Episode 16
How do you help a billion people?
According to the WHO and UNICEF, more than 2 billion people lack access to safely managed water. But it may be as high as 4 billion. Jonas Pilgaard is the CEO of a company that’s working on a product that will dramatically reduce those numbers. But it’s not an easy feat, and requires a lot of nuance and diplomacy in order to build trust with communities of people who are rightly suspicious of drinking water.
In Jonas’ experience, listening and learning from others helps us to be less judgmental and to find solutions to complex problems. It takes time to understand the needs of the people we’re trying to help, and to not make assumptions about what’s “best”.
Jonas is the CEO of 4 Life Solutions, a social impact company that aims to provide affordable, sustainable, and reliable water purification solutions to those in need. The company has developed a plastic bag and a plastic can that use the power of the sun to purify water, which is especially targeted towards people in the lowest income groups who can’t afford more expensive solutions.
Jonas has a background in the IT industry as an entrepreneur and joined 4 Life after being introduced to the founders and their mission to provide safe drinking water to those in need. He believes in the importance of understanding people's perspectives and being less judgmental.
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Transcript
Welcome to Generative Leaders.
Speaker:If you want to know how to build a business, helping a billion
Speaker:people to get safe drinking water, this is the episode for you.
Speaker:Today I am in conversation with Jonas Pilgaard from 4 Life Solutions.
Speaker:I'm, I'm Jonas.
Speaker:Uh, I am, I'm 50 years old.
Speaker:I've been with with 4 Life Solutions for, for almost five years.
Speaker:I, I joined the company after 20 years in the IT industry working,
Speaker:uh, mainly as entrepreneur building companies from scratch.
Speaker:Uh, some good, some less.
Speaker:Uh, and um, and then I was invited into a, accelerator as a judge.
Speaker:And there I was introduced to two young men Alexander
Speaker:and Johan, who had developed this amazing solution to purify water
Speaker:just using the power of the sun.
Speaker:And I was immediately intrigued by that, uh, simply because I thought it was an,
Speaker:a super genius way to, to purify water.
Speaker:Uh, obviously knowing what every, what everybody knows that that safe drinking
Speaker:water is a huge problem in the world.
Speaker:And I was sort, sort of digging into what, what these two guys were doing
Speaker:and I was like, this has so much impact.
Speaker:And it's very far from my, my it knowledge and, and understanding.
Speaker:But, but there was something in this that just dragged me to, to try
Speaker:to be part of their journey.
Speaker:Um, so I talked to them a few months and We decided that, that even
Speaker:though I know nothing about Africa, I know nothing about water, and I know
Speaker:nothing about plastics, um, that I should join because they really
Speaker:wanted my entrepreneurial experience, um, as well as strategic
Speaker:insight and, and access to investors, to to join and as c e o.
Speaker:Um, so I've, I've been with the company for, for five years now, and, and now
Speaker:I know a little bit more about Africa, um, and also water and plastics.
Speaker:Um, but it was a, it was a quite a different journey for me and
Speaker:a, and a quite a bigger step to, to move to a company like this.
Speaker:Uh, also working with sustainability, with clean energy, with uh, with
Speaker:solving one of the biggest problems in the world is, is not what I've done in it.
Speaker:So it's, it's been a great a big step.
Speaker:But I really, a significant one for me as well
Speaker:personally on my personal journey.
Speaker:How many people don't have access to clean drinking water?
Speaker:And what is the technology that's been developed by 4 Life that's
Speaker:that's gonna help solve that problem?
Speaker:Yeah, according to UN, there is around, uh, or there are around 2 billion people
Speaker:that lack access to safely managed water.
Speaker:And in, in real life, there are probably closer to four
Speaker:but those numbers are just mine.
Speaker:But simply because people, even though they have access to safe
Speaker:water most days of their life, um, they still don't trust it simply
Speaker:because they, they are aware that sometimes the water is not safe to drink.
Speaker:So I've actually never seen anyone in Africa in all Africa.
Speaker:and worked most out of Africa, but I've also seen India, I've seen
Speaker:Bangladesh, I've seen so some of these really big countries with a lot of
Speaker:people where people simply don't trust the water they get in their pipes, so
Speaker:they, they introduce some sort of water purification because they are well aware
Speaker:that they need to do something themselves.
