At the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture  and Design, art, architecture, and nature come together.

In this place where ocean and land meet,  we walk with a leader working to protect both.

Dawn Lippert has built her career turning ideas  into action for the planet.

As CEO of Elemental Impact, she raises and invests millions of  dollars in entrepreneurs building a cleaner, more sustainable future.

Her passion  for the environment started early.

When I was about 6, I used to charge  my family a quarter when they left the light on and they left a room.

And no  one else in my family was particularly interested in the, the environment and  waste like this.

But I had this sort of sense of like efficiency from early  on that kind of channeled that way.

Where do you think that came from?

I don't know.

I think I was  born with it.

I don't know.

You were born loving the environment.

I think so.

Yeah, I think it's just, it's felt like it's always a part of who I am.

And then as I've like sort of learned more and more about working environment or sort of  about our planet, it has seemed very clear to me that the planet doesn't necessarily  have its own voice.

So, from like a social justice perspective and social impact, it is  ultimately like the undefended.

And in order for us to thrive as humans we have to live on a  planet that's thriving in terms of our oceans, our lands, our air, our water.

Like all of these  systems are absolutely core to human thriving.

She grew up in rural Washington  State, chasing soccer balls, exploring the outdoors and  dreaming up her next big project.

I also was always an entrepreneur.

I always had  a business going or a project going and making money, selling things, starting different like  companies when I was little.

And so, I think, in some ways, Elemental is this sort of marriage  of working on environment, working on companies with impact and backing entrepreneurs, investing  in companies that are really sort of like building the next generation of infrastructure.

It's kind  of been a natural marriage of those interests.

Tell me about Little Dawn's  entrepreneurial effort.

I mean, everything from like lemonade  stand to one of my, my first company, Dawn's Printing Company.

So, I made  greeting cards for family and friends and designed cards.

We had like one of those  really early old school printers.

So that was one of the early companies.

But I've had sort of like  companies and started organizations and companies in high school and college kind of  just throughout, just naturally.

So, find a gap and got with some friends usually  and tried to start something to fill it.

Was that modeled for you through your  parents or through mentors?

I mean, most kids don't really take that path.

Maybe a lemonade stand but certainly not their own printing company as a young person.

I think it was just like not discouraged like  I could just try a lot of things experiment with things you know now as I sort of like  look back on it, I think this idea of just being able to start things experiment  like it's okay if things don't work out.

That willingness to experiment, to take risks, defines Dawn.

She’s also deeply analytic,  with two degrees from Yale University, a BA in environmental studies and a  Master's in environmental management.

She started out in conservation, but her  field work led her to climate change.

I did a senior thesis on turtle conservation in  Puerto Rico.

And there were all these threats to sea turtles in Puerto Rico.

And so, I was studying  the human threat and like people poaching them, predators, other kinds of threats.

But then  halfway through the summer when I was there, there was a huge hurricane and most of the turtle  nests on the beaches were wiped out.

And so, it really dwarfed the impact of sort of individual  poachers or individual predators.

And I started getting a sense that what was happening in climate  change was sort of dwarfing all of these other specific issues that I was interested in because  climate was just sort of this mega trend that when we have extreme weather events, we have giant  fires, we have hurricanes, floods, the amount of human suffering and damage to the environment  is really overwhelming a lot of other forces.

After Yale, Dawn went to Washington, D.C., working at a consulting firm on clean  energy, which is how she came to Hawaiʻi.

One of the projects I was first staffed on was  the Hawaiʻi Clean Energy Initiative.

And this is an incredibly exciting project.

It was  unprecedented in terms of the federal-state partnership to completely transition a  place from fossil fuels to clean energy.

And I think sometimes in Hawaiʻi, we don't even  realize that level of leadership that was so strong in this time.

This is about 15 years ago,  starting in like 2007, 2008.

And there was this huge impetus and real agreement among business,  among policymakers, the nonprofit sector, students that this was something that was needed  and so I was really fortunate to be able to work on that project with some incredible leaders at  the State of Hawaiʻi and the Department of Energy.

And when did you decide to make the move  to come to Hawaiʻi?

How did that happen?

Well, I had gotten to know my mentor, Maurice  Kaya, who was leading the energy strategy for the state for about 20 years.

And he was who I  had worked for up on the Hawaiʻi Clean Energy Initiative.

And he and Dennis Teranishi  and Harold Matsumoto and a whole group of people were very interested in this idea  of what if you could not only have Hawaiʻi transition from a policy perspective, but to  have a role in the technology that would have a place in that transition.

