Latest / Go News To Go: More Good News / Lance Gould, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Brooklyn Story Lab (BSL)

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Lance Gould, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Brooklyn Story Lab (BSL) · Go News To Go: More Good News

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  Speaker 1: Hi, high Post, Sacks, Good News, Broadcast, Pause, the World
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  Speaker 1: for Peace, and I'm here with Lands cool Hey Lands.
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  Speaker 2: How are you good? Great to see you, Paul.
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  Speaker 1: Listen, you're a real pro in the media world and
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  Speaker 1: Huffington Post. You've got a long long list of media
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  Speaker 1: tell us about that and some of the projects you're
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  Speaker 1: working on. Please.
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  Speaker 2: Oh great now, thanks so much for having me here.
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  Speaker 2: And yeah, I spent about thirty years in journalism, is
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  Speaker 2: some leadership positions and newsrooms of some well known publications
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  Speaker 2: like huffe can Post, the New York Daily News, the
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  Speaker 2: Boston Phoenix, and then I started my own media consulting
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  Speaker 2: firm called Brooklyn Story Lab, where our tagline is our
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  Speaker 2: mission statement is we teach purpose driven organizations how to
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  Speaker 2: think and behave like media companies because everyone really you, yourself, myself,
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  Speaker 2: people that we meet today's everyone is their own media company,
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  Speaker 2: but not everyone has the skill set of the to
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  Speaker 2: tell or amplify those stories. So that's what we do,
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  Speaker 2: working with purpose driven organizations, helping them to get one
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  Speaker 2: more impact, one get more visibility, and then from that
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  Speaker 2: too get more impact.
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  Speaker 1: They probably don't even realize that some people it's like
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  Speaker 1: a doctor he doesn't realize or she doesn't realize that
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  Speaker 1: they're in the in the PR business exactly.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, recommend everyone's got to be in their own PR business.
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  Speaker 2: But but but these purpose driven organizations are doing such
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  Speaker 2: important work that to get more impact, you have to
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  Speaker 2: get more visibility and you have to own your story.
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  Speaker 2: So we talk about the history of storytelling, the impact
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  Speaker 2: of storytelling, the formula for storytelling, which is really goes
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  Speaker 2: back to cave drawings and the oral storytelling tradition of Homer.
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  Speaker 2: It's hero conflict resolution.
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  Speaker 1: There you go, and I love this purpose driven Let
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  Speaker 1: me so who in the company? Let's let's talk company
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  Speaker 1: outreach or purpose driven companies. So who do you bring?
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  Speaker 1: Who do you bring to the table to discuss things
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  Speaker 1: like this?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we use the Paul you're familiar with, and I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure much of your audience is familiar with the UN
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  Speaker 2: Sustainable Development Goals the SDGs, and you may be wearing
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  Speaker 2: an SDG pin there.
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  Speaker 1: It's hard to tell, but it's not. But it's a
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  Speaker 1: you know, yes, I know all about them, and we promo.
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  Speaker 2: For those are not familiar. It's a seventeenth goal blueprint
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  Speaker 2: that the UN adopted unanimously in twenty fifteen to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that no one on the planet was left behind
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  Speaker 2: by twenty thirty and sixteen of those goals. The first
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  Speaker 2: sixteen goals are each affiliate with a household name caused,
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  Speaker 2: whether it be poverty, hunger, gender, quality, health, education, climate.
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  Speaker 2: But the seventeenth goal is partnerships, and that to me
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  Speaker 2: is recognition by the UN that the public sector will
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  Speaker 2: never be able to raise the trillions of dollars necessary
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  Speaker 2: every year to achieve those first sixteen goals. So in
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  Speaker 2: that way, it's really an olive branch to the private
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  Speaker 2: sector saying whatever you need to, whatever you're doing in
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  Speaker 2: the under the Social good umbrella, if you can connect
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  Speaker 2: it to this international framework for Social good called the SDGs,
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  Speaker 2: you can get one more visibility and two more impacts.
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  Speaker 2: So we work with again purpose driven organizations, mainly nonprofits,
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  Speaker 2: but with the occasional for profit to look for these
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  Speaker 2: opportunities for strategic partnerships whenever there's an opportunity. The gold
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  Speaker 2: standard of an SDG seventeen partnership is a public private
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  Speaker 2: civil society partnership. So if we can link a for
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  Speaker 2: profit with a nonprofit with a government entity that's real.