Speaker:They can't trust the, the government facilities or, or
Speaker:whatever has put put for them.
Speaker:So, um, what we are doing at 4 Life Solution is that we are specifically
Speaker:targeting the people with the, in the, in the lowest income groups.
Speaker:Uh, so the people that don't have the, the money to install a UVC or a reverse
Speaker:osmosis in your, in your own kitchen.
Speaker:Um, but the people that live for less than $3 a day, um,
Speaker:how can we help those people?
Speaker:Because they are the ones most in need.
Speaker:Uh, other people they can safely purchase whatever water
Speaker:purification solution out there.
Speaker:So 4 Life Solutions are founded out of Uganda at Mia Uganda
Speaker:where we our founder was was sitting together with the local
Speaker:women asking them about their their problems, their needs, their, the
Speaker:issues they have in their daily lives.
Speaker:And it was clear that they were falling sick, and they were pretty,
Speaker:uh, consistent, driven about the fact that it was probably the water
Speaker:they were drinking that was not safe.
Speaker:And they had problems getting, uh, firewood to boil the water.
Speaker:Uh, because many places in Africa there is not any firewood or it's, it's
Speaker:even illegal to cut it down, or expensive.
Speaker:So he knew about this sodis method.
Speaker:And the Sodi method is about the sun's UV race killing bacteria and virus,
Speaker:um, similarly to getting a sunburn.
Speaker:So basically what, uh, we have invented is a.
Speaker:Plastic bag and a plastic can, sort of a jerry can, as that is transparent.
Speaker:but it's transparent in a special way so you are, we are emitting both
Speaker:UV A and UV B light through the bag and the can, meaning that we are
Speaker:sunburning uh, the water that is in the back and the can, leaving them safe,
Speaker:killing the bacteria and the virus, after just four hours in the sun.
Speaker:So we are producing a very low cost product.
Speaker:Uh, and the aim, we are social impact company.
Speaker:So we try to the impact is actually more important for us than the profit.
Speaker:We are well aware that the profit is also important in order to get scale
Speaker:in our company, but we are value based.
Speaker:So we try to, to make the most affordable water purification solution in the world.
Speaker:Our bag is a $3 bag.
Speaker:Uh, you can purify four liters at a time and you can reuse it 500 times,
Speaker:making 2000 liters of water for just $3.
Speaker:And our can is even more valuable.
Speaker:It cleans six liters of water at a time in four hours, and you can reuse it
Speaker:for three years, making more than 5,000 liters of water for less than $5.
Speaker:So super affordable and very good solutions in areas where there's more
Speaker:than 300 days of sunlight and in most of Africa, you actually
Speaker:do have more than 300 days of sunlight, this is an awesome solution.
Speaker:Uh, you don't need to boil water, you don't need to use chlorine.
Speaker:Um, you can simply drink the water after having the water
Speaker:in a bag or a can four hours.
Speaker:So you talked about 4 billion people in the world being your
Speaker:numbers and, and 2 billion being the, the World Health Organization.
Speaker:So how many people are you specifically trying to help in
Speaker:this lowest part of the pyramid?
Speaker:So we have a bold mission, uh that we want to help
Speaker:a billion people before 2030.
Speaker:It's a very ambitious goal and it's not something that we can reach alone.
Speaker:Uh, but we are working to, in partnerships.
Speaker:So my, my, biggest dream is that the Coca-Cola will take our solution and
Speaker:they will distribute it wherever you can.
Speaker:Have a Coke in the world.
Speaker:and wherever you can have a Coke, you can also have safe drinking water.
Speaker:And if that was the case, we could easily reach a billion people,
Speaker:and give them safe drinking water.
Speaker:And I'm sure lots of the sustainability people will be listening to this podcast.
Speaker:How do you deal with putting more plastic into the system?
Speaker:Because you said your bags are rely on, on plastic to, to
Speaker:create the UV A and UV B rays.
Speaker:Yeah, the, the, the first thing I, I always say, when, when people are
Speaker:arguing about the plastic is that plastic is actually a wonderful product.
Speaker:Plastic is amazing.
