I’m delighted to report that I’ve passed an important first milestone in preparing for launching the ChangeHackers podcast. I’ve now completed 25 interviews with the most amazing and eclectic group of people who really are, in lots of different ways, changing their world for the better. This first group includes:

• Sustainability academics such as:
  • Professor Stuart L. Hart – pioneer of  ‘corporate sustainability’ theory in his 1997 HBR article ‘Beyond Greening: Strategies for a Sustainable World‘ and ‘Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid’ thinking alongside C.K. Prahalad
  • Professor Tim Jackson – author of landmark book ‘Prosperity Without Growth’ in 2009 and Director, Centre for Sustainable Prosperity, University of Surrey
  • Professor Arnold Smit – leading academic in responsible business, Director of Centre of Business In Society, Stellenbosch Business School
  • Professor Jody Fry – leading academic in spiritual leadership, Texas A&M-Central Texas
  • Dr Isabel Rimanoczy – leading academic in sustainability mindset
• Chief Sustainability Officers including:
  • David Croft – Diageo
  • Dr Geoff Mackey – BASF
  • Susanne Stormer – Novo Nordisk
  • Jo Gilroy – Bunzl
  • Dr Shaun Davis – Royal Mail
• Intrapreneurs including:
  • Caroline Meledo – Hilton Worldwide
  • Johanna von Toggenburg – United Nations
• Founders and/or CEOs of social ventures such as:
  • Tim Balcon – IEMA
  • Jan van Betten – Nudge
  • Genevieve Boast – Beyond Human Stories
  • Helen Browning OBE – Soil Association
  • Dr Rupert Dunbar-Rees – Outcomes-Based Healthcare
  • Nicola Gryczka – Gastromotiva
  • Giles Hutchins – Future Fit Leadership Academy
  • Alexandre Lemille – WizeImpact
  • Louise van Rhyn – Symphonia Africa
  • Oscar Rodriguez – Architecture & Food
  • Tom Tobia – Makerversity
  • Kresse Wesling MBE – Elvis & Kresse
  • Kate Wolfenden – Project X
  • Marc Zornes – Winnow

These interviews have been really fascinating and nourishing for me. The hardest challenge I now face is editing them down to 30 minutes – what do I leave out?!

I’ll be in India and France over April and May, undertaking more interviews whilst on my travels with, amongst others, the founder of a new ultra-affordable university in India, a venture capitalist and a professor of social innovation.