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  Speaker 2: That's really the aim that we're trying to do. Get
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  Speaker 2: as many stakeholders on board and get good things happening.
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  Speaker 2: I love it.
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  Speaker 1: I love it. Actually, I think we are that kind
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  Speaker 1: of a company ourselves, my own because we have a
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  Speaker 1: profit and we've been involved with the United Nations SDGs
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  Speaker 1: or the International Day Piece for a long time, but
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  Speaker 1: not as an MNGO. We are that private kind of
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  Speaker 1: company and a nonprofit kind of company focusing on that
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  Speaker 1: is that sort of like the kind of people you
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  Speaker 1: want to reach out to.
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  Speaker 2: Well, give you a good example. Our very first client
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  Speaker 2: when we start got going in twenty seventeen was an
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  Speaker 2: elephant translocation project in Southern Africa. There was a game
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  Speaker 2: reserve owned by a fortune five hundred company in South Africa.
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  Speaker 2: In South Africa and Botswana are the only two countries
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  Speaker 2: that allow for the private ownership of game in Africa.
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  Speaker 2: There's a lot of other countries in Africa that don't
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  Speaker 2: have that ownership, and a lot of those countries frankly
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  Speaker 2: are facing a poaching problem where their elephant populations have
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  Speaker 2: been decimated. But South Africa and Botswana are one of
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  Speaker 2: the two of the only countries where that has been
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  Speaker 2: prevented because of this private ownerships. But each habitat can
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  Speaker 2: only handle a certain number of elephants because they have
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  Speaker 2: ten thousand mile migratory patterns, and putting too many in
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  Speaker 2: one place, keeping too many in one place, they can
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  Speaker 2: over graze. They they can unintentionally destroy the ecosystem. Under
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  Speaker 2: the right conditions. Elephants are climate change mitigators because they'll
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  Speaker 2: eat all the small bush and shrubs and things of
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  Speaker 2: that nature and allow the large trees, which are the
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  Speaker 2: large carbon stores, to grow unimpeded. But when there's too
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  Speaker 2: many in one ecosystem, they'll knock over those trees. But
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  Speaker 2: not having elephants is also a detriment to a populate,
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  Speaker 2: to a habitat because elephants have so many qualities. There
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  Speaker 2: are keystone species, and they have so many qualities that
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  Speaker 2: help ecosystems thrive. So there is this one game reserve
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  Speaker 2: owned by a fortune five hundred company in South Africa
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  Speaker 2: had two hundred elephants, too many for the ecosystem to handle.
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  Speaker 2: And then Mozambique, which had this devastating civil war from
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  Speaker 2: nineteen seventy seven to nineteen ninety two, a sixteen year
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  Speaker 2: civil war in which one million people died. Many died
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  Speaker 2: of famine. Most of the animals in that country were
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  Speaker 2: consumed by a starving populace. So if you're able to
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  Speaker 2: move two hundred elephants from one ecosystem where there's too
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  Speaker 2: many to one where there was none, you could save both.
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  Speaker 2: So this company came to us and said how would
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  Speaker 2: you handle this? And we said, well, do you have
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  Speaker 2: any partners? They said, yeah, well we've got the South
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  Speaker 2: Africa government, the Mozambique government, and this NGO called Peace
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  Speaker 2: Parks Africa that was co founded by Nelson Mandela to
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  Speaker 2: create international Carter degree carters for wildlife over international borders.
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  Speaker 2: And we said, okay, there you go. There's the public
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  Speaker 2: private civil society partnership that we're looking for. And we
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  Speaker 2: ended up calling the whole project Moving Giants, which was
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  Speaker 2: a double entendre on the on the moving of the elephants,
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  Speaker 2: and you can look for that documentary. We did a
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  Speaker 2: seven part documentary series on that project, in which elephants
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  Speaker 2: get loaded upside down because if you load them right
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  Speaker 2: side up, you'll damage their organs. So this is an
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  Speaker 2: incredible project, incredible visuals elephants upside down in the air moving,
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  Speaker 2: you know, saving two ecosystems in two different countries, moving
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  Speaker 2: them by truck one thousand miles and forty hours. Incredible project.