Speaker:Uh, you just have to, make sure you recycle it, that you collect it after use.
Speaker:Uh, the, the alternative to, to our solution is to use glass which would
Speaker:be much more difficult to work with.
Speaker:So properties of plastic are just amazing, but we have to make sure
Speaker:that we collect it afterwards.
Speaker:And with our both our Sawa can and our Sawa bag are,
Speaker:are really easily upcycled.
Speaker:Uh, the Sawa can, can be melted to, to other plastic products.
Speaker:And there's so much plastic in it that in Africa it'll be worth something.
Speaker:So it will never lie around in nature.
Speaker:It'll always be collected and, and, and reused.
Speaker:And we are building systems with our partners to collect our solutions
Speaker:after use, and even motivating people with cash to hand in their,
Speaker:their use uh, Sawas after use.
Speaker:it would be great to hear your insight that led you to give up the
Speaker:life that you had been on a path to.
Speaker:and switching to being fully immersed in, in solving this,
Speaker:this problem and generating.
Speaker:A new way of living for this billion people.
Speaker:I think that journey sort of came by itself.
Speaker:I'm a, I'm an entrepreneur by heart, uh, and I, I came across these
Speaker:these two gentlemen and and they are, they are brilliant people.
Speaker:Um, and they, they can do a lot of things themselves, but they're quest to, to help
Speaker:a lot of people and their we, we shared a lot of values and with my network
Speaker:to, to the investor circles and, and to, to building a business case around this
Speaker:because, you know, the sustainability part of this is very important to us, that we
Speaker:are not just giving this out for free.
Speaker:It's something that people should pay for.
Speaker:If you really have a product that people need, they also prepare to pay for it.
Speaker:So We, we truly believe that we can build impact with sustainable value
Speaker:chains and that people should pay for something that's worth something.
Speaker:And if you can't make that happen, then you don't have a viable business.
Speaker:And and then we shouldn't do what we're doing.
Speaker:So I think no matter what I would've done in the IT industry, I would've
Speaker:gone with this solution simply because it, it makes so much sense.
Speaker:Uh, and when you have from a personal point of view, a, a work life that really
Speaker:makes sense to you and that doesn't that, that can be different from people
Speaker:to people or from person to person.
Speaker:But for me, I think it's really interesting if I can work with something
Speaker:that matters in the world, and at the same time build a business that can be
Speaker:profitable and grow and we can have fun and we can learn something new at the same
Speaker:time, I think so all of this sort of comes together in, in, in one company,
Speaker:uh, at 4 Life Solution, which is something that we, um, I'm super happy about.
Speaker:And then we can talk about all the obstacles and all the challenges as well,
Speaker:because they are certainly there, but, but life would be boring without them, right?
Speaker:What, what have you learned about, about people and the human mind as a result
Speaker:of, of leading the work that you do?
Speaker:Things that I've learned that, that the people are very different.
Speaker:Uh, I've learned to respect cultures and religions more than I had before.
Speaker:Uh, you know, living in a, small country like Denmark where
Speaker:things are pretty much in order and everybody are pretty much equal, um,
Speaker:there's a big difference to Africa, uh, and the way people are working.
Speaker:And I don't mean that in a bad way.
Speaker:Uh, Africa actually works.
Speaker:Um, it just works very, very differently than Denmark does.
Speaker:And um, yes, there are things in Africa that I don't agree with and
Speaker:there are things in Africa that I'm, I find surprisingly smart and geniusly
Speaker:thought from a cultural perspective on communities, building on each other,
Speaker:uh, in, in, in really smart ways that we don't see in the western world
Speaker:with sarcos lending facilities where you have your friends and your family
Speaker:vouch for you instead of having just banks do it is a, is a really
Speaker:interesting way of, of working with it.
Speaker:Um, and yes.
Speaker:Then there are other things that you, that we also know from Africa, right?
Speaker:That, that is is harder to work with because it, they have different
Speaker:works, ways of, of working in, in, in business life and in government
Speaker:life, and, and that's the way it is and that's what you need to
Speaker:comply with in order to, to work with.
Speaker:Keeping your values as a dane is always important, I think.
