“Seek First To Understand” – Jennifer Hough, Author, TEDx Speaker & Advisor on Talking About Climate Change

“If you want to get something done in this world that transcends what's already happening, if you want to be a pioneer or a leader and make something new out of what has been...then you have to be willing to listen to the people that are trying to hold dearly to how it has been and who are afraid of how it has been going away. And one has to become a master bridge builder. In order to become a master bridge builder, one has to be so committed to asking questions to drop into a place of understanding such that you understand where the commonality is....Find the common points.”

Jennifer Hough on Electric Ladies Podcast

Historically devastating hurricanes are wiping communities off the map, courtesy of climate change, and historic private sector and government investments show that clean energy and climate resilience technologies are economic engines. Yet there are still climate deniers and those battling to reverse those investment – even as they praise the jobs created by those investments in their areas. How do we bridge the gap?

Listen to Jennifer Hough, author of “Unstuck,” TEDx speaker and advisor to leaders, explain how to listen differently and talk about these issues differently in this enlightening conversation with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson. They also share insightful career advice.

You’ll hear about:

• How to listen differently to the climate deniers and others afraid of (any) change.
• What “cognitive dissonance” is and how to transform it.
• How to talk about climate change in a way that builds bridges.
• How to incentivize people to see solutions differently.
• Plus, insightful career advice, such as...

“The first piece of advice that I would give is that...(you want to ask yourself or the Universe) ‘What's the greatest thing that you can do with the skill sets you already have that might leave you feeling satisfied, fulfilled, and like you had a life of meaning and that you went to bed that night knowing that you did what you came to the planet for and you woke up in the morning excited about getting up?’ Answering that question sometimes takes six months, two weeks. It, it's not something that most people can answer right off the bat. They can answer it sometimes generally, but not specifically. So that would be number one....The second thing is, in order for your glass ceilings to become your floors,...you want to work with someone consistently that's guiding you, 'cause doing it alone is for the birds,....finding someone to work with, man, that's so important.” Jennifer Hough on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You'll also like:

• Jill Tidman, Executive Director of The Redford Center, a nonprofit that produces and support environmentally-focused documentaries and media, on how to talk about climate change.
• Dr. Emma O’Brien, Founder of the Global Scrub Choir and Head of Music Therapy at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, on how music builds bridges and how they use it to communicate about the public health issues related to climate change.
• Ann Friedman, Founder and CEO of Planet Word Museum, about the power of language and how we communicate across various media and formats.
• Paula Glover, President of the Alliance to Save Energy, on how talking about – increasing – energy efficiency helps build bridges to solutions to mitigating climate change.
• Rachel McCleery, Senior Advisor, Treasury Dept. Inflation Reduction Act Program, on how to leverage the IRA to save money reducing a building or business’s energy use and carbon footprint.

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