Talia Eisenberg - My Experience Starting an Ecigarette Company: Alan AtKisson's Amoeba of Cultural Change

Discovering Atkisson's Amoeba metaphor while taking a course on Sustainable Implementation, I realized that product innovation is a giant social experiment won out by the amoeba “arm” that is most relentless and convincing. It is most interesting for me to analyze why the new innovation ought to be (the intention behind it is important too, especially as a sustainability advocate: "is the innovation environmentally or socially innovative?") and then I ask myself, "What is the strategy for social acceptance of this innovation? In order for a new innovative product or service to be adopted one must understand the organizational structure and various motives behind the conflicting desirous "arms" involved. If the innovative concept is viable, it seems that whomever has the most effective “pull” whether it be persuasion skills, money, political power, or ability to organize and achieve strength in numbers wins out. 

An example that immediately leapt to my mind was when in 2011 a few partners and I started an early ecigarette company to help spread the idea of harm reduction related to tobacco use. Vaping i s way cleaner because it eliminates tar and the thousands of carcinogens that a cigarette contains when burned, and that gunk is what causes cancer. Contrary to popular belief, inhaling nicotine, water, vegetable glycerine and natural flavoring is pretty benign compared to smoking. At the time, vaping and ecigarettes were virtually unheard of in the US and it became our mission to develop and market vaping devices and “nicotine e-liquid.”

As part of the company mission at Henley Premium Vapor we advocated for the public's transition from smoking to vaping. Many sides of societies amoeba/organizational structure spoke up and didn’t want this product to exist. To facilitate acceptance, we attempted to change mental models by using research on nicotine and harm reduction discussions to convince the public that this was a way cleaner method of nicotine delivery. As we began to mobilize "change agents" to spread the idea (athletes, celebs, bloggers etc) we also needed to get "transformers" (cultural gate keepers) on board (large media publications - Fast Co, Ny Times, Cool Hunting, Vice, NY Mag etc). We met with dozens and dozens of reporters who became believers and wrote stories. We did this by creating a culture of vaping at a public “lab” space we opened in SoHo with hundreds of different flavors and nicotine strengths, showing reporters studies, demo’ing the product with reporters and bringing them examples of success – a 30 year smoker who had finally successfully quit by switching to ecigarettes etc. These reporters published these real life stories humanizing ecigarettes as a harm reduction tool. Working with "transformers" helped us reach American "mainstreamers" who aid in the tipping point. Once they are familiar with an idea enough, it is normalized and they take part. There were mainstream “laggards” who liked the old way of smoking even though it would eventually kill them, and they resisted change. There are always laggards. 

Harm reduction activists like the DPA (Drug Policy Alliance) and others helped us by advocating to change public policy and help rally scientists/universities/experts to change perception. We attended and spoke out at NY public policy Town Hall meetings where agents from Big Tobacco ("reactionaries" and "iconoclasts") and other resistance groups would show up trying to battle us by convincing government how harmful the products were. The reactionaries and iconoclasts used and sometimes paid the same media we had befriended to fabricate false stories. An example is a story printed in USA Today about a consumer who lost part of his face from exploding ecigarettes (when I tried to call this person in Florida, it turned out to be a fictitious name). Another strategic route the tobacco industry took is to put scientists on payroll to create studies using bad statistics claiming kids were getting hooked on ecigaerettes or that it was a gateway to smoking weed and then heroin. This use of fear as a tactic to spread nonsense is typical. See the movie Merchants of Doubt which according to the article "profiles many of the charming and always smiling professional deceivers who work for the tobacco, chemical, pharmaceutical, and fossil fuel industries. The tobacco industry knowingly and successfully deceived the public for 50 years about the connection between smoking and cancer, the 1988 tobacco lawsuit settlement revealed."

The tobacco industry was trying to protect their own self interest because they feared the surge in consumer usage of “vaping” would impact their cigarette sales revenue. Many "mainstreamers," unwilling to do more research and scratch beneath the surface, believed what they read and stayed away from vaping as a result. This was very disappointing. Especially because, corporations from Big Tobacco were secretly courting us. Their executives would show up at our NY flagship store, watch what we were selling and engage the staff and myself in conversation. They wanted consumer data and information to build an effective product and brand in the space. Eventually, a few small ecigarette companies sold out to them and the cigarette industry later reversed its general opinion on ecigarettes by forming their own ecigarette divisions. Their strategy all along was to discredit the "innovators" and then swoop in with their own products marketed as higher quality than ours (their products are made in China, our eliquid was made in the US in lab with strict quality standards). Their paid for media scare tactics and acquisitions to enlarge the market share had destroyed sales and future innovation of new products by the original innovators/entrepreneurs. We couldn’t compete with Big Tobacco’s marketing dollars and stories. Today they own the ecigarette industry and you can find their ecigarette products at every major convenience store chain across America. 