Speaker:So, so my, I'll never, never compromise on my own values, but it
Speaker:doesn't mean that I can't work in, uh, in, in Africa just because I have
Speaker:different values from the Africans.
Speaker:We are here with the fame, same reason, to bring safe drinking water
Speaker:to people that are in great need of it.
Speaker:And both Africans and, and Danes are at the same point there.
Speaker:We just have a different way of, of approaching that solution.
Speaker:And I have respect for that.
Speaker:And and if we want to work in Africa, that's the way we, we have to work.
Speaker:Uh, if they want to work with Danish people, that's the way they have to work.
Speaker:And I think that we can work together if.
Speaker:If we have respect for each other.
Speaker:Yeah, and it's, it's interesting isn't it, Jonas?
Speaker:'cause even, even Danish people have different ways of seeing things.
Speaker:Um, you know, in your, we were talking earlier about you know, fundraising for
Speaker:good and the range of different views and the range of different realities
Speaker:that have people have on money, even in the same street or the same
Speaker:family is all to do with how the human mind creates its own unique reality
Speaker:based on the thoughts that we're having.
Speaker:And that's, that's just a fact.
Speaker:It's just a fact for every single human being.
Speaker:There's also a little bit of difference in culture, right?
Speaker:But even in the same culture, living on the same street with uh in the, in
Speaker:similar houses you see very different people thinking very differently about,
Speaker:uh, investments and uh, and greenhouse gases and sustainability, right?
Speaker:It's just very different, and, and you have to respect.
Speaker:People for having their, their ways.
Speaker:And, um, I just find it interesting the more I dive into it and the more
Speaker:different people I see, the more respect I get for, for different attitudes
Speaker:and uh, and ways of looking at it.
Speaker:And what, what does that do for you as a leader, kind of knowing that
Speaker:everybody's living in a separate reality?
Speaker:How does that help you lead in what you do?
Speaker:think it helps me in, in the regard that I, I don't take anything for granted.
Speaker:I, I don't take for granted that, that when I say something, people
Speaker:understand me instantly, try to get, uh, acceptance for the fact that
Speaker:people are listening and understand what I'm saying or, or listening
Speaker:to other people's perspectives.
Speaker:because you can always be smarter.
Speaker:It doesn't matter that I'm the c e o and, and someone else is something different.
Speaker:Uh, I meet CEOs of, of organizations that are 4 million people, and I
Speaker:meet presidents and I meet prime ministers and, and, um, and we all
Speaker:have a different way of working.
Speaker:Uh, I meet people that live off $2 a day and, and I get smarter, right?
Speaker:I get smarter on the way that they are solving their daily problems.
Speaker:So I, I think that we are all human beings and, and we are
Speaker:all different about it, and we shouldn't take anything for granted.
Speaker:And we should try to to help each other and where
Speaker:we are, and get the best out it.
Speaker:Well, it sounds like you are saying it helps you be less judgmental and listen
Speaker:and learn more by really tuning into other people's ways of seeing things.
Speaker:Yeah, I think that that's putting it better than I did, yes.
Speaker:cause you know, one, one of the things that sort of really strikes me is that
Speaker:in the West we can be quite judgmental of how other people live and you know
Speaker:that it's wrong or it's bad, or it's, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's this, but
Speaker:actually un until we, you know, really.
Speaker:Understand people and how they live and, and what it's like for them, you
Speaker:know, we are just imagining that you something that we would want that's
Speaker:different rather than the day-to-day reality that they're living in.
Speaker:And so, you know, that, you talked about obviously the, um, you know, the, the
Speaker:different stakeholders that you meet.
Speaker:How does that sort of help you in, in solving these problems?
Speaker:Because you talked about the many obstacles that there are to help a
Speaker:billion people, but how do you go about sort of coming up with ideas to, to
Speaker:solve them and, and how do you have the, the patience to stick with it?
Speaker:Uh, the patience is a problem, uh, coming from the IT industry.
Speaker:Everything goes so fast.
Speaker:Uh, so, so yeah, my patient had been, uh, been set on a test, but having kids
Speaker:also test you on patients, right?
Speaker:So I guess most of us are, are in for that street.
Speaker:I think it's super interesting.
Speaker:I just, you know one of the biggest.
