Up this week is an important new episode for the Nick Halaris Show featuring Mats Lederhausen, a Co-Founder and the CEO of Andas, an investment firm dedicated to inspiring human progress.  Mats is an incredibly accomplished business leader with a diverse background that includes everything from being the CEO for the McDonald’s Sweden franchise, to serving as the Global Head of Strategy for McDonald’s Corporation, to being the Lead Director and Chairman at Chipotle.  Along the way, he has become one of the world’s most prominent champions for inspirational capitalism, espousing ideas that are the core of the Profit+ philosophy—that business can and should be a force for good and that it takes both profit and purpose to foster lasting success.    

Ready to dive in? Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube or on your favorite podcast platform.

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In this conversation, Yasmina Zaidman, Chief of Development and Partnerships at
Acumen, discusses the evolving landscape of development and partnerships in light of recent government changes. She emphasizes the importance of local ecosystems, market-based solutions, and the role of corporations in social responsibility. The discussion also highlights innovative approaches to energy access and health, the significance of blended capital for entrepreneurs, and the shifting mindset in impact investing. Yasmina calls for intentional cultivation of hope and engagement from individuals and corporations alike to address global challenges effectively.

I always say that the best thing about having a podcast is the incredible people you get to meet along the way. Among a really impressive crowd of Nick Halaris Show guests, Yasmina is someone who stands out. Every single time I engage with her I walk away feeling inspired, reenergized, and motivated to continue the fight. Business really can be a force for good in the world and people like Yasmina and her colleagues at Acumen are proof positive.

Tune in to this important episode to learn:
- Why a focus on strengthening local ecosystems is even more important for
sustainable development in the post-USAID world
- How and why emerging economies are seeking more accountability in solving
their own problems
- Why flexible capital is so crucial to impact investing success
-  What corporations can do to fill the gaps left by the withdrawal of government
sources
& Much, much more

Acumen, development, partnerships, USAID, social impact, entrepreneurship, climate
change, corporate responsibility, energy access, blended capital

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Up this week is a fascinating new episode for the Nick Halaris Show featuring thought leader Simon Bowen.  Simon is the creator of the Models Method and the Founder of a unique business and leadership consultancy.

Simon and I connected through the burgeoning online world of creators and thought leaders focused on making a positive difference in the world.  We realized right away that we were on a similar path and decided to collaborate.  Simon stands out for his commitment to deep thinking and his incredible talent with visual models.  I encourage you all to watch this episode on YouTube to see Simon do his thing.  In our conversation he live-creates several compelling visual models.        

Watch on YouTube to view the visuals.

Tune in to this fascinating episode to learn:

• Why Simon believes visual models are so effective at driving organizational performance
• How Simon uses visual models to help companies identify and communicate their unique genius and achieve superior results
• Why Simon believes so strongly in the idea of business as a force for good
• How a business can position itself as a pillar of the community by learning to balance profit, purpose, people and planet
• Why our system is fundamentally biased towards short-term gain and how that impacts C-suite leaders around the globe 

& Much, much more

Stay tuned to the end to hear why Simon is on a quest to discover the universal motivations of humanity and why this is so important for the future of business.  You’ll also learn how growing up in and navigating Western Australia provided the fertile training ground for his genius with visual models.

As always, I hope you all enjoy this episode.  Thanks for tuning in!      

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Up this week is a provocative new episode for The Nick Halaris Show featuring author and historian Kate Epstein.  Kate is an Associate Professor for History at Rutgers, the author of two fascinating books—"Torpedo” and “Analog Superpowers”— and a contributor to Persuasion, a publication dedicated to promoting free society.  

I came across Kate’s work when a friend and one of my most steadfast supporters forwarded me her must-read essay “We, Robots.”  While most are out cheering AI and its potential to make us super intelligent, Kate dares to consider the alternative: what if AI is actually making us all dumber?  When I first read the article, I had a feeling Kate would make for a great podcast guest and she did not disappoint.     

Tune in to this fascinating conversation to learn:

• The scary truth about the decline in the reading and writing capabilities of college students and why professors around the country are being forced to lower their standards 
• Why AI represents such a profound threat to the original ideal of the liberal arts education (i.e. training people for freedom) and why we should fight against its use in schools 
• Why reading and writing are skills we shouldn’t take for granted and the crucial role they play in fostering free society 

As always, I hope you all enjoy this episode.  Thanks for tuning in!    

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I wanted to have Dan on the show to learn more about the inner workings of the mysterious private tutor world.  When I was coming up, private tutors were hardly a thing; now, they can be a difference maker.  Access to elite educational opportunities is a key line of division in our fracturing society and, while in education we tend to look for systemic solutions, what’s going on with private tutors suggests that individual intervention may be where we want to focus.  

Tune in to this fascinating conversation to learn:

• Why parents around the world are willing to pay people like Dan upwards of $2000 per hour to help their kids do better on standardized tests
• What close reading is and why it’s the secret to standardized test success 
• Just what is being measured by standardized tests, and why should we care about it
• Why, despite their issues and limitations, many schools are turning back to standardized test scores to help sort candidates
• How the best schools in the world are designed to create lifelong learners rather than for information/curriculum delivery
• And Much, much more

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We are featuring my longtime friend Mack Jenkins, a public-minded lawyer and former US Attorney.  As a prosecutor, Mack was responsible for some of the highest-profile and most consequential convictions in modern LA history, including those against multiple elected officials.  Mack is now a partner at Hecker Fink, a leading law firm with a strong public interest bent and a staunch commitment to justice. 

