IAM1215 – Executive Director Creates Businesses Based on Sustainability

Adam Roberts is the Executive Director of Bethesda Green, a Maryland nonprofit organization that is working to address environmental challenges locally by creating a sustainable, green community, built collaboratively through citizen engagement, environmental education, government partnership, and innovative business development. They focus on local environmental projects such as increasing access to recycling and composting or planting rain gardens to mitigate storm-water runoff; run an environmental education program for local high school students; and maintain the Bethesda Green Innovation Lab, which cultivates and nurtures eco-entrepreneurs, working to create businesses based on sustainability. He has spent three decades in the nonprofit sector, previously focused on international animal protection and wildlife conservation.

• CEO Story: A three-decade journey, started at the bottom and worked his way up in a non-profit organization, and started another non-profit organization after seeing the opportunity to lead.
• Business Service: Direct community engagement to the highly urbanized community as they aim to make it green and livable by having access to composting, access to recycling bins, preventing swarm water pollution, etc. Handling the environmental and sustainability work.
• Secret Sauce: What sets them apart is the comprehensive package that works in collaborative partnership with the community leaders in different aspects to achieve environmental and sustainable projects in that certain community.
• CEO Hack: Creating sounding boards to talk to people and have a proper conversation about the challenges or problems and aspirations that he places as a leader.
• CEO Nugget: Take small steps along the way. It is much easier to achieve success by thinking on those smaller incremental terms.
• CEO Defined: Being a very good chess player, making all the right moves, having a big vision of the entire chessboard at moving pieces thoughtfully, thinking a few steps ahead.

Website: www.bethesdagreen.org

Facebook: BethesdaGreen

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/9287319

Twitter: bethesdagreen

Instagram: bethesdagreen

Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCCnYD_wh0t4Us7f9Srn2yxw

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE

00:19 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEO's without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is to I AM CEO podcast.

00:46 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Adam Roberts of Bethesda Green. Adam, it's great to have you on the show.

00:55 – Adam Roberts

Yeah, thanks, Gresh. I appreciate you having me on.

00:57 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, super excited to have you on the before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Adam so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Adam is the executive director of Bethesda Green, a Maryland nonprofit organization that is working to address environmental challenges locally by creating a sustainable green community built collaboratively through citizen engagement, environmental education, government partnership, and innovative business development. Adam, super excited to have you on the show here about all the awesome things you're doing. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

01:27 – Adam Roberts

Absolutely. I'm excited for it.

01:29 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, let's make it happen then. So, to kind of kick everything off, I know I touched a little bit on it when I read your bio. Could you take us through what I like to call your CEO story? We'll let you get started with all the awesome things that you're doing.

01:39 – Adam Roberts

Yeah, that's great. And I appreciate that thoughtful introduction. It's hard to sort of think about my work because it has spanned three decades. I realize I started in the nonprofit sector in Washington, DC in 1991, fresh out of college pretty much. I think my story is probably not atypical from a lot of CEO stories, whether it's in the nonprofit space or the for-profit world, in that I started at the bottom and worked my way up. You know, my first job in the nonprofit sector was at an animal welfare organization in Washington, DC, where I was literally the administrative assistant guy opening the mail and filing papers, because back then we actually had papers to file before everything was computerized.

Little by little, I started to use the time that I could build into my day to research the issues, more get involved. Then ultimately found an opening where there was an issue that the organization was interested in but had no staff person assigned to it. So I just took on that issue for myself. At the time, that was endangered species conservation. So I would literally bust my butt in the first half of the day to deal with all the administrative tasks so that the second half of the day, after lunch, I could focus on research, writing, started doing some lobbying on Capitol Hill, and then got engaged in international wildlife work through the United Nations and just kept working my way up from there, ultimately starting another nonprofit after my daughter was born in 2004.

Then I ran that for about ten years till I became the global CEO and then left in 2017 to take on the job as executive director of Bethesda Green. So it really has been kind of a journey. I would just add that what's also interesting for me is that along the way, I've started other nonprofits that I've done kind of aside projects where a group of us, some of my colleagues, for example, identified a need that wasn't being fulfilled by current nonprofit organizations. So, like a serial entrepreneur that starts new businesses over and over again because they see an opportunity. We did the same with nonprofits, and a lot of those organizations are still going a decade later. Some of those are some of my proudest achievements.

03:55 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I absolutely appreciate you and sharing your journey. I think so many times I try to hammer home, especially during these episodes. The secret to overnight success, it takes ten years, or as you mentioned, three decades. I think hearing that story, I think, is so inspiring, because I think we live in, sometimes it feels like a, I guess, a hot pocket type of scenario where we feel like it just happens overnight. I know I touched a little bit on Bethesda Green when I read your bio. Could you take us through a little bit more on how you serve your clients and how you make that impact?