Speaker:Challenges that we have is that we are bringing a technology to the
Speaker:market that most people don't know.
Speaker:Uh, people simply believe that it's too good to be true, that you can simply use
Speaker:the power of the sun to purify water.
Speaker:That's too good to be true.
Speaker:We don't trust that.
Speaker:Um, so getting people to understand that part is really difficult.
Speaker:And, and, and finding ways.
Speaker:To make people understand that.
Speaker:Because we need to, it, it, it is.
Speaker:I, I find it actually as a, as a, it's my job as a human being to make sure
Speaker:that now that I have learned that the sun can purify water, I need to teach other
Speaker:people that this is actually possible.
Speaker:Um, because it is so eminently true that obviously we should
Speaker:use this force of power to obviously use it for the better.
Speaker:But that's not.
Speaker:Easily done In Africa people are less educated and especially the, the
Speaker:groups that we are working with in low income communities, they don't have
Speaker:much education, and they are used to getting things for free and and
Speaker:they are, they are as cautious about their children and their families
Speaker:as anybody in the western world are.
Speaker:So obviously they wouldn't just take a solution that was giving to them and
Speaker:said, just put this plastic bag in the sun and you can have safe water.
Speaker:I just like no, I'm not giving my my children that water for sure.
Speaker:Uh, forget about it.
Speaker:Um, you know, you need to be part of that.
Speaker:So we needed to find ways around that.
Speaker:We needed to find ways of, of giving trust to people, giving trust to organizations
Speaker:about what it's that we are doing.
Speaker:And it has definitely been difficult to put yourself in the shoes of
Speaker:a, a low income woman in, in Africa because that, that's
Speaker:very far from where I am as a man in in, in the Western world.
Speaker:So we, we quickly found that we should have local people on
Speaker:the ground that, that know what they are doing, and they know the local
Speaker:communities and they have trust in them.
Speaker:And the local communities have trust in us.
Speaker:Um, and we are working with organizations that wanna do good.
Speaker:Uh, so working with NGOs was something we did in the relatively early.
Speaker:And when NGOs come and they tell people about this super smart invention,
Speaker:innovation and the product and the, um, the WHO verification that we have,
Speaker:um, slowly people start to understand, okay, maybe this is actually true.
Speaker:I would like to try this out.
Speaker:And then when they try it out, they slowly start to understand, well,
Speaker:I actually don't get sick anymore.
Speaker:So there's the maturation of the, of the market has been slower than I anticipated,
Speaker:um, because I thought it was so imminently smart to do what we are doing.
Speaker:And the, the cost is, is is also relatively
Speaker:Uh, also in in Africa.
Speaker:But that's a, a, a big learning and, and we have lots of iterations, which
Speaker:is classic for, for startups, right?
Speaker:That you have iteration, iteration, iteration on business models, on go-to
Speaker:market strategies, on partnerships and on customers and on users,
Speaker:and, and understanding all of that in, in one chain is super difficult,
Speaker:um, especially when you don't live there but only visit once a month.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it, and if you, if you bring it back to the human mind, you are, you know,
Speaker:we, we are talking about, um, you know, the, the system in which change happens.
Speaker:But there's also, you know, if we think about how change happens in a
Speaker:human being, first, there's a new idea and the mind has to decide whether
Speaker:to take on that new idea, and then it starts to have insight about that new
Speaker:idea, and then at some point it has a realization that, yes, this is, this
Speaker:makes sense, or it doesn't make sense.
Speaker:Um, and that's when the, the change really happens.
Speaker:And so, you know, as a, as an entrepreneur, you are trying to
Speaker:find different ways for that new idea to connect with people in them.
Speaker:And if you look at smoking as an example, you know, on the front of every packet
Speaker:of cigarettes, it says this product will kill you, and then it shows pictures.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:And everybody, you know, that smokes knows it's bad for them,
Speaker:but they still do it anyway.
Speaker:So you, you know, it's that switch internally that you're trying to
Speaker:find, which is gonna be different for different people based on whatever it
Speaker:is that they have in their own minds.
Speaker:And so, you know, that leads to the different business models, the
Speaker:different ways of speaking about it, the different waves of engaging,
Speaker:the different, you know, because it's not gonna be one size fits all.
