I'm suspicious of many things, including weather forecasts and bestselling diet books. But topping the list are capitalism and trying to solve problems that were caused by technology with more technology.
So I was eager to ask today's guest, Tyler Mayoras, some skeptical questions.
Tyler is CEO of Cool Beans, a company that makes some of the cleanest, healthiest, plant-based food around. Inspired to become vegan four years ago after reading about the damage animal agriculture was causing to the planet, Tyler struggled to find the time to make healthy, plant-based food for himself.
There were plenty of frozen convenience foods around, but none that targeted the growing health-conscious, plant-based consumer sector. So he put his money where his mouth was, and started a company to create such a line of products.
With three kinds of WFPB burritos in gluten-free wraps, Cool Beans went to market in May 2020 and is now in 900 stores. Convinced by the work of Will Bulsiewicz, MD, author of Fiber Fueled, about the importance of a wide variety of plant foods for gut health, each Cool Beans burrito contains at least 17 different plants.
But still, there's that whole capitalism thing. Can an investment-based company really do good without compromising its values in the marketplace? Can it provide returns to ordinary people, and not just continue to enrich the already-wealthy?
We talked about various financial instruments that can democratize, to some extent at least, access to early-stage investing. These include crowdfunding investing sites, and SPACs.
Tyler, in addition to being a CEO, is also an investor in many other food-related companies, including several involved in indoor agriculture.
Again, this makes me nervous. Given my desire to live in connection to the earth, what do we lose when we shift from fields to factories? Will geographic diversity be replaced by vast industrial monocultures, where every bite is a commodity?
Isn't this another case of overusing technology to solve another problem caused by technology – kind of like Elon Musk's plan to save us from the earth by moving us to Mars?
Perhaps. But what's missing from my analysis is just how bad the situation is right now. Between decades of land mismanagement, the drawdown of our aquifers, and the instability of the climate and consequent unpredictability of agricultural yields, we may need a big dose of indoor agriculture just to continue to feed us while we buy time to solve the underlying problems.
Indoor ag has certain advantages, Tyler explained, among them a much lower and more efficient water usage and local production and distribution, vs our current system of shipping almost all the produce sold in the US from California.
So listen in, see what you think, and share your comments at PlantYourself.com.
Links
Cool Beans
Fiber Fueled, by Will Bulsiewicz, MD
Renewal Mill
Social Nature
Field Agent – for consumers | for brands
WeFunder
Republic.co
StartEngine
Dr Howie Jacobson
This podcast is a labor of love and a way to give back to the world that has given me so much. That's why there aren't any sponsors (except me :).
My day job is helping leaders and their teams master their mindsets to remove all obstacles to heart-centered high performance.
Here are three gigs that I do:
1. Executive and Senior Leadership Mentoring and Facilitation
I work with high performing executive teams in organizations — and executive teams that need to become high performing. My focus is mindset mastery, because it’s our mindsets that either support high performance or get in the way.
At this level, everyone’s got the skills and experience to excel and contribute at the highest level. What holds people back is mindset stuff: specifically the triggers that get them out of creative engagement and into fight-or-flight defensiveness.
My practice is all about teaching people to respond differently to those triggers by updating old maps — essentially removing the glitches that the triggers grab onto.
2. Executive Coaching: Quick Wins for High Performance
I work with individual executives and leaders, one on one. The program is called Quick Wins for High Performance, and what we do is, we work strategically on one or two areas that are holding you back and keeping you from performing at your best.
We reverse engineer the presenting problems — too much work and not enough time, underperforming employees and teams, maddening organizational inefficiencies, etc — and identify and rewire the suboptimal mindsets that are behind those problems.
The work is all about updating your mental maps so your actions and responses are always appropriate, proportionate, and strategic.
3. High Stakes Conversations for Fast Growing Small Business Teams
I help small business teams have high stakes conversations with skill, humor, and grace. When people feel safe, they can do their best, most creative, most collaborative work.
So that's what I do. If you'd like any of those results, drop me a line and tell me about yourself.
You CAN Change Other People!
Well, that's what Peter Bregman and I claim in our provocative book of that title.
What we really mean is, you can bring out the best in the people around you. If you think you're powerless to help people change, it's because you've been going about it the wrong way.
Discover our straightforward, replicable process here: You Can Change Other People.
Music
The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.
It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.
You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.
Gratitudes
Thanks to Plant Yourself podcast patrons – Kim Harrison – Lynn McLellan – Brittany Porter – Dominic Marro – Barbara Whitney – Tammy Black – Amy Good – Amanda Hatherly – Mary Jane Wheeler – Ellen Kennelly – Melissa Cobb – Rachel Behrens – Tina Scharf – Tina Ahern – Jen Vilkinofsky – David Byczek – Michele X – Elspeth Feldman – Leah Stolar – Allan Kristensen – Colleen Peck – Michele Landry – Jozina – Sara Durkacs – Kelly Cameron – Janet Selby – Claire Adams – Tom Fronczak – Jeannette Benham – Gila Lacerte – David Donohue – Blair Seibert – Doron Avizov – Gio and Carolyn Argentati – Jodi Friesner – Mischa Rosen – Michael Worobiec – AvIvA Lael – Alicia Lemus – Val Linnemann – Nick Harper – Bandana Chawla – Molly Levine – The Inscrutable Harry R – Susan Laverty the Panda Vegan – Craig Covic – Adam Scharf – Karen Bury – Heather Morgan – Nigel Davies – Marian Blum – Teresa Kopel – Julian Watkins – Brid O'Connell – Shannon Herschman – Linda Ayotte – Holm Hedegaard – Isa Tousignant – Connie Haneline – Erin Greer – Alicia Davis – Heather O'Connor – Carollynne Jensen – Sheri Orlekoski of Plant Powered for Health – Karen Smith – Scott Mirani – Karen and Joe Crabtree – Kirby Burton – Theresa Carrell – Kevin Macaulay – Elizabeth Rothschild – Ann Jesse – Sheryl Dwyer – Jenny Hazelton – Peter W Evans – Dennis Bird – Darby Kelly – Lori Fanney – Linnea Lundquist – Emily Iaconelli – Levi Wallach – Rosamonde McAtee – Dan Pokorney – Stephen Leinin – Patty DeMartino – Mike and Donna Kartz – Deanne Bishop – Bilberry Elf – Marjorie Lewis – Tricia Adams – Nancy Sheldon – Lindsey Bashore – Gunn Marit Hagen – Tracey Gulledge – Lara Hedin – Meg from Mamasezz – Stacey Stokes – Ben Savage – Michael K – David Hughes -Coni Rodgers – Claire England – Sally Robertson – Parham Ganchi – Amy Dailey – Brian Tourville – Mark Jeffrey Johnson – Josie Dempsey – Caryn Schmitt – Pamela Hayden – Emily Perryman – Allison Corbett – Richard Stone – Lauren Vaught of Edible Musings – Erin Hastey – Sean Owens – Sagar Naik – Erika Piedra – Danielle Roberts – Michael Leuchten – Sarah Johnson – Katharine Floyd – Meryl Fury – for your generous support of the podcast.
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