04:26 – Adam Roberts

Yeah, sure. And, you know, one of the things that I found so intriguing about Bethesda Green and why I was excited to take on this opportunity three years ago is that we work on environmental projects, as you mentioned in your intro, focused on Bethesda, Maryland. Right. It was started in Bethesda, Maryland, by community residents in Bethesda and councilmen in the county council in Bethesda from Montgomery County. So it's got a very local feel, but all of the work that we do is completely replicable. Right. So we're trying to make Bethesda a sustainable urban ecosystem.

I think when you look at the schematic across the country from coast to coast, you find there's incredible amounts of urbanization and buildings being built, green space being lost. We need a Bethesda Green in all of these communities to really focus on how to make these communities while growing so substantially still green and livable. So that's one of the things that really excites me about the work that we do. So, as you said, we're trying to make the community more accessible for local residents in terms of access to composting. Logo on. We put them out in the community to increase levels, of recycling. We're trying to prevent stormwater pollution and flooding by planning rain gardens. So we're doing all of that kind of direct community engagement work to improve the community at a time of rapid urbanization.

05:50 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I absolutely love that, especially the myriad of ways in which you're able to kind of, it sounds like take that mission and how it manifests itself, like you said, you know, doing on the groundwork, but also, it sounds like empowering those people.

06:03 – Adam Roberts

Exactly.

06:04 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. Then you might have already touched on this because this could be for the organization or yourself personally or a combination of both. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

06:15 – Adam Roberts

Well, I think for the organization, the thing that sets us apart and the thing that I haven't seen very much over my 30 years in nonprofit work is the different ways that we approach this issue. All of the environmental focus, sustainability-focused work, all within the same organization. You know, there are nonprofits out there that are advocacy organizations. They're geared toward educating the public or lobbying organizations that are geared toward legislative solutions to a problem or their project or scientific organizations that are really focused on doing on-the-ground projects, fieldwork, and scientific work to solve a problem. But Bethesda Green kind of combines all of those things in partnership with the broader community. So we've got partnerships that we built with members of the school board, members of the county council, members of our state delegation.

So you deal with not only the school board, but also the legislation, the legislative bodies, community leaders, and corporate leaders. We're working with all these different aspects of the community to ensure that we can actually do good work for the environmental projects that we do on the ground, which I talked about before, like increasing access to recycling and building this entrepreneurial ecosystem that's good for sustainability-driven businesses. So we're really taking kind of this holistic ecosystem approach to saying, you know, we have this community, Bethesda, the broader community, Montgomery county, where Bethesda sits, and we want to make sure that it's got the strongest sustainability-focused ecosystem possible.

And we can't just do that by pushing legislation at the county council, and can't just do that by trying to educate students in the local schools, etcetera. We want to do it all as one sort of comprehensive package, knowing that sometimes we'll succeed more than other times. But if we keep making that holistic, collaborative, partnering approach, we have a much greater chance of succeeding in the long term. I think that's what makes Bethesda Green special, if not unique, and also what I think can be replicated in other communities around the country.

08:21 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I almost feel like. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I almost feel like, especially because of how, I guess, multifaceted some of these problems and creating these solutions. The keyword that I heard you say was sustainability. I wanted to switch gears a little bit to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

08:49 – Adam Roberts

Well, you know, it's interesting that I think a lot of people gave me a lot of ideas when I first became an executive director, ultimately a CEO when I transitioned from being an advocate to an executive, there were lots of bits of advice about watching TED talks and reading books and all of those things. I think when I reflect back on sort of the past sort of 15 years or so when I've been in that kind of executive CEO type role, I think the thing that's benefited me the most is creating different sounding boards to actually talk people and have proper conversations with different people about the challenges or the problems or the aspirations that I face have as a leader.

09:33 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I think so many times, we forget. I think Einstein, his quote was, that we can see so much farther by standing on the shoulders of giants. I love that sounding board concept.

09:43 – Adam Roberts

Yeah. Also, you know, it's an opportunity to get pushed a little bit. I think a lot of times, you know, for me, you know, I admit freely that when I first took over as a CEO, I think I had a little bit of, you know, arrogance is probably the right word. I thought, well, I've achieved, you know, the top of the organization, and that means that I know what I'm doing, and I'm gonna run with it. Then I realized I didn't have a damn clue what I was doing, and I had to figure it out. You know, every day, I had a new challenge that I had to not only identify, you know, realize that it is a challenge, it wasn't always thrown in my face, but, you know, I had to find creative ways to solve these things.