Talia Eisenberg - Some Thoughts on Authority and Creativity

My experience of handling traditional authority is full of negative memories that momentarily conjure up ill bodily feelings. Because of how power is abused in today’s world, inherently, I am against the fundamentalidea that anyone should have more power over anyone else. Power should be organically earned through value based acts not ascribed just because someone in an office is appointed based on political pull or marketing dollars. Traditional authoritarian power is a frame that, at its core, splits humanity with an engrained “me above them” mental model that get repeated through generations. How is anything sustainable and productive supposed to be accomplished in the long term with this attitude? People remember the hierarchical frame of “me above them” and either fall into victim mode (them above) or begin to oppress others themselves (me above).

History has taught us that ruling by Machiavellian fear and authority doesn't work in the long run. It may satisfy a short-term goal but this amiss leadership style hampers creativity and loses out on the much bigger picture opportunity for human evolution. One can hope that authoritarian roles shift in the future to adjust to a more balanced, pure intentioned place, ie more for the greater good vs for the selfish gain of the individual/group imposing the power.

As the granddaughter of Holocaust Survivors, perhaps its genetic. My family is fairly anti-establishment and won’t obey just for the sake of obeying. Growing up in Omaha Nebraska, we were taught to ask deeper questions not settle for what is. We had little fear or a pretend desire to obey in order to conform. I think this was because we were fully aware (at an extreme) of what could happen when people behave rotely and do what is expected of them without questioning, organizing and taking a stand. I was taught from a young age to speak my mind and stand up for my own ideas and values, that this form of truth telling is important. Of course, there are limits and we were to respect other’s perspectives while practicing kindness and playing somewhat within societal lines. I think this is one of the reasons I have an entrepreneurial spirit, I seek alternative solutions by trying new ways of doing. I am not afraid to go against popular consensus. Rather than agreeing when my intuition says not to, I prefer collaborating with others to create change. This is more of a peer-to-peer contribution based human experience. As a group, the idea of suspending old models of thinking, and getting really curious to ask, “what can we all add and what can we do differently to move forward together?” and then attempting it seems far more fruitful than settling for the usual. 

By Talia Eisenberg, Presidio Graduate School (MBA/MPA candidate 2017)

Corporate Sustainability: The Importance of Integrated Reporting 

Sustainability reporting advances sustainability goals because it clarifies triple bottom line materiality issues, risks and opportunities. By having a tangible report surrounding both external industry and internal company aspects, the success of a companies desired mission and outcome can be analyzed while giving stakeholders transparency and accountability. 

Integrated reporting is a growing trend where businesses combine sustainability reporting with financial information or 10-K’s. The more companies do this, the more an expectation and standard is cemented for lagging companies to feel the pressure, take initiative and practice integrated reporting. A benefit of combining sustainability reporting with financials is that stakeholders can see where one influences the other – more and more companies are realizing that the two worlds impact one another—this is partially driven by a demand in transparency and accountability by B Corp assessments, GRI’s and CDP reports. Investors, policymaking bodies, and employees (just to name a few stakeholders) are more eager than ever to understand how the seemingly intangible “outside” issues (ESG's) impact tangible financial performance within a company and vice versa. If information is power then education for all related to as many metric links as possible will help shape businesses and the future of society. For example, as an investor I may want to better understand how Coca-Cola's extreme water usage may inversely impact the future global water supply. Scarcity and rising water prices contribute significant expenses to most corporations who depend on water for sourcing, production and transportation of goods. An increase in water prices and supply make a large material dent in the depletion of the world’s growing water deprived populations, in fact many scientists have predicted that by 2030, half of the global population won't have access to fresh water. Hopefully, as more stakeholders become informed their will be a greater motivation to push for innovative sourcing and recycling techniques, accountability and tariffs. Once a mainstream consumer awareness tipping point is reached through public transparency practices such as IR, corporations will be more inclined to listen and take action to create change. If they don't, their bottom line profits will be jeopardized. 