Tune in to this inspiring conversation to learn:

• The crucial role that attorneys can play in shaping the public policy landscape
• Why the criminal justice reform movement is not dead and just needs a different focus
• Why public corruption is such a big problem in American politics, and how important it is to hold these individuals to account
• How public-minded law firms like Hecker Fink are tapping into the new zeitgeist and attracting a whole generation of mission-driven attorneys 
• Why you should never try to get out of jury duty again

&

• Much, much more

Stay tuned to the end to hear how Mack was inspired to a life of service by his father, a correctional officer in juvenile jails who went above and beyond the call of duty to be a mentor and force for good in the lives of young kids caught up in the law. 

As always, I hope you all enjoy this episode.  Thanks for tuning in!  

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This week on The Nick Halaris Show we are featuring Anand Sanwal, the co-Founder of The Formidable Fellowship, a non-profit focused on sparking the next generation of young entrepreneurs, and the host of the Future Titans Podcast, a show featuring the inspiring stories of the winners of the Formidable grant.  Anand is also the co-Founder and former CEO of CB Insights, a very successful AI and data company, a writer, and working on building a national network of schools for entrepreneurship (more on this in a future episode!).

Ready to dive in? Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube or on your favorite podcast platform.

I wanted to have Anand on the show to learn more about the mission of The Formidable Fellowship and to explore this thinking on the future of education.  Entrepreneurship is something I’ve been writing a lot about here in Profit+ and near and dear to my heart.  Until coming across Anand, though, I never realized how important a role it could play in redefining (fixing) our broken education system.  As you’ll see in the episode, Anand is an incredibly thoughtful and impressive individual and has some great ideas about entrepreneurship, education, and how we can best help young people prepare for an increasingly uncertain future.  I walked away from this discussion on fire with ideas and inspiration and I think you will too.

As always, I hope you all enjoy this episode.  Thanks for tuning in!      

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This week on The Nick Halaris Show we are featuring Ben Kuethe Oaks, the Vice President and General Manager at Divert, a circular economy company on a mission to prevent food from being wasted through nationwide infrastructure and innovative technologies.  We waste a staggering amount of food here in America—something like 40% of everything we produce.  Meanwhile, there are over 40M food insecure households in America alone and millions more around the world.  Something is not right here!  

Ready to dive in? Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTubeor on your favorite podcast platform.

I wanted to have Ben on the show to learn more about Divert’s inspiring mission and business and to try to understand just how our food economy evolved to such an inefficient situation.  Divert—a company building sustainable business models that prevent waste, provide more for the food insecure, and use food waste as a sustainable fuel—is an inspiring example of the power of using business as a force for good.

Tune in to this important episode to learn:  

• What “circular economy” mean and how Divert is using circular principles to create a whole new kind of capitalistic enterprise
• How we waste such a staggering amount of food in this country and why it’s such a huge problem (i.e. food insecurity, rapidly shrinking landfill capacity, methane emissions, and farming economics)
• What Divert is doing to try to ameliorate the situation and why they are so optimistic they can make a big difference

& 

• Much, much more

Stay tuned to the end to learn how a usual childhood interest in dairy farming led Ben to his path as a mission-driven business leader focused on the food economy.  If you are interested in learning more about the history behind the evolution of this crazy food wastage situation, check out Ben’s Tedx talk.

Thank you for tuning in!

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This week on The Nick Halaris Show we are featuring Mitchell Hora, the founder and CEO of Continuum Ag, a company helping farmers better understand their carbon footprint, implement regenerative agriculture practices, and take advantage of exciting new government credit programs.

Ready to dive in? Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTubeor on your favorite podcast platform.

I wanted to have Mitchell on the show to learn more about farming and the agriculture industry.  Unless there is an egg shortage or massively higher prices at the grocery store, you don’t hear much about farming in the news these days.  But it’s a critical industry where a lot of things are in flux in light of climate change and rapidly advancing technology.  Mitchell, a 7th generation corn farmer and tech entrepreneur, is the perfect person to help us explore this fascinating world.

Stay tuned to the end to learn what Mitchell thinks about GMOs, the organic movement, and the proper role of government in farming and the food supply chain.  You’ll also learn why Mitchell believes promoting healthy soil is the single most important issue in global agriculture.  

As always, I hope you all enjoy this episode.  Thanks for tuning in!      

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This week on The Nick Halaris Show we are welcoming back Darius Dale, the founder and CEO of 42 Macro, a leading Macro Risk Management serving investors around the world!  Check out his first episode here for a master class introduction to the art of macro risk management in investing.  

Ready to dive in? Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube or on your favorite podcast platform.

I wanted to have Darius on the show for a deep dive discussion on President Trump’s highly anticipated Department of Governmental Efficiency initiative.  While there’s been a lot of hype and hyperbole around DOGE and its massive $2T target, Darius and his team at 42 Macro have actually sat down and done some real analysis.  Of course, things are not as simple as advertised! 

As always, I hope you all enjoy this episode.  Thanks for tuning in!      

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