Speaker:And that, that's both challenging.
Speaker:Um, and then, and interesting.
Speaker:And when you manage to to get the results or get good results
Speaker:or get positive results and you can continue down that road, it,
Speaker:it makes you really happy, right?
Speaker:Um, and sometimes you are frustrated, and that, that's a learning experience.
Speaker:And that's, I don't think that's for all.
Speaker:Uh, I think some would be too impatient.
Speaker:Some would be frustrated very early uh, and and again,
Speaker:some would have more patients.
Speaker:And then you, you, you have a problem with, with investors, right?
Speaker:They, you, you have people that are paying for your, for your venture.
Speaker:Um, and, and this is not, we are not an NGO so we don't have donations.
Speaker:We are actually trying to big build a, a business, a sustainable social impact
Speaker:business out of this, because that is the only way to make true sustainability.
Speaker:Well, I have to, um, take this moment to have a, you know, a bit of a shout
Speaker:out, because my auntie in Tanzania, who is the head teacher at the Darris Alarm
Speaker:Independent School, is a client of yours.
Speaker:Um, and is using the Sawa bags, uh, for all of her children,
Speaker:um, in her school and thinks the product is absolutely fantastic.
Speaker:Um, and they've been doing a whole piece of sustainability in the
Speaker:school after learning about the bags.
Speaker:So maybe that will help with the, with the, with the idea spreading
Speaker:and the insight and the realization.
Speaker:I'm very happy to hear that.
Speaker:I, you know, it, it, in, in most people's lives, they get happy when
Speaker:they have an order in in our life.
Speaker:We get happy with an order and we get very happy when people are
Speaker:also getting a better life, right?
Speaker:So it is it's two in one when you work at 4 Life Solutions and,
Speaker:uh, that, that, that gives you just an, an extra added value in, in
Speaker:this sometimes difficult world.
Speaker:And so Jonas, what advice would you have for others, um, about leading an
Speaker:organization that's solving these types of big problems in the, in the world?
Speaker:Well, I, I, I, I salute people that uh, that tries to to
Speaker:take on some of these big problems.
Speaker:it's never easy because otherwise someone else would've done it.
Speaker:But it's important work, and it's just important to understand that
Speaker:even though you think it's important and w h o think it's important, it
Speaker:doesn't mean that everybody else thinks it's important, and accept that
Speaker:In the beginning, I, I was both being an entrepreneur with ideas.
Speaker:That was, you know, in my opinion, awesome.
Speaker:Why can't people see that this awesomeness here?
Speaker:But in the same here with, with the impact and the sustainability,
Speaker:why can't people see that we can help millions of people here?
Speaker:Well, you know, that's just the way it is.
Speaker:Uh, sometimes they would like to focus on something else and, and that's their
Speaker:business to do and it's their life.
Speaker:And, and, and don't be upset with that, just accept it
Speaker:and move on to the next one.
Speaker:Just figure it out as fast as you can move on, and so you can move
Speaker:relatively fast onto someone that, that, that agrees on the importance
Speaker:of what you do and want to help.
Speaker:There's a challenge in having really cool solutions for really big problems
Speaker:is that you are you, you, you, you tend to catch flies that are really
Speaker:interested in joining, but as soon as they figure out that this was not as easy
Speaker:as they thought, they are gone again.
Speaker:And those are really, really difficult to handle.
Speaker:Because they are taking up a lot of time, they have a lot of promises.
Speaker:and I don't have the right answer for that, because you need
Speaker:help when you're entrepreneur.
Speaker:Um, but, but qualify people, uh, and help as much as you can
Speaker:as early as possible so you don't waste time on the wrong ones is
Speaker:important but difficult.
Speaker:So would, would you summarize that as, kiss a lot of frogs, but
Speaker:kiss them quickly and move on?
Speaker:A little bit like that.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I think that that's not because you really do need to kiss a lot of frogs.
Speaker:But some of them, they have, uh, they have a lot of promises,
Speaker:uh, that they cannot live up to.
Speaker:Uh, and that can be investors, it can be partners, it can be donors,
Speaker:it could be a lot of different things, but you really need to figure out
Speaker:if, if they really want to or not.