A downside to integrated reporting is that it is very new. Because of this a common framework hasn’t been developed yet. With no real accountability system standard in place, internal stakeholder confusion is often a result for the limited number of companies currently publishing reports. It's challenging to benchmark against other companies when everyone is measuring differently. Biased reporting lacking in a set of standards, can also cause confusion for outside stakeholders. They can easily choose what to report on and what to leave out—like B Corp and SASB, there is no requirement to be assessed. Today, IR’s are a tool that forward thinking, sustainability focused companies are choosing to do to inform their stakeholders and track and refine their growth plans. As more and more company IR’s are being generated, there will hopefully be a best of practices standard established so that a company report not only incorporates financials but includes a well-rounded and complete array of social and environmental impacts. 

What You Focus on Grows - Talia Eisenberg : Emotional Intelligence and Strengths Based Leadership in Business Management

Because of this approach, my experience of identifying, understanding and building emotional intelligence has been on a  growth trajectory year over year of my professional life. I have improved and self-corrected through trial and error and by practicing non-judging self-awareness. I realize that what you choose to focus on is a choice. I am 31 years old and in the past 5 years, the evolution of my EQ has been one giant experiment--sometimes successful and sometimes not as much. But success often comes from failure and learning to pick oneself up and trying a new approach. The most effective approach for me is outlined in #1 New York Times bestselling author, Tom Rath's book, Strengths Based Leadership. I learned to consciously choose to focus and build on natural competencies that give energy, not on my weaknesses. A few years ago, I had the epiphany that what we put our mind on is a choice in itself and when we focus our attention to any area, it magnifies. It was extremely empowering to realize that we can choose what to focus our attention on. I learned to habitually train my thoughts to build upon what others and myself were doing well. 

I wasn’t always like this however, I used to spend my seemingly finite energy focusing on and trying to improve weaknesses in an attempt to cover up holes. I focused on weaknesses, which prevented me from thriving and actualizing in the world. In my teenage years, I could barely look myself in the eyes in the mirror and suffered from repeated negative thoughts. Like many people, I told myself that my contribution didn’t matter and that no matter what I wasn't really good at anything. This wasn't true but I believed it. This perception of my self caused me to stay in fear and to stay silent in a myriad of instances when I probably could have contributed but was focusing on the wrong part of the task, the part of the task that I wasn’t naturally good at. Today, the inverse is true and my internal talk is positive and my external expressions of ideas and actions are, for the most part, constructive. 

The strengths based leadership paradigm flip came for me when I actively chose to explore my strengths and build upon them. Before this, I had never identified my strengths and didn’t know what they were. With my first startup in 2011, Henley Premium Vapor Ecigarettes, I had the opportunity to learn hands on about my strengths. Startups are a great environment for self-reflection and incremental improvement. Understanding and identifying consumer needs, product development, creative brainstorming, vendor relations, capturing a target markets interests, and galvanizing the publics attentions through various media outlets were strengths that I discovered, engaged and developed. I learned that I am not the greatest at number crunching and operations management. This doesn’t mean that I won’t attempt to improve my quantitative methods and spreadsheet skills but because time is limited and I want to optimize positive change and output within an organization, it certainly won’t be my main focus. I will leave that up to someone else who has already developed these skillsets and is naturally more talented in math and operations management. Being aware of what our weaknesses are is important but we don't need to know how to do everything well. 

Although I am a constant work in progress, the approach to building my emotional intelligence through strengths based leadership continues to impact me not only on a personal level, but has touched many others in innumerable ways. When an organization as a whole is pulling various individuals strengths and talents together to work towards a similar outcome, the energy is exponentially greater than it would be if focusing on improving weaknesses as a whole. What I am not good at you may be great at, so let’s make sure you delve into projects that you enjoy and are inspired to add to. You will be able to tell what these are by noticing those projects that give you life not suck you dry, similar to what the business management leadership assessment 5 Dynamics points out. There is more magic in the weaving together of strengths and the tapestry unites and flows in completely new and unimaginable ways when strengths based leadership is at the forefront of an organization

