49. What does it mean to be a problem solver in the sustainability space?

Through The Corporate Glass

How does someone with an engineering background break into policy design? What does it mean to be an effective problem solver in the sustainability space? How does one contribute to evidence based policy making. We talk about this and much more with Hari Dilip Kumar.

Hari is a generalist problem-solver at heart, with a decade of rich and varied experience in sustainability and social impact. He has contributed significantly to ground-breaking projects recognized globally for innovation and impact by organizations including the United Nations. He cofounded FluxGen, a sustainable technologies company in Bengaluru. He then worked at MicroEnergy International (Germany) on the concept of swarm electrification, and headed research & product development at Solshare, an international joint-venture social enterprise creating clean energy marketplaces in rural off-grid areas of Bangladesh. He also researched systems issues at Public Affairs Centre.

He currently works with startups, corporates, academia & non-profits on a range of sustainable development challenges, helping them with business development, technology & design, and policy analysis & advocacy through Solvesustain a recently founded company.

Hari's Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hari-dilip-kumar-4b566621/

Mentioned in the episode:

Solvesustain: http://solvesustain.com/

Donella Meadows: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donella_Meadows

Limits of Growth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limits_to_Growth

Going down the rabbit hole: https://thesystemsthinker.com/systems-thinkers-must-go-down-the-rabbits-hole/

The paper from MIT: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4614-3188-6_2

Cal Newport's take on Passion: https://99u.adobe.com/videos/22339/cal-newport-follow-your-passion-is-bad-advice

The tools: Phil Stutsz, Barry Michels: https://www.amazon.in/Tools-Phil-Stutz/dp/0091947413

Mindset: https://fs.blog/carol-dweck-mindset/

IDEO: https://www.ideo.org/

Human Centered Design: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-centered_design

Carbon accounting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_accounting

Evidence based policy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence-based_policy

Initiative for climate action: https://actionclimate.org/

Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore: https://pacindia.org/

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