. The greens were greener. The grays were grayer. The sunset made me smile. 

I can’t say that I condone drug use, and I wouldn’t know that I don’t. Aside from coffee, I’m hesitant about stimulants. Despite the adverse effects on sleep, cannabis can be an excellent tool. Entheogens hold so much promise.

Just today, I’m reveling in the beauty, the coincidence, the magic in my daily life. Totally sober, seeing beauty and gratitude that I don’t naturally see. Circling back, some of this is my dystemia. My natural malaise. My persistent, low-level depression that hues the world around me. What evert filters I might carry, it’s what I see. Entheogens have made my world better, more relatable, more approachable, more endearing.

I’ve done all of this as an amateur—smoking or eating what is in front of me, which sounds as reckless as it is. I’m anxious to take a full trip with an intentional set and setting. To be guided into by depths, barriers, anxieties, and obstacles, to face the disappointment of my expectations. I’d like to see and walk through the darkness. 

Continuing from How I Got Here: 1.0.

Sustainability Career 2.0 – The Lost Years

Towards the end of 2011, we landed in Boulder, CO. “We” became a deciding factor from this point on, both a challenge and an opportunity in building a lifelong career. I was working remotely for another consultancy on Federal Contracts. This consultancy was an education in two key things:

• Focusing on profit ahead of product
• Working alone

Aside from fieldwork, my work weeks were maybe 20-hours. I did a lot of hiking and I began experimenting with entrepreneurship. As educational as this all was, I wasn’t getting anywhere financially.

As we grew tired of Boulder we began to think about what and where might be next. My career offered up two big opportunities. Boise, ID, and Park City, UT. After much consternation, “we” decided on Park City, UT. 

Park City is where I currently call home. It is an awkward and expensive love affair. I’ve never owned a Porsche but I wonder if its the same. The barrier to entry and maintenance costs are high but you get to derive pleasure in mundane moments, oh, and you get a hat;)

Working for Park City I experienced “Terrible Bosses.” I also built nationally recognized programs, started a nonprofit, built lifelong friendships, and learned an incredible amount about myself. Scars and all. 

In early 2016, a friend and colleague of mine tossed me a lifesaver, a move to the University of Utah. 

I entered “The U” as a Sustainability Manager. It was a mediocre and somewhat desperate negotiation on my part with someone I’d later learn was “as tight as a Scotsman.” So maybe I did alright. Title aside, my role was essentially introducing and scaling sustainability on the operations/facilities side. I quickly learned that a University is a small, vertically integrated city. Significantly more control and responsibility than what I had in the past, even if no ever knows who is in charge. 

The big shift was moving from an organization of roughly 500 to over 10,000. One of the biggest benefits was upward mobility. I left the University in 2019 as a Deputy Program Manager, co-managing a team of eight. 

It’s worth mentioning that as much as I was taken care of at the U, I knew it wasn’t a fit. The culture of success is narrow. The stereotypes of beuaracratic bloat are true. My biggest critique is that university’s, on the whole, are disingenuous about their business models. Business model alignment is critical for successful sustainability programs, so I knew there was a ceiling.

Continuing from How I Got Here: Beta.

Sustainability Career 1.0

As grateful for these opportunities as I am looking back, I knew I had more to give the world than great shots of espresso and latte art. My then-girlfriend and I sat down with an atlas, a spreadsheet, and a general sense of opportunity. I wanted to build a career in sustainability, and she was passionate about food. We narrowed it down to:

1. San Francisco, CA – too expensive (which sounds quaint in 2020 looking back at 2007)
2. Vancouver, BC – obstacles of immigration/citizenship
3. Seattle, WA – just right

Like a lot of privileged choices, there wasn’t a wrong answer. We packed the cars and cut west in December of 2007 without jobs and the generous offer a place to call home until we figured it out. By February, we had a one-bedroom apartment in Capital Hill ($750/mo.), I worked for Dr. Dan’s Biodiesel while networking hard for a big-boy job, and my partner was an admin for Alex Steffen (during the Worldchanging years!). By April 2008, I landed the first of many dream jobs. I was Project Manager on Cascadia Consulting Group’s Waste Team. 

Arrogance, naivete, privilege, and youth aside, this was my first genuinely lucky break. I heard about the job through networking, somehow beat out a pool of 300 candidates, and joined a remarkable team. 

At this point in my career, I knew how to be a good student (a longer journey than I originally imagined), I knew how to grind, and I knew the basics of customer service. I was a long way from being a polished professional and knew next to nothing about consulting. 

To avoid too much digression, consulting was a wonderful teacher. I worked with smart, thoughtful, and genuinely good people. I also got to see waste, energy, and carbon through a variety of lenses. City, County, and state government. Waste haulers and utilities. Large corporations of a variety of stripes. I think this is where pragmatism (a part of my personality?) really took root. I also got straightforward lessons in systems thinking.