By Talia Eisenberg - Leadership Is Authentic Influence That Creates Value

Anyone can be a leader no matter what the organizational hierarchy is. Reflecting on Jonathan Haidt’s Moral Foundation Theory book, “The Righteous Mind,” although rules and virtues vary across cultures, on a daily basis I am influenced by many moral foundations relating to my thoughts, feelings and decisions. For this reflection, I have chosen to discuss the ones that are most impactful for me.The care/harm moral foundation when checked against a situation inspires me to have empathy for others who may be in a different situation than myself, and sometimes it helps me to have empathy for myself too when in a tough spot. Noticing this moral foundation bubbling up in me and applying it to situations helps me to be a better team player and listener. We don’t want others to suffer. If a colleague has an illness that week and is unable to contribute, understanding what they are going through and then working out a plan for a willing team member to take over their workload uses care as a moral foundation. I try to notice and check in with others who seem to be suffering, and then take action to help support them.- Talia Eisenberg

By Talia Eisenberg -Reflection on Leadership and the Merits of Growing Emotional Intelligence

For me part of my never ending quest for mastery of self includes refining and improving emotional intelligence skills, my inner world projected outward. Digging discovering and transforming emotional roughage is something that I have pursued since leave Omaha and moving to New York City at the age of 17. In my accidental training to be a leader/light warrior in life and in love, and later setting out on a process to earn an MBA/MPA at Presidio Graduate School in SF I have have learned how to be most effective by shining a light on my strengths as well as reflecting on areas of myself to improve. 

A few weeks ago at residency, one of my professors, sustainability consultant Cynthia Scott, imparted to me that in the world of leadership training it is very common for people to focus on their own areas of weakness. However, she believes since life is short, improving "weak" competencies first is overwhelming and misses the point. Her belief is that instead it makes more sense to focus on core strengths and continue to build on those. She used the metaphor of tent poles that signify various area of emotional intelligence for leadership and said that to lift the tent up, all tent poles can never all be even or high enough at once, that in business leadership it is far better to have a few longer well sharpened and honed poles than many shorter ones. Because of this I choose to focus on one strength at a time for greater mastery instead of focusing on something I am not naturally gifted at to begin with. Her theory is that there are enough people in this world with a variety of experts to cover the areas that others are not as proficient in. Together we can all raise various tent poles.  At a microlevel as an individual hoping to contribute to the greater whole, you want to have two or three really high poles or emotional competencies that you are mastering before moving on to others. 

If you are interested in knowing and improving your leadership skills then an in-depth self-assessment like the EQ-I is for you. The EQ-I is a self-administered online test that measures emotional intelligence. As you probably know, emotional intelligence has been all the rage in corporate environments for awhile now. It used to be that intelligence was measured only by logic and knowledge. EQ-I is defined as “a set of emotional and social skills that influence the way we perceive and express ourselves, develop and maintain social relationships, cope with challenges, and use emotional information in an effective and meaningful way.”

Emotional intelligence (EI) reflects one’s overall wellbeing and ability to succeed in life. While emotional intelligence isn’t the sole predictor of human performance and development potential, it is proven to be a key indicator in these areas. Emotional intelligence is also not a static factor — to the contrary, one’s emotional intelligence can change over time and can be developed in targeted areas. 

According to the test’s website, the EQ-i 2.0 online test, https://tap.mhs.com/EQi20.aspx by MHS Assessments, measures the interaction between a person and the environment he/she operates in. Assessing and evaluating an individual’s emotional intelligence can help establish the need for targeted development programs and measures. This, in turn, can lead to dramatic increases in the person’s performance, interaction with others, and leadership potential. The development potentials the EQ-i 2.0 identifies, along with the targeted strategies it provides, make it a highly effective employee development tool.

The EQ-I test measured me at the highest level (115) for flexibility: “adapting emotions, thoughts and behaviors.” This makes sense because I see change and innovation as a must, necessary for pleasing your consumer audience and for having a competitive advantage. When I co-founded one of my old companies, Henley Premium Vapor which mission was to use a harm reduction approach as a tool for reducing the number of smokers in the world and increasing longevity and health, one of my primary goals was to create team impact and positive change culturally by challenging employees to think outside of the box. At one point our team had the idea of opening up a 2,000 square foot Willy Wonka themed flavor “vaporium” in the heart of SoHo, New York where a smoke free lifestyle could be appreciated and many types of ecigarettes along with 350 eliquid flavors were available for sampling and purchasing. The core emotional competency of open mindedness and willingness to try new things was infused in a completely new consumer market, e-cigarettes, and helped the company to innovate and get noticed. Among competitors, nothing like a “vaporium” with "vapologists" serving up nicotine concoctions existed at the time and it became a very popular mechanism for marketing which increased media coverage and revenue resulting in a solid brand that attracted investors, influencers and loyal customers. Thousands of people successfully quit smoking with us. 