And this  was a really sort of different idea, like how do you not just import wind turbines  and solar panels and all the technologies, but how do we create some of that here?

And so  that was the initial impetus behind Elemental.

Elemental Impact is a non-profit that invests in  companies working on climate change solutions.

Under Dawn's leadership, over the last 15  years, they've invested in 160 companies, the returns on those investments go back  to the nonprofit, for the next round.

We've invested in a whole bunch of companies  that are now actually like very large companies that over the last decade or so have become  large companies and have big projects.

So, you know like Fervo, one of the biggest geothermal  companies now operating in the country, building one of biggest geothermal projects in Utah.

That's  sort of the first and biggest enhanced geothermal project in the county.

But energy storage  companies, companies working on agriculture, companies working fertilizer, clean water.

We've been able to be at the early part of that journey for many of these companies as a  nonprofit investor.

And then a few years ago, we also spun out a venture fund to invest in  companies with a for-profit lens as well.

So, just really thinking about how do we do  what no one else is doing in this space?

How do we ensure that companies that we're  investing in are not only have really interesting technology.

But we think that's  about half the solution, but are actually working directly with communities where they're  implementing and benefiting those communities.

So, we always kind of say at Elemental, technology  has half the solutions, the community brings half the solution.

Unless you're actually really  working both, it's a pretty incomplete picture.

And that's what living in Hawaiʻi has taught  me in and starting Elemental has taught me.

Still ahead, Dawn’s life moves fast, but she  never says she’s busy.

She reveals why, coming up.

Kapi‘olani Park is where Dawn Lippert  feels most connected to Hawaiʻi, a place where for her, family, community, and  the simple joys of daily life come together.

A lot of my life in Hawaiʻi has been lived  in and around this park.

I've lived in this neighborhood for about 16 years since I came  to Hawaiʻi.

My daughter learned to ride her bike right on this path and my son scooters  right here.

And this is where I played soccer, you know, every single day after work.

So,  this park to me sort of symbolizes community and coming together of a lot of different  like blocks of life and kinds of sports and a public place where people can be in  nature, be a family, be a community.

What do you think it is about  connecting in those outdoor spaces?

I know that when I'm in the water with  my children, I feel like a really deep, profound connection to them in a way  that, you know, you don't necessarily even get when you're sitting around a  dinner table or doing things at home.

You know, I think that outdoors just like  leaves room for a spark of discovery in a way that like being inside doesn't.

There's always  something kind of funky or new in the ocean, right?

That you're sort of like what is  that?

And so, I think that sort of spark also leaves a lot of room for imagination  and you know my kids love to like pretend they're like sharks and attacking us or like  some other kind of like undersea creature, megalodons, or, you know, seahorses  or something.

So, I think it's the spark of unexpected when you're in nature  is also a great catalyst for imagination.

You travel a lot, you're handling a lot of things, but then you're also a mom of young kids.

How do you find balance in your life?

I think I just get a lot of energy from doing each  of those things and I hope that being, you know, really trying to be good at my job also makes me  hopefully a better mom.

There's so many things that are actually like interesting parallels  between running a company and then like being part of a family in terms of like learning  to communicate and learning how to organize, learning how to assign roles.

Learning  how to, like, together make decisions, make people feel heard, like there's so  many parallels that I find really helpful.

What's interesting to me is that when I interact  with you, you're a very busy person, but you never lead with that you're busy.

Like you're always,  you always seem so excited and enthusiastic about whatever you're taking on.

How do you maintain  that kind, that kind of positive energy, honestly?

Well, I don't believe in saying I'm busy.

Tell me more.

I just have like found over time that I would  just like to be focused on what I'm focused on, but sort of saying I'm busy like sounds like  you're sort of saying like very important or I'm like all over the place.

I think  you know I try to do a lot of things, but I like really do things I think  are the highest priority things to do, so I don't feel like my time is like taken  up by things that are not important.

I really like to be super focused and, and really  intentional about what I'm spending time on.

I mean, I really love that because  I do think that I'm busy feels like, in the mommy world, if feels like a flex.

The words you say matter so much and if you  say like, I'm so frazzled or like I'm so busy, like I think that that is like the energy then you  feel and I think you can be the same amount busy but if you interpret it as like I'm focused  or I'm like driving toward this milestone, it just like, it gives you a energy around it.

I'm  busy, which sort of means I'm all over the place, right?

And so, I guess to me, I really try  to avoid the word busy because it feels like you don't know where you're going.

You're just like all over, you know?

Words matter and so do values.

