7.08: Outside Conversations with Betsy Taylor - On the Power of Humility

Tim and Tuesday are joined by friend and colleague, Betsy Taylor, Chair of the Volgenau Climate Initiative, where she shares her extensive experience in climate activism and leadership. Betsy reflects on her journey from a young organizer to a seasoned leader, emphasizing the importance of convening diverse groups to achieve systemic change. She also discusses her childhood influences, the crossroads she faces in her life, and how she navigates fear and uncertainty in her work. Her insights on leadership, service, and personal growth provide valuable lessons for anyone looking to make a difference in their community and the world.

About Betsy Taylor

Betsy Taylor is a consultant with over four decades of philanthropic and NGO leadership experience. Betsy served as the original visionary and start-up Director of the Volgenau Climate Initiative, working closely with Ernst Volgenau and the Volgenau Foundation. She currently serves as Chair of the Board of the Volgenau Climate Initiative.

Betsy has served as the president or executive director of numerous non-profit and philanthropic groups, including the Nuclear Information & Resource Service, Center for a New American Dream, 1Sky, 350 Action, Merck Family Fund, Ottinger Foundation, and Stern Family Fund. She helped launch numerous initiatives including State Voices, Environmental Grantmakers Association, Sustainability Funders, 1Sky, and Funders for Regenerative Agriculture and has served on the boards of the Town Creek Foundation, Ottinger Foundation, Management Assistance Group, CERES, Greenpeace, 350, the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, and the Regenerative Agriculture Foundation, among others. She founded and convened the Young Climate Leaders Network – a multi-year leadership program for diverse climate leaders under the age of forty which helped spawn Sunrise and numerous other climate initiatives. Over the decades, she has developed an expertise in convening diverse leaders to solve seemingly intractable problems.

She is author of a 2019 guide for philanthropic action, "Healthy Soils to Cool the Planet", author of “What Kids Really Want that Money Can’t Buy,” and co-editor of “Sustainable Planet: Solutions for the 21st Century.” She lives on a 20-acre homestead where she is planting native species, sequestering carbon, and creating habitat for wildlife while experimenting with eating the weeds in her garden.

To learn more about Betsy, go to betsy@betsytaylor.com

Resources

The Outsideshared work, participatory leadership, systems change