During this time I learned that, when leading staff to adapt to new behaviors, there are multiple approaches for integrating flexibility in the workplace. Open-mindedness without enough discrimination or feedback can lead to confusion among team members. In the past, I used to get very excited about ideas and If not mindful, assume that the rest of the team would adapt to the implementation process quickly. As a leader, one of my gifts is an actively creative mind that would like to implement ideas. Doing it too quickly which can be problematic. Today I'm learning that strategic planning, constructive data analyzation and team buy in is key otherwise the overarching mission can be compromised. Too much independence and quick-movement implementation can result in fear and lack of cohesion (instead of interdependence) for the rest of the team. During my first semester at grad school, I took a course in leadership and vowed to further develop the goal of pausing and listening whenever the team at work or school is struggling with change. I have learned the importance of pausing, inquiring, listening and empathizing in transitional times of change. The consideration of others perspectives and concerns is extremely valuable as an individual and the organization as a whole. We need more of a holarchy approach to leadership in today's world where constructive team discussion and inclusion of other’s ideas is valued. As a leader, flexibility of mind with the added process of team inquiry and discovery is a necessary continued skill to improve daily.

By Talia Eisenberg - Reclaiming the Core Integrity of Age-Old Agriculture (My MBA Admissions Essay)

The human population of developed, industrialized countries of especially North America and Western Europe seem to be increasingly suffering as a result of overconsumption, overproduction, proliferation of waste and near idolatry of materialism. Despite the cultural popularization of sensibilities related to and awareness of environmental conservation, the vast majority of people continue to maintain lifestyles that are disconnected from any deep-rooted relationship with the earth.

I was born in 1986, in Omaha, Nebraska which makes me a millennial from the Midwest. For the majority of my life, I lived in a community of people who are literally surrounded by farm life and agricultural endeavors, and yet they are commonly unhealthy and overweight. It is culturally acceptable to over consume food, align one’s identity with oversized motor vehicles, and generally avoid outdoor activities. I was encouraged to celebrate athletic achievement by crowding around the television to watch the Cornhuskers of University of Nebraska while drinking beer derived from wheat, or carbonated water sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, and eating highly processed or fried food products usually derived from genetically modified corn. I have witnessed the physical, emotional and spiritual decline of many of the folks and their family members that I grew up with. Many who suffer from obesity, shun physical exercise and are at risk of or have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. They struggle to get through life, have difficulty affording the pharmaceutical treatments needed to just get by, and yet they continue to practice their downward spiral into what appears to be an abyss of unconscious disconnection from the earth and its resources that have supported our communities for generations. As I contemplate my post graduate pursuits and possible professional ambitions, I find myself unable to avoid a recurring set of questions in my mind. How could the pursuit of profits so rapidly eclipse the fundamental purpose of farming? How could our communities become so overrun with mindless overconsumption of food and a collective fascination with materialism that has set us on a course of calamity of such colossal proportions? How is it that the families I grew up with, who have passed down farms for generation after generation, are unable to sustain themselves, let alone our community or our planet? I feel drawn to ask what innovations in technology, products, services and business models might be explored and developed that could help reverse these catastrophic trends and right the wrongs that are literally killing the people I know and love, and the planet that we have inherited from previous generations.

Talia Eisenberg Omaha, Talia Eisenberg Henley

As a result of a statistically improbable quirk of fate, my paternal grandmother, Bella Eisenberg, encouraged my brother and I to join her on many international journeys that allowed me to explore the world far beyond Omaha at a very young age. She was one of the only survivors in her family to avoid extermination in the Holocaust, and she immigrated from Austria to Omaha in 1945. She married her first love (Erwin) and they settled in what must have seemed like one of the safest places on earth, Nebraska, to open the first modern art. Bella lost her husband in the 1970’s, but she never lost her love of travel. Driven by her personal love of art, camaraderie with artists and local cultures, and her desire to expand her collection, my grandmother seemed to always be reading about or planning her next trip to Europe, Asia or Africa with her girlfriends. By virtue of her passions and her dedication to expanding my horizons and appreciation for other cultures, I have enjoyed the privilege of frequent travel from a very young age and have visited 5 continents and 10 times as many countries. In my early adult life, after losing my grandmother, I have continued to pursue my passion for travel and exploration of many diverse cultures around the world.