As CEO of  Elemental Impact, Dawn has met thousands of entrepreneurs and says the strongest  leaders share a few essential traits.

The first one is humble spirit.

I think it's  like unbelievably important to have humility as a leader and always be in learning mode.

Because there's so many things that all of us don't know.

And I think the biggest thing  standing in the way of learning them is like not being humble enough.

The second  one is growth mindset, which is related, right?

Which is like always growing, that  is, I would say like non-negotiable in every single person that we hire but also  person we invest in.

The third is kuleana, understanding of your place.

In the world but  also your own personal responsibility and taking responsibility for things.

I found that leaders  that I really respect are really good at taking responsibility when something happens and like  taking maybe like an edge more responsibility than they necessarily have to.

I think that makes  people strong leaders and then the third one is joyful work and I think that's like pretty key  like we all spend a lot of time doing it and if we can make it enjoyable for those around us  and we're much more likely to have success.

When you're investing in a company, are you investing in the idea or  are you investing in the individual?

We're investing in both and sometimes  weighted more one way or the other.

I think what I've realized over time is  that great ideas with B plus individuals have a very low chance of working out,  but B plus ideas with great individuals can be very successful because  you can always change the idea.

Coming up, Dawn’s philosophy on saying yes, even - or perhaps especially  - when the outcome is unknown.

Dawn Lippert invests in bold ideas and the  people who can make them happen.

To her, every breakthrough begins with some  risk, it’s the only way to move forward.

I really love Nainoa Thompson's  sort of philosophy, is it, which is more dangerous, the pirate,  the storm, or being tied to the dock?

I really love that because I think  people often don't do things because they don't know how they will turn out, but  not doing something is also a decision.

So, I think that he really exemplifies that.

You're  making a decision to stay tied to the dock.

Particularly in the environmental space  if we stay tied to the dock, as we know, you know, at least on these  islands, we'll be drowning.

The planetary indicators across every single  indicator are really scary.

And they can actually kind of like paralyze you into a sense of doom.

So, I think the only imperative is to act.

I mean, I actually think that the only real way to  react to that kind of data is to figure out like what can you uniquely do and then really  just like start marching along that path.

You know, these problems can feel so overwhelming.

How do you not get paralyzed when we think about just what climate change is bringing to us  right now, already, and what it could bring in the next decade, or even less, really?

Yeah, and it's happening now, like you're saying.

I mean, this is happening now.

I think  people thought, oh, climate change, that'll happen for my kids.

Like, let's save the planet  for my kid.

That is like no longer the vibe, right?

This is happening, now, to our communities.

There are two things that really helped me from that like sense of paralysis.

One is that  a few years ago, a big report came out from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,  which publishes these, it's where like hundreds of governments around the world and thousands  of scientists come together and publish these reports of what's happening.

And what they noted  was that there are absolutely like thresholds where things change, but also every single ton  of greenhouse gas emissions makes a difference.

So, it just like gave me the sense of like, oh,  every single ton that I avoid by like driving electric car, by not doing this, by investing in  this company, by voting for someone that supports clean energy, every single thing I do actually  makes a difference in the scheme of things.

So, this is not a problem that, you know,  once you get to like a million, it's over.

It's like, it it's an incremental challenge.

And the other thing that really keeps me energized is that like, I just wake up every single day  and like think about the action that I can take.

And so, I think working with entrepreneurs  is inherently super energizing compared to working in some other parts of climate.

Because I  literally work with people who wake up every day and just like run through walls and make stuff  happen and kind of pull off the impossible.

Yeah, speaking of pulling off the impossible,  do you think that we will reach those energy independence goals?

I mean, the reason that  you came to Hawaiʻi was to help us get there, right?

Do you think the state is  in line to actually achieve that?

I think so.

I mean I think we still have a  lot of alignment here.

I think one of the things that is really special about Hawaiʻi  is having made these long-term commitments and said this is where we're going.

And  that took a lot of political courage at the time and I think continues to take  political courage to see it through, because sort of like getting there is a lot of  small decisions along the way, many of which are not popular.

Because a lot what you're doing is  like going against the status quo, right?

And so, you have to sort of address that very real loss  to businesses, to developers, to various sort of stakeholders across the value chain.

Because when you're making a transition, like by definition, there'll be like some  people who lose in that transition.

And so, I think having like a steady hand, a steady state  and this is where we're going, we know that there will be a lot gained in terms of economic  stability, in terms affordability, in terms of jobs and we have to stay the course.

I think  we're in a pretty good place.

I mean, we obviously have sort of like fits and starts here around it  but I have faith that we will stay the course.