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  Speaker 1: You didn't lift any of those, did you? Lands and
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  Speaker 1: get a HERNI yet, no for that either, So well,
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  Speaker 1: that's that's really great. My aldest buddy did the Peace
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  Speaker 1: Corps in Botswana, amazing, similar kind of place like what
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  Speaker 1: you're talking about, which is what I learned about bots Water,
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  Speaker 1: and you know the kinds of things that are happening there.
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  Speaker 1: Let me ask you, I'm gonna go back to your
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  Speaker 1: own personal scenario. You know, why why are you doing
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  Speaker 1: what you're doing? I mean, you know you're you're a
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  Speaker 1: journalist of renown, I'll say, even and it's so, it's true.
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  Speaker 1: I'll verify that after my fifty years in this business.
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  Speaker 1: These are very socially minded, good guy stuff. Where where
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  Speaker 1: does this come from in you personally now in this
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  Speaker 1: phase of your life. I guess if this is your
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  Speaker 1: full time thing to do this.
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  Speaker 2: Kind of work. Well, I'll be perfectly honest with you this.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I was in journalism, as I said, for
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  Speaker 2: thirty years, and I got laid off at a when
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  Speaker 2: I was I just turned fifty, and I thought, who's
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  Speaker 2: going to hire me at this at that age, you know,
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  Speaker 2: for in the salary that I was used to having
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  Speaker 2: in a in a in what was then a depressed market,
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  Speaker 2: which even today continues to be depressed market in which
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  Speaker 2: journalism has been really shaken up. I knew I wanted
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  Speaker 2: to work on socially good projects because I'd really concentrated
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  Speaker 2: on that when I was at Huffington Post, working on
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  Speaker 2: the opinion section and really trying to get as many
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  Speaker 2: voices as possible to reflect the power of the UN's
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  Speaker 2: sustainable development climate efforts and things of that nature. But
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  Speaker 2: when I when I started looking for a job, I
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  Speaker 2: really found that there were a lot of dead end.
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  Speaker 2: So I just said, I'm going to start my own business,
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  Speaker 2: and it's going to be committed to social good because
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  Speaker 2: there's enough negativity out there and if I can kind
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  Speaker 2: of have a niche, a niche of of of this
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  Speaker 2: kind of work, let's see how that goes. And and
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  Speaker 2: and it's been wonderful so far. You know, I've really
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  Speaker 2: enjoyed myself. I've gotten a chance to meet people from
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  Speaker 2: every country around the world, virtually with a possible exception,
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  Speaker 2: of North Korea.
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  Speaker 3: And and and the work is ever more important, particularly
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  Speaker 3: particularly since the last election here in the States.
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  Speaker 1: Massively important. The work that you're doing, and we applaud
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  Speaker 1: you and thank you for doing it. Where can how
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  Speaker 1: can people well, you know there's a lot to talk
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  Speaker 1: to you about, and I know you're involved with this
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  Speaker 1: and other things. Where can people how can people work
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  Speaker 1: with you?
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  Speaker 2: Well? Please please go to brooklynstory Lab dot net and
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  Speaker 2: and look for us there get contact information about how
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  Speaker 2: to reach out to us. There find me on LinkedIn
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  Speaker 2: at I'm Lance goold on LinkedIn with Brooklyn story Lab,
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  Speaker 2: and we would be delighted to work with with purpose
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  Speaker 2: driven organizations from around the world advancing the causes of
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  Speaker 2: social good, advancing the causes of the SDGs. Again, and
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  Speaker 2: particularly in a climate like this where it's becoming more
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  Speaker 2: and more difficult to do social good work with what
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  Speaker 2: has been happening with the the new administration and U. S. E. I. D.
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  Speaker 2: We are committed to making sure that we can do
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  Speaker 2: as much good as possible in the development space and
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  Speaker 2: the climate space and anything related to social good and
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  Speaker 2: the SDGs.
