This episode features a conversation between Phil Dillard, Founder of Thruline Networks, and Philip Owen, Founding Member of GeaSphere.

Philip is an environmental activist and pecan farmer based in South Africa. As the Founding Member of GeaSphere, he represents a nonprofit environmental organization that has been campaigning against afforestation, deforestation and the overall forest industry for more than two decades.

In this episode, Philip talks about the impactful stories that heavily influenced his career in eco-activism and the importance of organic farming and regenerative agriculture for the sustainability of the future. He also discusses the significant differences in environmental impact between afforestation and deforestation when it comes to the negative impact of timber plantations. Lastly, he provides fascinating insights into the undervalued ecological importance that grasslands hold within his own community and in environments around the globe.

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Guest Quote

“We need to diversify and where possible we should use the appropriate indigenous number species to be cultivated. If you want to say that you're in the forest industry then you must plant a real forest, not only one kind of tree. And a real forest also includes animals. I really think that it's vital that we re-include animals into all of these systems because there's a link between the animals and plants and sustainability, you know,  the circle of life. We know that very well. And we've managed to break that system.” - Philip Owen

Episode Timestamps

(01:49) Introducing Philip

(06:12) Philip’s entry into eco-activism

(09:01) Starting GeaSphere

(19:20) Importance of grassland ecosystems

(28:51) Impacts of climate change in South Africa

(37:31) Competing actors and roles involved

(40:42) Quick hits

Links

GeaSphere

Phil Dillard’s LinkedIn

Thruline Networks

This episode features a conversation between Phil Dillard, Founder of Thruline Networks, and James Ehrlich, Founder of Regen Villages Holding. 

James is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Stanford University School of Medicine, a Senior Fellow at the NASA Ames Research Center, and on the White House and State Department Joint Task Force for Food, Water, Energy & Waste. He’s a co-author of the UN Sustainability Platform Brief "Regenerative Community Development," and received the Singularity University Global Grand Challenge Award in the category of Shelter. James has also been awarded as the winning national public television producer and director, and best-selling published author.

In this episode, James talks about how current industrial agriculture is an inefficient way to sustainably feed 10 billion people, the importance of self guidance and being open to change in life, and how drawing inspiration from indigenous wisdom afforded him the premise for creating Regen Villages.

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Guest Quote

“Ten years from now, success looks like a world of regenerative resilient neighborhood infrastructure, where people are able to have access and agency to their natural resources. And these are then, of course, beautiful flourishing communities.” - James Ehrlich

Episode Timestamps

(01:51) James’ journey

(09:09) Creating Regen Villages Holding

(15:36) Guidance on being open to change

(19:22) Drawing inspiration from indigenous wisdom

(23:32) Discussing the solution versus doing nothing

(29:37) Regen’s model

(32:54) Quick Hits

(37:01) Final thoughts

Links

James Ehrlich's LinkedIn

Phil Dillard’s LinkedIn

Thruline Networks

This episode features a conversation between Phil Dillard, Founder of Thruline Networks, and  Dr. Micah Weinberg, CEO at California Forward, a cross-sector civic leadership group committed to producing prosperity for all Californians in all of the state's regions and to improving government performance and accountability.

Dr. Weinberg’s current role focuses on increasing the dynamism, resilience and inclusiveness of communities in California and throughout the nation and world. This requires all people to have access to the building blocks of the California Dream including economic growth, health and well-being, affordable transportation, housing and lifelong education, and a healthy environment. Prior to joining California Forward, Dr. Weinberg was President of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute and a Senior Research Fellow at New America. His writing has appeared in diverse outlets from the New York Times to Policy Studies Journal, and he has appeared on Fox News and NPR.

In this episode, Dr. Weinberg talks about navigating regional challenges in order to drive change across different sectors, the importance of tackling local issues with scalable solutions, and how to actively engage today’s youth in the future of California.

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Guest Quote

“We'll say free market capitalism as if those things go together when in fact, basically what capital is used for is to distort the market in your favor when you acquire it, right? So we have to think very carefully about, are these markets in fact free? Is the market even the right framework we're thinking about? But people getting to do whatever they want with no  regulations whatsoever is not even a market. You actually need a lot of interventions to prevent asymmetries of information and all these other kinds of aspects.” - Dr. Micah Weinberg

Episode Timestamps

(02:02) Dr. Weinberg’s role

(02:51) Navigating regional challenges

(05:17) Dr. Weinberg’s career path

(13:21) Driving change across different sectors

(14:30) The Economic Resilience Fund

(22:24) Philanthropy, private investment and government grants

(28:30) Engaging the youth in the future of their state

(36:36) Finding balance in the market

(41:38) Tackling local solutions and driving scalability

(44:31) Great places to look for thought leadership

Links

Dr. Micah Weinberg’s LinkedIn

Phil Dillard’s LinkedIn

Thruline Networks

This episode features a conversation between Phil Dillard, Founder of Thruline Networks, and Dr. Michael K. Dorsey, environmental scientist, advocate, scholar, and entrepreneur. Dr. Dorsey is a recognized expert on global energy, environment, finance and sustainability matters.

A graduate of the University of Michigan, Yale and Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Dorsey is a serial organization builder and leader in for-profit, non-profit, scholarly and governmental realms. His significant government engagement began in 1992 as a member of the U.S. State Department Delegation to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, “The Earth Summit.” He has published ​dozens of scholarly and lay articles on a variety of environment, development and sustainable finance matters and has been featured or provided his opinions in the world’s leading lay television, radio and print outlets.

