Hey #cleantechers, this week we’re back with part two of our conversation with Soluna Computing CEO John Belizaire. John’s current company is building modular green data centers that run on renewable energy. And though he just turned 50, John has already sold two companies.

Hey #cleantechers, ever hear about someone and feel at least a little bit awed by what they have accomplished in their lives? Well, we’ve got one of those folks featured in this episode of Scaling Clean.

#Cleantechers, pay attention to this episode, because it’s a good one. As our readers know, we designed the #ScalingClean podcast to bring you management and leadership wisdom from experienced company leaders. We’ve got a heavily experienced growth company CEO for you in this episode who is lighting up the traditionally workhorse energy efficiency sector.  

We designed this show to bring you wisdom from experienced company leaders, and this episode won’t disappoint.  

We describe this show as a podcast for clean economy CEOs, investors and the people who advise them. As both an investor and an advisor, Graham has a foot in two of those categories. But he’s also one of the few people in cleantech who have served in elected office. Mayor Graham Richard served the city of Ft. Wayne, Indiana from 2000-2007 before taking the reins at Advanced Energy Economy to advocate for pro-sustainability policies.

Graham is now a senior advisor at the San Francisco-based investment fund, Finite, a perch that gives him a window into a number of leadership teams. But he was involved in clean energy long before it was cool. Graham is a cleantech “OC,” (“Original Cleantecher”) who installed the floorboards on which many of us now stand.

Here are the highlights of our conversation with Graham.

3:52 – All top-performing CEOs have five things in common:

1.) real passion

2.) purpose-driven solution

3.) ability to tell the company’s stories

4.) they build a trusting environment

5.) a digital-based platform that can scale

We describe our podcast as “Scaling Clean, the podcast for clean economy CEOs, investors and the people who advise them.” Ken Locklin is the first we’ve had on the show from the last category. And there’s a reason for that: Ken is the cleantech oracle you probably haven’t heard of because he has the enviable combination of foresight and humility.  

Abby Hopper is in her 5th year as the head of the Solar Energy Industries Association, the U.S.’s main solar trade association widely known as “SEIA.” She’s SEIA’s third CEO, taking over the reins right when the avowedly anti-renewables Trump Administration took power in 2016.  

So far on our podcast, we’ve interviewed cleantech leaders that are in a later stage of their careers. We figured that wisdom comes from a combination of gray hair and track record.  

We're up with our third episode of Scaling Clean, where I spoke with former CEO of Hemlock Semiconductor, Mark Bassett. During his impressive tenure, Mark saw sales surge even in the face of the COVID recession. He’s worked most of his career in heavy, mature industries, including 11 years rising through the ranks of Dow Chemical.

We’re up with episode 2 of Scaling Clean, the podcast for clean economy CEOs, investors and the people who advise them. Our goal is to convert company leaders’ experience into useful insights for you in your work.  
 
This episode features our conversation with Robert E. Fishman, a veteran CEO of three energy companies with experience in renewables, fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Bob’s a thoughtful, humble and accomplished leader and mentor. He’s got a wealth of experience in several areas, but I suspect you’ll find most useful his insights into assembling and maintaining the right executive team.  

 
If you don’t have the 30 minutes to listen to the whole episode, here are skimmable highlights below:  
 
5:20 – How to manage leadership teams you inherit, the signs to look for in determining who to keep and who to change out and the mandate you should secure from your board
 
14:17 – The challenges for clean economy companies are customer acceptance of a new product and having a balance sheet strong enough to match the promise of the product  
 
15:20 – How the software experience of impatient VCs doesn’t equip them to understand the capital intensity of clean economy companies 
 
16:50 – The role of the effective clean economy CEO  
 
18:27 – Best backgrounds for cleantech CEOs 
 
20:20 – Tips on hiring, including doing off-list reference checks and accepting that the best you get is a 2/3rds success rate in hiring — plus his favorite interview question 
 
24:50 – How his most important mentor’s “servant leadership” ethic impressed him 
 
We’re looking for feedback (lots of it!) on the usefulness of this format to you as people working at clean economy companies. Do these interviews convert to useable practices, tips and perspectives in your work? Please let us know.