My personal travels have taken a distinctly more adventurous agenda, and I have explored many developing countries in Africa and South America to learn that the natural world of plants and plant medicines offer many specific healing properties to previously incurable diseases which Western science can’t quite figure out. After immersing myself in the practices of tribal communities from the West-Central African country, Gabon, or the healing arts of the Shipibo tribes of Amazonian Peru, I have come to passionately believe that for nearly every problem that plagues the people of the “first world countries” there is a natural solution that already exists yielding fruit from the earth, we just have to avoid killing it and somehow find it. This takes exploration, organization and the audacious hope and faith in a brighter future for ourselves and for our planet.

Being from Nebraska, where farming is as common as Facebook, where soybeans are still more popular than Snapchat, I have often anxiously wondered about the family farmer’s fading connection to the earth. My close friend from childhood is now a PhD candidate in Psychology at the University of Chicago. We were both vegetarians in middle school, partly to annoy others and partly because of burgeoning environmental sensibilities. We were each dedicated dietary deviant’s in Omaha. Beyond our friendship, she now represents an important shift in personal values for a growing number of our generation. She refuses to have any part of her family’s massive livestock business because of how much waste is produced, water is wasted and destruction it wreaks on the earth and the bodies of the people who consume the burgers that result from their mass production. We grew up with the internet, and a proliferation of non-traditional sources of information from a mushrooming network of global resources. Our adolescence was punctuated with interests in holistic treatments, alternative spiritual practices and often overlooked views of the healing properties of plant medicines. We have witnessed the growth of the natural foods and cosmetics markets with excited curiosity and these trends have been the basis for many conversations about entrepreneurial fantasies. My mind has always gravitated towards the potential opportunities for the development of plant-based medicinal innovation and the possibilities of new products that might help heal the sick. I was then and I still am fascinated by the intelligence beyond human capabilities to cure physical and spiritual maladies. Science has limits, in my opinion plant knowledge is infinite and naturally solution-oriented. Have you heard of the scientific theory that animals were conceived by plants long ago to move seeds around as a solution to their inability to migrate across environments on their own?

It’s becoming more apparent that the modern health care system has fundamental flaws and some even regard it as a complete failure. Instead of curing disease, the most common healing technologies often serve as a “band aid” or leads to continuous dependency with a heavy dose of side effects. The source or root issue of the disease too often doesn’t get cured or even properly diagnosed. Many of the sick and suffering have abandoned their faith in their first world doctors and are travelling to place like the Amazon to benefit from the practices and recommendations of tribal shamans who combine spiritual practice with plant medicines. While many of these people do, in fact, experience symptomatic improvement these are all too often lost when they return to the toxic environments of their modern home life.

Simultaneously, I am deeply troubled by the impact on indigenous people by the proliferation of wireless access to the global internet and the popularization of materialistic measures of modern “success.” In my recent years of travel into the jungle of the Amazon, I have personally seen how the cultural influences of the industrialized countries are flowing fast into the minds of locals, and I am distressed to see how their reverence for traditional spiritual practices and their dedication to passing on personal knowledge of plant medicines is being diluted, and becoming increasingly more endangered.

In my home state of Nebraska, a reliable and deep relationship with natural resources by family farmers has been nearly lost and large corporate agricultural enterprises have all but taken over; the family farm and the families themselves are now threatened by increasingly unsustainable methods that put profit above purpose. The overproduction of commercial crops has grown to become a major cause of a climate in crisis and driven the mass popularization of dietary dysfunction, while shareholder interests have made it increasingly impossible for even the most dedicated to make a living off the land. The ancient purpose of the role of the farmer as provider of nourishment and the arbiter of access to the wisdom of nature, has been eclipsed by market expansion and the modern practices of mega-farming. When I talk to the farm operations managers in my community, they describe the goal of innovation in environmental sustainability in terms of increasing yield while driving greater efficiency to achieve higher profits. Yet, I firmly believe we live in a unique historical moment where the next level of our common welfare depends on successfully reclaiming the core integrity of age-old agriculture, while incorporating the ancient principles of plant intelligence and natural wisdom. Family farms are as much at risk of extinction as the local shaman in Peru, the tribal doctor in Gabon, or far too many other species that have a right to thrive on Earth; our job, indeed my mission at PGS, should be to enable and empower the next generation of entrepreneurs with breakthrough innovations that sustains us all. While many students may define success of their MBA studies as developing a great new app, I believe the world does not need the next new Uber. I believe that we can dedicate our research and develop the next “uber successful” solution to the problematic misguided practices that are driving the world to irreversible destruction.