Hello, #cleantechers. Ever heard the joke about the engineer who walked into a podcast interview and turned out to be a fountain of wisdom and soundbites? Well, our guest today is just that… except he’s no joke.
South African native Claus Nussgruber leads Utility Global, a net-zero hydrogen company based in Houston. He spent his 31-year career working in and leading corporate initiatives focused on hydrogen and other rare industrial gasses. To me, Claus represents the influx of talent that’s coming into cleantech from other parts of the economy. They’re diversifying the available expertise and perspective, and we’re the better for it.
And you’re going to be better for listening to Claus. While we like to keep our takeaways to five or fewer, this was one of those interviews that overflowed with so many great nuggets of wisdom that we just couldn’t winnow the list past this:
3:48 – How Nelson Mandel taught Claus to level set his experience of frustrating situations and irritating people.
6:13 – Corporate leadership is not about issuing instructions. Rather, it’s about creating a common goal and organizing the team effectively around it.
9:16 – Running a cleantech company is about realizing potential. Running a company in a more mature space is about maintaining the potential that’s already been achieved.
12:29 – New companies don’t have brand, so the clean economy CEO is the catalyst for the brand’s buildout.
15:17 – Why Claus hired an in-house coach and made the coach available to all of his employees.
17:37 – How opera serves the same purpose for Claus’s CEO performance as ice baths serve athletes.
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