How Do We Make It Better

Lesego Serolong is the founder of nonprofits and social enterprises that span continents. Her latest project is much more local, and focuses on developing a community of farmers in South Africa. We had a wide ranging conversations about community development, sustainable agriculture, what the right return to capital should be for social enterprises, and […]

The post Lesego Serolong, Building Sustainable Agriculture in the South African Desert first appeared on Doug Abdiel.

Christine Lee is the rector of All Angels church in New York City. She is the Episcopal Church’s first Female Korean-American priest. She has more reason than most to feel like the church can feel exclusive, but talks extensively about how she aims to create a community of people that understand and love each other […]

The post Christine Lee and Karl Forsyth: On Community Building, Reaching Those in Pain, and the Rationality of the Christian Faith first appeared on Doug Abdiel.

Nick and Dan have taken circuitous routes to be hedge fund managers either or both have them would have gone by the title: philosopher, investment banker, historian, author, professor, and Marine Infantry Officer. They talk through their reasons for settling on hedge-fund management (for now), and explain how they believe that a small, targeted, hedge […]

The post Nick Schmitz and Dan Rasmussen on How the “Olympics of the Mind”-Hedge Funds-Can Make it Better first appeared on Doug Abdiel.

This is a bonus episode with the two brilliant black men behind the Human’s are Interesting podcast. They tackle the issue of Charlottesville head-on, and point to a way out that includes honesty about the past and present, and reaching out to those in pain.   Things that we talked about during the show: Items […]

The post Nomis and Scientific: The Men Behind Humans Are Interesting Talk About Charlottesville, Honesty, Love, And Reaching Out To At-risk People first appeared on Doug Abdiel.

Sometimes experience comes alone, and sometimes it is well-considered, and we can learn from it. Harrison Young has spent a long career at the top of a variety of fields, and makes the case for how today one of the best ways to make it better is through creating accessible, factual content from experts for […]

The post Harrison Young: Army SF Officer, Investment Banker, Journalist, and Novelist on How the Conversation Can Make It Better first appeared on Doug Abdiel.

Dan presents a vision of what non-ideological politics might look like. He’s probably the first candidate in history to have a party, but not wear it on his sleeve. I challenge you to listen with an open mind, not trying to understand if his views on specific divisive partisan issues align with your own, but […]

The post Dan Helmer: Congressional Candidate, Veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, Rhodes Scholar, and Father on How Congress Can Make It Better first appeared on Doug Abdiel.

Helicopter Pilot, Marine Officer, Aeronautical Engineer, Christian, African-American, mentor, speaker. All these words describe Zerbin Singleton. He describes how he became something other than a statistic, overcame his own troubled childhood, and he now reaches out to at risk youth. His summaries of how to find common ground with nearly anyone, and lead them out […]

The post Zerbin Singleton Pilot, Marine Officer, African American: How to Beat the Odds and Help Others Along the Way first appeared on Doug Abdiel.

Jim Estill is simply an inspiration. He is doing the impossible, manufacturing in a (few) developed countries, providing employment to some of the most vulnerable people in the world, and most importantly continually shaping his own mind and heart to think more clearly and compassionately about the world. Seemingly everyone can learn something from him. […]

The post Jim Estill-CEO, Angel investor, Philanthropist: How to Help Syrians Through Business first appeared on Doug Abdiel.

Elissa James was a successful corporate lawyer working 100 hour weeks, when she decided to reevaluate her approach to her professional life. She has started an international community of professional women from her core site of irislillian.com who support each other. What was the one type of comment that keeps you going: “It can be […]

The post Elissa James-Founder of Irisillian.com: How Creating a Community for Professional Women Can Make It Better first appeared on Doug Abdiel.

Neal ‘Rudy’ Rickner is the head of strategy and operation at Mikani, one of the GOOG/Alphabet X companies that is trying to make high-altitude power generation kites. He is also, and depending on the time of day, more importantly a father, husband, and Marine fighter pilot. His take on how to balance everything, and grow […]

The post Neal ‘Rudy’ Rickner-Strategy and Ops lead at Google/Alphabet-X and Marine Pilot: Finding Balance, Starting Locally, and Triumph Through Failure first appeared on Doug Abdiel.