And, you know, my executive job coach used to always ask me the same thing. When I said I didn't know the answer to something or didn't know my way around a certain complex problem, he always used to say, you know, what? If you did know the answer, what would you say? I always thought, you know, that was the most annoying, maddening thing I could be asked. Like, what if I knew the answer? I would tell you, but I don't know the answer. He kept asking the question over and over, pushing me and making me feel uncomfortable. At a time when I thought I was so comfortable with myself and my experience and my knowledge, it was really good to be pushed out of that comfort zone and feel a little awkward and have to figure something out that I didn't think I could figure out. It worked in amazing ways for me, and I'm always grateful for that advice, even though it was maddening advice at the time.

11:10 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that makes so much sense. But it. We sometimes forget, like, there's, like. I guess I don't. It feels like muscles. Like, a lot of times when you're uncomfortable and you have to work on different muscles, you have to think creatively about solutions that some may, sometimes may not even exist. So to have somebody that, you know is holding you to the high standard that a lot of times we hold ourselves to and wants even more about us. By asking those challenging questions, it allows us to grow even more. It could, like you said, be frustrating. So I appreciate you talking about that aspect of it because I think so many times, we don't hear about those, you know, behind-the-scenes kind of conversations and what that can sometimes feel like inside. But I think if you continue to kind of take one step in front of the other, you start to see that you. You see that growth, you see those muscles start to strengthen, and you start to think creatively without sometimes even hearing them hear that question.

11:56 – Adam Roberts

Exactly.

11:57 – Gresham Harkless

Right?

11:57 – Adam Roberts

Yeah. Yeah.

11:59 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call CEO nugget. So this is. Could be a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. It might be something you touched on. It might be something you would tell somebody that potentially goes through the innovation lab. Or if you tapped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self, well.

12:16 – Adam Roberts

So, you know, it's hard for me to kind of give advice in this concept because I still feel like I'm learning. But I'll tell you the one thing that I always advise, whether it's staff or colleagues or entrepreneurs or anybody else, it's to think in small bites. You know, take small bites, small steps along the way, which I think, and I've thought about this a lot lately, sounds counterintuitive. When we are trying to do big things right, trying to have big wins in the nonprofit space, we're trying to fight climate change, some huge emergency that has a real impact on the planet, or somebody is starting a business and they want to succeed at business, I think its really easy to focus on the end goal so much that you do not do the necessary things to achieve the end goal, and then you miss out at the end. Everything is about taking small steps to get there.

13:14 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love that nugget. So I want to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO, and we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEO's on the show. So, Adam, what does being a CEO mean to you?

13:26 – Adam Roberts

It's a great question, and obviously, I bet if you interview 100 CEOs in a year, you're going to get 100 different answers for me. I think this is because of the way I transitioned to becoming a CEO. Being a CEO, to me, means being a very good chess player. I say that because when I first became a CEO, as I mentioned before, I was an advocate. I was doing public demonstrations and writing persuasive essays, trying and get published in magazines to convince people to do good things for animals and wildlife and the environment. I was lobbying Congress for legislation, so I was sort of on the ground.

And I thought when I became an executive that I was going to lose that connection to the work and that sort of typical concept of management and being something outside the work that you're doing. Then I quickly realized that a good chess player makes all the right moves, thinks about the board, has a big vision of the entire chessboard, moves pieces thoughtfully, and thinks, one, two, or three steps ahead. Three moves ahead. If I do this, what's going to happen with that? If I can just keep making the right moves and good moves and thoughtful moves, and thinking about how we're sort of doing this work, how we're playing the game, so to speak, will all be effective. Then that work that I used to do, the hands-on advocacy work, driving these issues forward, would all benefit. My experience has been that it's worked out that way.

14:55 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love that analogy. Appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find about all the awesome things you and your team are working.

15:10 – Adam Roberts

Well, I appreciate that. So obviously anybody should feel free to contact me directly. I was thinking about sort of in that wrap-up concept of anything else to share. I think about my grandfather a lot and realize how he came up through the Depression worked hard and ended up building his own business after World War two. He was always a hard work guy, but I never quite saw the depths of his hard work. I only saw my grandfather who was picking up the tab at dinner, you know, had a nice car and went to his house in the mountains and stuff.

But I always knew that that guy worked really hard and I always felt for myself that hard work was the key. So that's something that inspires me, just knowing that I'm working hard for a cause. So I'm happy to talk about that or any of these things with anyone who wants to. My name is Adam Roberts and I'm at adam ethesdagreen.org folks should absolutely feel free to check out the broad portfolio of work that we do at Bethesda green.org and absolutely.

16:09 – Gresham Harkless

And to make it even easier, we'll have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can get in touch with you. Appreciate you, my friend, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of that.

16:16 – Adam Roberts

Thank you. Thanks for putting me on. I appreciate the opportunity to share our work with everyone.

16:22 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

[restrict paid=”true”]

[/restrict]