Atypical Ep 5: STAFFER Podcast Episode with Mike Boots (Breakthrough Energy and Gates Ventures)
We’re taking this month off, but we still have new content for you in the form of an episode of one of our favorite podcasts–STAFFER. STAFFER is a weekly podcast with former staffers sharing their stories of working on the Hill hosted by Jim Papa of Global Strategy Group. This episode features an interview with an accomplished sustainability professional, Mike Boots, Executive Vice President at Breakthrough Energy and Director of the Gates Ventures DC Office. By listening, you’ll learn a lot about Mike’s career journey and lessons learned along the way including from staffing Ted Danson (yes, of Cheers fame) and Bill Gates.
Listeners of our show know our traditional last question of asking for a party fact. Well, Jim has his own. One is called “in the vault.” He asks his interviewees for a time that you made a mistake, how you recovered, and what you learned? The other is if he could build a hall of fame to staffers on the national mall, who would you nominate to the staffer hall of fame and why? Check out the episode to hear Mike’s answers.
You can find STAFFER wherever you get your podcasts and at staffershow.com.
We’ll see you soon with new Sustainability Defined content!
Intro
Definers, we’re taking this month off to recharge the batteries a bit and to prep for some upcoming episodes including one on transparency and sustainability.
But we have for you today what we think will be new content for most of you. It’s an episode from a podcast called STAFFER that features an interview with an accomplished sustainability professional, Mike Boots, Executive Vice President at Breakthrough Energy and Director of the Gates Ventures DC Office.
So what is the STAFFER podcast? It’s a weekly podcast with former staffers sharing their stories of working on the Hill hosted by Jim Papa of Global Strategy Group.
In this episode we learn a lot about Mike’s career journey and lessons learned along the way.
Mike’s background includes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Governor of California, the Aspen Institute, and Gates Ventures. He explains how he was a good staffer in all of those roles, including to Ted Danson (yes, the famous actor) and Bill Gates.
One of our fun facts from the episode. There’s a “Hall of States” in DC where many state governors have DC offices.
Also, Mike identifies with two phrases he has picked up from his bosses: “impatient optimist” and “relentless incrementalist.” Hear in the episode how these phrases reflect his approach to staffing and his sustainability work generally.
Plus, if you like how we always end with our party fact question, Jim also has traditional last questions.
One is called “in the vault.” He asks his interviewees for a time that you made a mistake, how you recovered, and what you learned?
The other is if he could build a hall of fame to staffers on the national mall, who would you nominate to the staffer hall of fame and why?
Jim is a friend of Scott’s. You’ll also hear Scott’s voice in the episode since us putting an ad in a STAFFER episode and us playing a STAFFER episode was how we wanted to expose our audiences to our respective shows since we think they’d find them of interest. You can find STAFFER wherever you get your podcasts and at staffershow.com. We’ll see you soon with new Sustainability Defined content!
Oh, and please take a minute to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. We haven’t had a new review since February 1, 2023. We’d love to read a new review on the next episode that’s from one of you!