You had said that you have to be willing to fail and then move on.

How are you able to  not stay in failure when they happen?

I don't know, but I often think about this  because someone will tell me, oh, remember that person that we pitched for our fund and they  said no, and I'm like, oh, I didn't remember.

I think it's just like I just immediately drop  it and move on to the next one.

I have a lot of memories of people that said yes.

But I think  it is, it's like forward momentum, moving forward, moving forward.

And Dennis Teranishi once told  me when I worked with him and he was really part of the sort of early DNA of building Elemental.

He said, momentum is something that's so hard to get and once you get it, you just like hang on  for dear life.

Like you wrangle that, like don't let it go.

And I think that that is part of like  just sort of moving through failure.

And you know, really understand that failure also is a lot of  learning.

Like you cannot learn without failing.

And so, in a way, like that's a gift too.

So,  if you can just really say like, okay, well we didn't, we didn't get that, or this company  blew up, or this thing happened, so likle but we won't make that same mistake again,  or we'll look at this in a different way, and so we're just building, building, building,  so I think failing is just part of building.

How do you sustain that ability to keep  running through walls and to keep the, I mean the thing that strikes me about you in  knowing you over however many years is that you are always on the move.

You're always on a  plane, you're always going to speak somewhere, like you are going, going, going and it seems  like at just an incredible level to sustain.

To me, like, that gives me a ton of energy.

And  I also realized when moving here to Hawaiʻi, like it just, it struck me over time that if  you could say yes to like almost everything, you don't know the things that are going to  be high impact in the long term like today.

You just don't have that visibility.

But the  more you can say yes, too, then doors start opening.

And then, things get sort of like easier  or more clear and you can like build more clearly so I think I always just really, you know if  I get an opportunity I really try to say yes.

I think a lot of times we're always talking about  how do I have more boundaries?

How do I sustain myself?

So, it's interesting that your default is  yes when I think that a lot our defaults is no.

I think it also has to be like yes in your  lane.

Like I don't say yes to like everything, but I know these are the things I'm trying to  get done and anything that I think can like help me do that, I'll say yes, to that.

And then  there's other people on the team or other people in the ecosystem that can do other things.

Like  an example is working with really early-stage companies.

Like Elemental, you might think works  with really early-stage companies.

We actually work with companies that usually have at least  10 people, have raised a few million dollars, they have a working prototype, we're funding  a project in a community, their later stage companies.

And we've learned over time that  we're not the best people for super early- stage companies.

So, we find other places to  send them and other people that can help them, but we are super focused.

So, once you have your  focus, then you say yes to things like in that, in that target, because you don't know which  ones will necessarily pan out.

But I think it's like starting with focus and then saying  yes, because I think if you're unfocused, you'd just be like, oh my God, there's way too  much, right?

So, it's focus and then saying yes, I'm interested on how you sustain yourself to work  towards a goal that may never be done.

I don't know that we're going to solve climate.

We're  going to mitigate some of the effects, but it doesn't seem like a solvable problem.

I hope I'm  wrong on that.

But when you're working toward a goal like that, that you might not actually get  to realize the benefits, how do you keep going?

Yeah, I think you're right.

And  sometimes I do say solve climate change, and then I always catch myself and  say, address climate change.

But I think it is the sense that each incremental  species you save, or person's life you save or town or village that is saved because of  these efforts, like that has value.

And so, it's not about seeing the whole elephant  come together.

And you know I think by 2051, we will have solved this and we'll be on to the  next thing.

I know that this is a lifetime of work and multiple lifetimes of work.

But I also think  that every incremental piece we do has value.

What's the best advice that you've ever received?

I wasn't sure about this advice when Dennis first  gave it to me, but his advice was, that the most important choice you make in life is who your  partner is.

And I think that over time I've really seen that to be true.

I was really fortunate  to meet Brody before this whole sort of journey started and marry him and create a family and I  do think that's an incredibly important choice, but I also would expand that to the people  that you work for and the people you work with on a team because these are people that,  you know, we've built together for many years, many people on my team.

I mean, I would  do anything for them, and they are just, they're thought partners, they're friends,  theyʻre innovators and they're really like sort of true partners on the journey of  life.

Like whatever any of us end up sort of doing and we've been building together.

And so,  I think that advice from Dennis around, you know, your partner is a kind of a key decision  in life.

But so are these partners that you choose to build with or choose to surround  yourself with or build teams with over time.

In work and in life, the right  partners make all the difference, a reminder that none of us succeed alone.

For A Leader's Journey, I'm Yunji de Nies.