I attended this week’s 2012 Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles. On Monday, I and other media members chatted with energy tycoon and advocate T. Boone Pickens before his dinner appearance.
T. Boone Pickens probably knows more than you do about natural gas and oil. And the differences and best uses of compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas. And how many buses run on natural gas in Beijing (5,600, he said), not to mention Oklahoma State University football.
But he wants you to know one thing above all: The ongoing threat of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should be creating a national urgency that equals Pickens’ personal urgency. Pickens, who is nearly 84, wants to act now, and he believes the newfound bounty of abundant natural gas and bargain-basement natural gas prices creates an ideal avenue to do so.
How does he plan to lessen U.S. (read more…)
SmartBrief is partnering with Big Think to create a weekly video spotlight in SmartBrief on Leadership called “VIP Corner: Video Insights Powered by Big Think.” This week, we’re featuring Henry Rollins, musician, radio and television host, actor and activist.
In a multicultural, multinational world, many Americans have a severe deficiency in understanding other cultures — or having the interest in learning — Rollins says in this video.
The world is not without danger, especially in countries affected by war, unrest or suspicion of outsiders. But, Rollins says, the bigger danger is in refusing to engage with other cultures, particularly visiting them and interacting with people.
“Middle Eastern culture, Arabic culture, I’m no expert. Even the experts will tell you they are not experts,” Rollins says. “But there are ways of life there, ideas of civility that are so many centuries old. There’s a decency amongst some people in some parts of the world that you can learn astonishing lessons from.”
Big Think is a forum in which top experts explore big ideas and core skills defining the 21st century. (read more…)
As leaders become more prominent in their organizations, they tend to have much to do and a few key people to do it with. To zero in on their vision, they might create their dream team and continue to explore new ways of changing the world they are a part of. Whether formal or informal leadership is at play, success in getting others to follow creates a new set of challenges for all involved. Especially for leaders. When all is well and they are feeling focused and useful, staying open to a wider perspective is a step that should be taken purposefully, if only because it will not naturally happen.
Many leaders are great thinkers and connectors, always having their curiosity lead them in different directions that enrich their current worldview. Still, they are committed to their cause and prone to ignoring anything beyond it. How, then, might they assure they do not disconnect from that natural exploration that led them to lead in the first place? (read more…)
SmartBrief senior editor James daSilva spent two days this week at the Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy’s Energy Innovation Summit in National Harbor, Md. The conference highlights the Energy Department unit’s funding success in supporting clean-tech and clean-energy innovations until they can tap venture capital. On Wednesday, former President Bill Clinton mentioned the importance of shale natural gas, then an afternoon session looked at how to take advantage of the opportunity.
The natural gas boom came to metropolitan Washington, D.C., this week, as all of the solar, wind, biofuel and battery innovation funded by ARPA-E could distract only so much from America’s energy game changer.
Wednesday brought a panel, appropriately titled “Making the Most of the Natural Gas Boom,” that discussed the global nature of the shale-gas boom, byproducts and uses that the resource could engender and continuing public and environmental concerns that could harm production.
Shale natural gas remains a promising field for technological innovation, but it’s already in extensive use. (read more…)
SmartBrief is partnering with Big Think to create a weekly video spotlight in SmartBrief on Leadership called “VIP Corner: Video Insights Powered by Big Think.” This week, we’re featuring Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women’s World Banking.
A strong philanthropist leader in her own right, Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women’s World Banking, said she believes that individual leaders can affect not only the lives of others, but also the world at large.
“In coming to Women’s World Banking, I’d say, the greatest privilege is that I meet — literally, daily — women who are clients, who are leaders of our institutions, founders of our organizations, whose lives, if left to their own devices, would have gone in a very, very different path,” Iskenderian said.
Those women, she said, have made an enormous impact on the world because of “their commitment, their dedication, their seeing a wrong, and not allowing it to stand.”
“I am a great believer in the individual’s impact, and the individual’s impact on the system, and to change the system,” she added. (read more…)
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