As the great recession took root, I had a growing urge to go back to school. I had a general notion that running a business better was more important than deepening whatever expertise I might have. I chose the Bainbridge Graduate Institute and an MBA in Sustainable Business ($90k) for better and worse.

It’s a general and safe assumption that grad school is a time in someone’s life where they want something different. Career. Partner. Identity. Whatever. For me, I broke up with my live-in girlfriend. Fell in love with my now wife. Left Cascadia. Moved into a Subaru Outback for a six-month road trip that ultimately ended in Boulder, CO. A longer story here for another time.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.” – Steve Jobs.

During grad school, we had a program called Change Agents in Residence, or CAIRs. We were graced with Kim Jordan, Adam Lowry, Ben Cohen, Robert Egger,  and many other luminaries in the field. Over and over, I heard how “luck” played a role in their success, prominence, breakthrough, survival, or whatever. 

This drove the younger me crazy. Luck isn’t replicable. I can’t build a career/business/breakthrough on chance, can I? 

From where I stand now, “luck” is an absolute part of my success. Whatever series of events lead to outcomes the benefited/undermined me were mostly out of my control. What I could control was being in the right place at the right time to benefit. I can’t say I did this patiently or with grace, but I was there. You have the same control. 

Sustainability Career Beta

When I graduated from Colorado College in 2006, I had a BA in Biology (+$120k), and I was a certified yoga instructor ($2k). I truly believe in a liberal arts education, and my entry into the “real job” market was as entitled as it was naive. I took a job as a lab technician at Abbott Laboratories. Looking back, it was an excellent job for the suburban midwest. I was treated well, they indulged my desire to do side projects, and I could network my way into a more permanent role. 

In the early ripples of the Great Recession, I lost both my contract role and a permanent role I was finalizing on the same day. I didn’t believe in what I was doing, my living expenses were meager, and aside from some student debt, life was simple. So I didn’t wallow much. 

I started stringing jobs together. The most lucrative was teaching yoga, bouncing between at least three studios, and a pair of health clubs (with the added benefit of a free place to workout). I also helped to open the Prairie Croissant Cafe in Prairie Crossing, IL, as a member of their staff. The Cafe, long-extinct, was founded on sustainable principles within a “sustainable” community. Business issues aside, the founders had a vision of equity, social justice, and environmentalism well-ahead of their time. I got incredible exposure to local producers, fell in love with good coffee (then called “third wave”), and benefited from numerous lessons in management, customer service, business, and humility. 

I count my time at the Prairie Croissant Cafe as my first job in sustainability with the caveat that doesn’t count towards my “professional career.”

Addiction is a topic I spend a lot of time studying. I think it has a genuine connection to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, genotype, phenotype, and culture. Further, I think it plays a critical role in sustainability. In many ways, addiction is the antithesis of a balanced approach to people, planet, and profit. 

For me, part of it’s personal. I’m the son of an alcoholic. Like a lot of large Catholic families, my dad wasn’t the only one in his family. Addiction, and its close cousin, depression, will be present in my life and your life. 

Addicts as Extremophiles.

One of the concepts I was taught in biology is that extremophiles (organisms that exist or even thrive on the fringes of what we understand to be survivable) can teach us a lot about ourselves. From the scientific perspective, extremophiles might use certain physiological, biochemical, behavioral, or other mechanisms to survive in extreme environments. Evolutionarily, we have common origins, so these mechanisms are often expressed in mesophiles/neutrophiles (organisms that exist in more average or “normal” conditions). 

To oversimplify this, think of every organism as a symphony. Mesophiles (like you and me) use the full suite of instruments. Extremophiles lean heavily on one instrument. It can be challenging to understand what a tuba does in a mesophile because it is surrounded by so much noise. An extremophile can help us understand what a tuba sounds like, how it works, its strengths and weaknesses.

Addiction is similar. It is a disease we all carry, and some of us are more likely than others to have to contend with it. To be clear, I am not talking about moral weakness (a damaging approach to addiction). I am talking about a part of our biology coupled with culture. What do addicts have to teach us? 

There are a lot of sayings about love. Virgil beat most authors to the punch with “Love conquers all. Love overcomes all obstacles.” To anyone who has lost someone to addiction, addiction wins most of the battles, if not the war. I know my dad loved me, and he gave his life to alcohol. This is a powerful insight into our psychology, physiology, biochemistry, habits, and sociology. Think of all the supposedly of the non-negotiable human drives (food, shelter, sleep, community, progeny, love, etc.) that are exchanged for an addiction. Addiction is a potent force.

I have been particularly interested in the opioid epidemic. I think this chart from the National Institute of Health (NIH) sums it up:

There are clearly other negative trends for methamphetamine and cocaine. Why is one of the most prosperous populations in one of the most prosperous countries in humanity’s history killing itself? It feels too obvious, but is a nation killing itself with painkillers experiencing immense pain? I think so.

Steering around specifically treating addiction (where there are some incredible breakthroughs and an unfortunate amount of fraud). I see a critical role for sustainability professionals to create whole, healthy, and even happy communities.