Returning from speaking on environmental leadership where, while some pushed back and expressed skepticism, the organizers invited me back to speak again and most who approached me after said they found it inspirational, thought-provoking, and the like, I’m reminded of my first talks on leadership.

About six months before launching the podcast, I gave a series of talks at NYU. Several told me they didn’t like my message, they tuned out, they felt I was lecturing, and nobody invited me back.

I wanted to give up many times at the beginning. Motivating people seemed pointless. I wondered: Why waste my time? Should I give up on trying and just go for material consumption and fleeting physical pleasure like society rewarded?

I’ve found that environmental leadership, to the extent I’m doing it, means saying ineffective things, which are the only places to start because, as we can tell by looking at the environment, we haven’t found effective things, enough times to fix what I’m saying until it becomes more effective and eventually works.

I can’t count the number of times I wanted to give up. I still often do, though less often. One attendee where I just spoke talked about bringing me to his firm, a major one.

I’m stumbling toward effectiveness. Soon what I do will be as mainstream as not smoking in restaurants or not drinking and driving.