In this episode, Dr. Dorsey talks about the building practice of capitalism and how to fix it, provides a life cycle analysis of renewable energy while mapping out the future course of the planet, and offers advice for aspiring policymakers looking to engage governments across the globe.

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Guest Quote 

“Renewable energy is going to change everybody's access to energy, absolutely and fundamentally. It's going to restructure and drive the restructuring of society as we know it because this world, like it or not, is an energy-based world. Right now we are living on dirty energy, fossil fuels, or fossil foolishness, and that's polluting and poisoning us and destroying ecosystems, destroying environments, driving climate change, killing species, poisoning water, poisoning aquifers, et cetera. When we pivot out of that nasty fossil foolishness, we don't see the pollution. We don't see rising CO2 emissions. We don't see accelerating greenhouse gasses.” - Dr. Michael K. Dorsey

Episode Timestamps

(00:38) The building practice of capitalism

(04:38) How to fix capitalism

(13:59) Dr. Dorsey’s efforts in environmental policy

(19:58) Life cycle analysis of renewable energy

(27:17) Advice for aspiring policymakers for engaging governments

(44:17) Mapping out the future

(49:37) Final thoughts

Phil Dillard’s LinkedIn

Thruline Networks

Learn more about Dr. Dorsey

This episode features a conversation between Phil Dillard, Founder of Thruline Networks, and Joe Musselman, Founder and Managing Partner of Broom Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology companies with exceptional teams, leadership, and culture.

Joe is a board member and advisor to national non-profits, endowment funds, and technology companies ranging from seed stage to multi-billion dollar market cap companies across several industries.

In this episode, Joe shares his views on how venture capital can create a positive impact on society across a range of different communities. He also unveils the most important traits that all great leaders possess, and the strategies that everyone can use to find self-realization and fulfillment in their career. To learn more about Joe’s work, visit broom.ventures, and to learn more about our work at Thruline Networks, visit thrulinenetworks.com

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Guest Quote 

“Ask yourself this question: what is the vision I hold for the world, the ideal vision? What is my mission statement? Meaning my worthy cause and what are the values that I hold closest to me? Values are how we think, act, feel, and communicate into the world. They're indicative of behaviors. Take a moment. Define those things however you choose to define them. You don't have to use my definition, create your own. Now, once you get clear on that, you'll start to generate a lens into certain types of teams, you'll be attracted to certain types of leaders, and you'll start to recognize cultures that believe what you believe. Then you'll start to have clarity around the question, what’s next?” -Joe Musselman

(00:29) Introduction

(04:49) Starting Broom Ventures

(09:56) Defining impact through venture

(13:22) Commonalities between startups

(17:26) Mission-driven companies

(21:23) Figuring out what’s next in life

(24:31) Quick hits and tips

(27:50) Final thoughts

Joe Musselman’s LinkedIn

Joe Musselman’s Twitter

Broom Ventures

Phil Dillard’s LinkedIn

Thruline Networks

This episode features a conversation between Phil Dillard, Founder of Thruline Networks, and Markus Silfverberg, Founder and Developer of Block Solutions Oy.

Markus is an international serial entrepreneur with a background in the large-scale production technology sector. He is the founder and developer of Block Solutions Oy, a Finland-based company specializing in affordable and sustainable housing, focusing on creating opportunities for people that are in need for new beginnings through creating jobs and decent housing. Markus has a passion for sustainability and environmental actions and fighting climate change.

In this episode, Markus talks about solving the world’s housing problem, creating thousands of jobs while simultaneously fighting climate change, and also gets into the fine details of the organizational structure of his family-run company. Markus also provides great insight as to what it takes to be a successful serial entrepreneur from outside of the United States.

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Guest Quote 

“According to United Nations, a staggering 3 billion people will need affordable housing by the end of 2030…That would mean we will need to build 600 million houses in just a few years. And of course we understand that's never going to be the case. We could just say ‘hey, it's not going to happen,’ or we can do our part.” - Markus Silfverberg
 

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Timestamps

(00:36) Introduction

(01:11) Markus’ career

(02:07) Building multiple businesses with his wife

(03:07) Markus’ influences

(04:16) A family business

(05:56) About Finnish culture

(07:32) Why Markus built Block Solutions

(10:29) The environmental impact of Block Solutions

(13:18) How Block Solutions adds to the ecosystem

(14:56) Where is Markus putting his factories?

(15:49) Important lessons Markus has learned

(20:17) Block Solutions creating opportunities internationally

(24:12) The organizational structure of Block Solutions

(28:46) Rapid fire questions

(35:45) Final thoughts

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Links

Markus Silfverberg’s LinkedIn

Markus Silfverberg’s Twitter

Block Solutions Oy

Phil Dillard’s LinkedIn

Thruline Networks

What is the 4th sector?

It’s an emerging sector of the economy that consists of “for-benefit” organizations versus simply “for-profit” ones. Said differently, it’s the space in which businesses exist for impact reasons as well as financial ones. 4th Sector Capitalism is real Impact Investing. 

On this podcast, we’ll explore 4th Sector Capitalism and impact investing as an invitation to innovation, and changing the world. 

Whether in response to issues of revenue growth inside a fixed ecosystem, climate crisis, gender disparity, economic inequality, racial injustice, or other issues related to global development this work is critical to solving problems that don’t fit cleanly into conventional notions of public, private, or nonprofit sectors.

The remarkable growth of impact investing over the last 10 years has reached a whopping estimated 2-Trillion dollars in assets. 

What if more “for-profit” organizations make the switch to “for benefit?” 

Join your host, Phil Dillard, on this journey to find out just how big of an impact we can make. 

Welcome to Thruline to the 4th Sector. 

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