Speaker:And if they really want to, they will move forward, and they will
Speaker:make results in one way or the other.
Speaker:Uh, so relatively fast you can, uh, you can figure out the
Speaker:the, the, the good from the bad.
Speaker:You know, it sounds like, um, you know, that that wisdom that you have to
Speaker:rely on and, and look for in discerning the motivations of others is about that
Speaker:listening, that curiosity, and then trusting that that intuition and that
Speaker:wisdom that lives within each human being.
Speaker:I, I think so, but it, it's also difficult, right?
Speaker:Because I'm, I have a very big yes hat on and, and that yes hat can, can
Speaker:get me into trouble sometimes, cause I really believe in the best in everyone.
Speaker:And I, I, I actually like that quality in myself, but it does make me an easy
Speaker:target for for people that want to exploit what I have, um in my back.
Speaker:And in this case, I have the world's most affordable water purification solution.
Speaker:And, and that shouldn't be exploited, that should be used in in,
Speaker:in partnerships for good, and for business not for being exploited.
Speaker:And that can be difficult sometimes to figure out which is what.
Speaker:Well, Jonnes, it's always a pleasure to connect with you and
Speaker:thank you so much for, um, sharing everything that you have today.
Speaker:I know it's been a, a very quick conversation and we could probably talk
Speaker:for a lot longer, but where can people find out more about what 4 Life is up to?
Speaker:How can they support you?
Speaker:How, how can they find out more?
Speaker:Oh, we are, we're always happy to connect with good people.
Speaker:Um you can find more find out more with about 4 Life Solutions
Speaker:at 4lifesolutions.com so 4 Life solutions.com and I have my email
Speaker:is JP, um, jp@4lifesolutions.com.
Speaker:Um, always happy to hear if there are any people that are
Speaker:interested in, in helping us out.
Speaker:Um, we, we also, we always want to have good partners on lots
Speaker:of different subjects.
Speaker:And when, whenever we are, have shared values and we want to do
Speaker:good in the, in the broader sense, uh, it's usually a way forward.
Speaker:So so don't feel feel free to, to just connect and and let
Speaker:me know if you you want to help out.
Speaker:Well, that was a rapid whistle stop tour of how to build a business for a billion
Speaker:people to get safe drinking water.
Speaker:And so much in that short conversation.
Speaker:But my three key takeaways were.
Speaker:Jonas really seeing the separate realities that everybody is living in,
Speaker:and how it helped him to stop judging the way people should be, and helped
Speaker:him to get more curious about what was the reality that people are living in?
Speaker:What makes sense for them?
Speaker:What's valuable to them?
Speaker:What's important to them?
Speaker:So that he could really listen and start to design solutions for the
Speaker:people in front of him rather than the imagined life that they were leading.
Speaker:And that led me onto my second key takeaway is, around adoption and
Speaker:use, and how, what makes sense to us.
Speaker:This really cool technology that, um, had been developed.
Speaker:Having the best technology in the world, unless it makes sense to
Speaker:other people, doesn't really matter.
Speaker:And that's the challenge that a lot of people are up against when they're trying
Speaker:to solve these big problems, is it's not that we don't have the solution,
Speaker:it's that people haven't realized the solution makes sense for them.
Speaker:And so really thinking about the science behind that and how new ideas
Speaker:have to land within a person, for them to have insight and realization about
Speaker:it takes time, and it takes patience, and it's not gonna be one thing for
Speaker:everyone, it might be a multitude of different ways of looking at something.
Speaker:If I reflect on the realization that had me give up smoking, I told everybody
Speaker:I knew that smoked the same thing and it did absolutely nothing for them,
Speaker:which brings us back to us living in this world where life is created
Speaker:from the inside out, and so therefore change is creating from the inside out.
Speaker:And the more that we start to see that as leaders, we start to
Speaker:get different perspectives and different ways of approaching things.
Speaker:So if you've enjoyed listening to this episode of Generative
Speaker:Leaders and you think it could help someone else, please do share it.
Speaker:You can do that by going to generativeleaders.co or on any
Speaker:podcast platform that you listen on.
Speaker:Thanks for listening and look forward to seeing you on the next
Speaker:episode of Generative Leaders.
