Gil Friend’s Blog

Dear Councilmembers, As Palo Alto's first Chief Sustainability Officer (2013 through 2018), and the staff lead on the initial S/CAP, I hope you’ll permit me to offer a few comments for tonight's meeting, even though I am not a resident and no longer have a formal...

People are hungry for meaningful conversations—that move worlds. Let's have some! Last year, in the early days of the pandemic, some 500 people joined me for a series of online conversations about COVID, the climate crisis, and "living with grace, calm and power in a...

Sandra Pina of Quiero/Madrid interviews me about purpose, courage, the SDGs, and creating new worlds—and new ways of doing business that serve both stakeholders and the living systems of this planet, on which all we value depends.

I just watched Greta Thunberg's recent interview with the Financial Times. Greta seems not to be trapped by the past (in the ways that most of us are) in her calls to “treat the crisis as a crisis,” not as a call to improve and "do better." “We need to stop focusing...

"The ultimate, hidden truth of the world, is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently." —David Graeber, RIP Happy new year, and welcome back—to a year that we all hope is really new—and that is already busy shaking us up!  (I love...

Please join me Tuesday, June 16, 12:30p-2:00p Pacific Time for the fifth in our series of online conversations, exploring how we all might live with grace, calm, and power in this VUCA world—and help guide what Dr. Fernando Flores calls the "reconfiguration of...

How shall we live, in the midst of what Equilibrium Capital CEO Dave Chen calls "a live-fire rehearsal for climate change"? While Covid grips our minds, the climate crisis looms not far behind. They may seem different on their face but they share common roots, common...

[Originally posted on LinkedIn] The pandemic’s risks arise in at least three dimensions: medical; psychological; social/political. And a challenge arises for each of us in one very particular dimension: What do we do now, those of us who don’t hold front-line...

[This article was originally posted on LinkedIn August 23, 2019; join the discussion there.] Walking the talk begins with the talk. But you've got to walk. <tl;dr> Milton Friedman was wrong. Purpose matters. "The 'it’s only business,' profit-above-all focus...