Bruce Piasecki on Climate Competitiveness and Trane Technologies

Sea Change Radio

Generally speaking, the exclusive guiding principle for corporate success seems to be making obscene amounts of money. But what if corporations recognized that a truly valuable return goes beyond wealth accumulation to include positive impacts on the environment and society? This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to Bruce Piasecki, an expert in the social impact investing space whose new book is entitled, Wealth and Climate Competitiveness. We learn about Piasecki's personal journey, find out why he believes one corporation, Trane Technologies, is doing the right things, and examine what he means by climate competitiveness. Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise. Bruce Piasecki (BP) | 00:21 - What my work has always been about is the art of competitive frugality. That those who learn how to do more with less waste, less prejudice, less bias, are actually agile enough to see advantage before others capitalize on it. Narrator | 00:42 - Generally speaking, the exclusive guiding principle for corporate success seems to be making obscene amounts of money. But what if corporations recognized that a truly valuable return goes beyond wealth accumulation to include positive impacts on the environment and society? This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to Bruce Piasecki, an expert in the social impact investing space whose new book is entitled, "Wealth and Climate Competitiveness." We learn about Piasecki's personal journey, find out why he believes one corporation, Trane Technologies, is doing the right things, and examine what he means by climate competitiveness. Alex Wise (AW) | 01:40 - I am joined now on Sea Change Radio by Bruce Piasecki. He is a book writer of the New York Times bestseller, "Doing More With Less," and he also is the co-founder of the Creative Force Foundation. His latest book is "Wealth and Climate Competitiveness." Bruce, welcome to See Change Radio. Bruce Piasecki (BP) | 02:01 - Very glad to be here. Alex Wise (AW) | 02:03 - I want to dive into one of the case studies within your book, "Wealth and Climate Competitiveness." But first, why don't you give us the basic thesis for the book. You're quite prolific, but I want to know the genesis of, or the inspiration behind the book, if you can, just in more of a general terms. Bruce Piasecki (BP) | 02:22 - To be supportive, it represents a sea change in me, . I had always wanted to write about prejudice, Alex, I look like a Caucasian athlete, which is my essence. But I had brothers, two of which were Puerto Rican and a Chinese sister Su-Yin Chang, and not a nuclear family. My mother, I had no father. He died when I was three. And so I witnessed the good trouble of prejudice from the time I was three throughout my first 20, 30 years of being a person in a neighborhood or in society. And so even though I had written, uh, books about famous people like Eileen Fisher or giants of social investing, I wanted to write a book from my heart about the prejudices I watched from poverty to wealth, how people's perspectives of me changed when I became exceedingly wealthy from my work. And I also wanted to write a book about how we can't solve the climate crisis unless we break down those prejudices. Alex Wise (AW) | 03:33 - And how does climate competitiveness play a role in that brainchild as well. BP | 03:39 - When I found myself working in seven person teams in 22 nations in Africa, of all things for Walmart, I started scratching my head. I had already worked for Toyota in helping them bring the hybrid powertrain and invent it here in North America. So I always was interested in doing more with less. I was always, uh, having been lucky enough to have been born poor and having climbed a series of social ladders by the time I was 25, I was shocked that some of the world's biggest, most impactful firms, Walmart and Toyota being two of many hired us for change management.