But he turned down a stranger's donation because he didn't want to be a burden. Turns out this stranger was a millionaire. This is integrity, kindness and empathy rolled neatly into a single Hungarian. This week's radar: Adam Csomor, Commercial Director at MIELL GREEN. MiellGreen takes plastic waste and turns it into fencing, pallets, garden furniture etc. that last 20-30 years. They've already given new life to over 1,100 tonnes of recycled plastic - the equivalent of 56 million PET bottles. Here's where it gets interesting. Hard-core sustainability professionals (often loudly) share their anti-plastic concerns. (I'm one of them 😅 ) Fair enough, but when only 9% of plastic worldwide is actually recycled, and with adoption and innovation in new materials still lagging... We need a solution to deal with the waste we have... Right. Now. Instead of being defensive, Adam gives them the space to say their piece. Get it all out. Feel heard and understood because he agrees! And then he asks one question: given that only 9% of plastic worldwide is actually recycled, and given what treated wood is doing to construction - don't we need everything in our arsenal? We do. We must all do what we can. That's Adam's whole philosophy. And it's MiellGreen's too. The best sustainability companies aren't perfect. They're relentlessly honest about where they are and where they're going. If you're interested in Adam's environmental or activist story (more in the comments), give Adam Csomor a follow and check out MIELL GREEN - good people doing necessary work.

Some important work happening for women's rights right now is being done quietly, by people you've been told are the enemy. Not because they're secretly good. But because the system they're operating inside makes transparency dangerous and silence strategic. It's a messy situation: 1) Oil revenue holds governments together. 2) Those governments write the rules. 3) The rules protect the revenue. Anyone who threatens that architecture (including a company trying to do right by its female workforce) risks being shown the door. This is not a defence of oil and gas. The spills happened. The emissions are real. Places in New Zealand, my home, are now uninsurable. But cancelling people is easier than understanding them. And we've seen what happens when climate action becomes a culture war - we lose the very people we need to change their minds. Thanks Stop Oil. Before you write someone off this week - ask yourself one question. What don't I actually know about this person? That question is where change starts. With curiosity. With empathy.

One of the most detrimental pieces of advice to empaths is to be less empathetic. When you're suffering in service to others, you don't 'tone down' your empathy for others. You tone up empathy for yourself. This means asking questions around the first and second spheres of empathy, to better self manage: 1) Why is this important to me? (First sphere, reconnecting to why) 2) What state am I in? Am I rested? Eaten? Calm? (Second sphere, your physical, emotional and conscious self) My wife constantly reminds me, "you can't be a good guy if you're not around." There are a few meditations on compassion I'll paste in the comments that help me when I'm feeling emotionally drained while in service to others. Pass it on to those who need it, and reach out to join our community of empathy practitioners, we meet once a month.

Here are the sources! £78 billion dividends / £64 billion debt: Financial Times via Left Foot Forward - https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/16-water-monopolies-have-paid-out-a-total-of-78bn-in-dividends-as-thames-water-teeters-on-the-brink/ UK Parliament Hansard October 2023: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-10-23/debates/FC2D9F7F-5961-4512-B448-24C16E9B75FA/WaterCompaniesRegulationAndFinancialStability Scottish Water ranked number one: https://www.watermagazine.co.uk/2023/09/21/scottish-water-tops-british-waters-annual-water-company-performance-survey/

#bureaucraticsludge becomes the default IF exceptional culture, ownership and vision are not present. And it all starts with leadership! So bear with me here... Both business and sustainability problems are efficiency problems, that stem from people problems. 1) The more efficiently the business runs, the more profit you make. 2) Likewise with more sustainable outcomes, the more efficient your in to output process; less waste, energy, emissions incurred etc. These move only as fast people's ability to capture data, make decisions, execute, evaluate, adapt etc. People are both the bottleneck, and the multiplier. How you lead, nurture and show up impacts all the above. And Claire Waghorn and the team at Christchurch International Airport Limited are setting a fine standard. Keep it up!