The Next Ten Years – Breakdown, Breakthrough and Breakaway

Aired 21 May 2019 – 5:00 PM EDT

Interview with Writer, Speaker, and Optimist Harvey Stone

“We live on a shrinking planet that could definitely use a good shrink.” — Swami Beyondananda

 

Back in my teaching days, I had a hilarious colleague who loved to channel Mel Brooks’ 2000-year-old man character, who naturally — or unnaturally — spoke with a Yiddish accent. I knew my friend was considering changing schools so when I ran into him, I asked him “So, what are you doing next year?”

And he answered in that perfect Yiddish inflection, “Oh? They’re having ANOTHER ONE?”

Apparently we are too — years, that is. And given how stressful years have been in recent years, looking into the future feels a bit like watching previews for the next dystopian epic. From a higher perspective of course, we recognize that chaos is a necessary phase of evolution.

This week’s guest, Harvey Stone — a corporate trainer, sustainability expert, and self-proclaimed optimist — has a coherent and compelling take on where we might be headed over the next decade, and has some surprising insights to help us anticipate and navigate the changes, which he calls “Disruption, Democratization, Demonetization, and Depolarization.”

He writes, “If you think the last decade was a blur, don’t blink during the next one.

In fact, take a lot of photos of your world today because you may not recognize it when we welcome in 2030. Along the way, a ton of norms will be disrupted. But we’ve also got a moonshot at democratizing our world, demonetizing our costs, beginning to stabilize our climate, taking several giant steps forwards towards a more sustainable world and (hardest to believe) depolarizing out national politics.”

Harvey has been an executive speechwriter for Apple, IBM, Sony and other firms, and has consulted with companies and international agencies on sustainability and its impacts. He has written a video script for the World Bank on carbon-pricing strategies, as well as a “Climate Change and Development” training program for its internal staff and its economically-developing client countries. He has also hosted a radio show highlighting sustainability and published an action-thriller novel, “Melting Down”, to reach a broader audience with climate issues.

If you’re looking to see beyond our current “shituation” to find a likelier story — and a future more to your liking, please tune in

.