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  Speaker 1: Let me ask you one another last question or whatever
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  Speaker 1: at this moment. Is there something other things you'd like
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  Speaker 1: to share with us? And I could be off here,
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  Speaker 1: but I sort of recollect when I'm after I met
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  Speaker 1: you at at an event with nonprofits and I was
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  Speaker 1: very impressed with what you do. Somehow I recollect. I
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  Speaker 1: looked at the website and something with the just because
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  Speaker 1: I was kind of born on the Hudson River, are
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  Speaker 1: you involved with something in locally here as well?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Are you talking about the radio the radioactivity with
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  Speaker 2: Hudson River.
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  Speaker 1: There's there's something you were involved with in the I
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  Speaker 1: believe in my little river and I'm part of the
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  Speaker 1: New York Friends of Clearwater. So I wondered, what what
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  Speaker 1: is that is that part of.
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  Speaker 2: The power plant that has been decommissioned. I believe it's
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  Speaker 2: just eighteen miles or twenty miles north of New York
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  Speaker 2: City point in Westchester, there are and and and that
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  Speaker 2: has been taken over in the decommissioning process by a
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  Speaker 2: company in Florida called hole Tech. That is does not
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  Speaker 2: have a good reputation in any way, and they often
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  Speaker 2: come in and take over these decommissioned plants for a
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  Speaker 2: dollar and then they have this very powerful and dangerous
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  Speaker 2: scenario that is under their control, and they're planning, and
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  Speaker 2: they made a very public a year ago to release
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  Speaker 2: I believe it was one million gallons of radioactive waste
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  Speaker 2: into the Hudson River until there was a movement, a
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  Speaker 2: grassroots movement to stop them, and that Kathy Keel eventually signed.
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  Speaker 2: But they can ignore that order, I believe they they
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  Speaker 2: can ignore the order and pay a fine. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: these are the kind of things that we have to
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  Speaker 2: we have to worry about when there are decommission nuclear
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  Speaker 2: power plants all over the country. Nuclear power is is
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  Speaker 2: very dangerous. It's not a renewable energy, in spite of
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  Speaker 2: what I think. It is often labeled as a clean energy,
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  Speaker 2: but it's it's certainly not renewable, and I don't know
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  Speaker 2: how clean it is when the byproduct is dangerous nuclear
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  Speaker 2: waste that has to be disposed of in some manner.
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  Speaker 2: So I wouldn't say that I'm an activist in this
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  Speaker 2: in this case, I'm but I certainly am a concerned
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  Speaker 2: citizen in this case, and I do a lot of
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  Speaker 2: pro bono work with organizations that are aligned with that mission.
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  Speaker 1: I believe it's on a fault line.
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  Speaker 2: Point. Oh, I don't know about that, but I know
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  Speaker 2: that there is a decommissioned power nuclear power plant in
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  Speaker 2: near San Diego called Santa No Fray that is in
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  Speaker 2: such a tectonically challenged area. It's called Earthquake Bay, and
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  Speaker 2: there they have three point six million pounds of radioactive
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  Speaker 2: ways stored in canisters that are intended to last forty years,
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  Speaker 2: that have passed the forty year mark, that are stored
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  Speaker 2: on the beach in San Diego in this earthquake zone
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  Speaker 2: where there are king tides now crashing on the shore.
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  Speaker 2: So be for disaster and what can go wrong there plans.
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  Speaker 1: We need people like you. We need more people like you.
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  Speaker 1: We need more people to join in with your organization
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  Speaker 1: to keep Mother Earth healthy and happy and all those
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  Speaker 1: living in it now and in the future. You know,
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  Speaker 1: and we've invited you to be with us in the
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  Speaker 1: Earth Day event. Excited that hopefully you're available that day
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  Speaker 1: and to join us on April twenty second, because you're
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  Speaker 1: the one who you have. I call it your the
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  Speaker 1: boots on the ground. You're here to make our home,
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  Speaker 1: Mother Earth, a finer, kinder, loving and healthy. I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to emphasize that word healthy place for us to live.
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  Speaker 1: It's not so good to drink toxins spot and are
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  Speaker 1: to swim in them either.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Paul, and it was such a pleasure to
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  Speaker 2: meet you, and I so admire the work that you're doing,
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  Speaker 2: and thank you for having me on this program.
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  Speaker 1: All good, Lance, Thanks, we'll talk to you so cheers.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, doctor the
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  Speaker 1: Doctor