Greg Voisen
Welcome back to Inside Personal Growth. This is Greg Voisen host of Inside Personal Growth. And I have Frederic Laloux joining me from Ithaca, New York. And Frederic's been on the show before about his book, reinventing organizations. And he is taking a different path now a very interesting one, and a very important one. Welcome, Frederic to inside personal Growth.

Frederic Laloux
So good to be back.

Greg Voisen
It's good to have you back. And it's good for you to be speaking about the week. It's for my listeners, it's www.theweek.000. Okay, I make sure I get that right. Oh. And we're going to be talking with you about it and this experience, because I've actually gone through it. And the fact that I'm now going to actually be taking this out to corporations, I think it's very important. But Frederic and his wife, Helene, and a team of videographers and all kinds of other people actually created a three part miniseries, I'm going to call it and you can access it on the internet, you can go again to that website, the week.0 to get there. We'll put a link to that as well. But I'm going to introduce Frederic is a no noose New Guide to this. He tries to square not always easily the many projects he's passionate about with his inner knowing that is meant to live a simple life spending much of his time this family whenever possible in silent presence of trees, and love that he is celebrated business thinker and social entrepreneur. his seminal book, reinventing organization sold more than a million copies in 20 languages. It's widely considered to have opened up a new field of inquiry and practice into more purposeful, soulful, and productive management paradigm is thinking has inspired countless leaders, from startups to large corporations, from nonprofits, from nonprofits to faith movements, from government agencies, to founders, the most impactful climate movements, Sunrise extinction rebellion, is focused on the weak, powerful new approach to inspire mass mobilization, to comfort, the climate and environmental breakdown. For those of you who haven't heard his accent yet, because he hasn't spoken much yet, but he's going to was raised in Belgium. He currently lives in Ithaca, New York, as I said, with his wife, Helene, and their two children. And prior to this, his past life was really, really different. He was a former associate partner at McKinsey and Company and received an MBA and instead and a degree in coaching from New Field network. Well, greetings to Inside Personal Growth again, but we're talking about a different topic this time. You know, you and Helen have a video that you created right at the beginning, when people go to that week.o. What inspired you guys to do this, you know, you talk about meeting with some friends just shows you a picture of you eating healthy foods with them in their backyard. But how did this environmentalism thing between the two of you really get inspired to get to where it is today, because it's come a long way from you guys sitting at the table with some friends talking about we should be more intentional about the way we live.

Frederic Laloux
Yeah, but it really all started there with these friends. These were friends who have kids the same age as ours, and they were, you know, they had to have the courage to really look at what's happening in terms of climate change in terms of environmental breakdown. And, and it made us realize, Elon me that we were sort of still trying to avoid the topic. That, you know, every time we would read an article in the news that tells us about how bad things look, we would read the first few lines, but then you push it away, because we've felt like, ah, this might be too much this feels overwhelming. And, but these friends had the courage to really find out what would happen to them in their lifetime, you know, to their kids. And, and so, it brought a lot in me to think, you know, why don't we do the same thing, you know, if they have the courage to do it, we should be able to have that courage to and we just decided, okay, let's really find out for ourselves. Let's really read what the scientists say, let's look you know, watch some documentaries to really find out. And really, the goal was not so much to look at whatever, you know, icebergs melting, but like what's going to happen to us? You know, in our lifetime here where we live in the United States or back home, you know, our friends My family in Europe. And sure enough, it was a shock. And it's send us on this this journey, we sometimes describe it as sort of a U shaped journey, right? Like the, you know, firstly, you go down quite a bit, because it's heavy stuff, right? Like, quite a bit of fear and anger and shock. But then luckily, we didn't get stuck there, right, we, we bounced back up. And, you know, we came out of this experience, you know, after a few weeks of just determined that this was now going to be central in our lives, that for our own sake, you know, so we're able to say, in 1020 30 years, that we have no regrets, we wanted to roll up our sleeves, and it just gave us a sense of clarity about what's important, and what's less important, and just lots of energy. And, and since then we've met so many people, you know, been mobilized around these topics made way longer than we have, you know, our own awakening started three, four years ago. Some people have been in this, you know, 1020 30 years, I've been in that much longer than

Greg Voisen
I have. But you know, if you go back to the times of Paul Ehrlich and all the people that I've followed and studied, and interviewed for this podcast around environmentalism, you know, it's one thing to write a book about this, or write a research paper, but it's another to do what you guys have done. You know, there's action that has to be taken as a result of it. And, you know, it reminds me of a Rebecca as her first name, the watchman's route. You know, we almost wait until it's doomsday as a species to want to get anything done. Before we change, because we're just who knows what the hell we're waiting for. But it's built into our biology, okay? It just is it's built into the biology. So what's the mission of the week? And since you started the program, how's it been growing? Because I know, look, yours is truly action oriented, what you're trying to do is not only create awareness, but then create action. And it's like I said, it's, it's great to write a book, but that doesn't always create action. It tells people what the problem is, but it doesn't always tell them how to solve it.

Frederic Laloux
Yep. Yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, when we came out of this, you know, experience for ourselves. And we really realized, you know, what does it duration is that when we decided we wanted to do something about this, we fit, we figured, hey, what we've just been through, you know, is what so many other people are waiting to go through? I mean, so many of us, you know, know that, you know, something is really concerning around the climate and around the environment. But we don't know how to engage, right? Because it, it feels overwhelming, because we feel like, well, you know, what can I do anyway, you know, I'm going to be too small to really make a change. And so it didn't take very long for us to figure out, the problem is not access to information. Right? No information is out there. It's actually that most of us don't want to engage with the information, because we feel that emotionally, it will be overwhelming. So it was clear for us that we weren't going to write another book, or just do a standard documentary that would provide information and facts, because there's tons of them out there. What we wanted to create is actually a space where it's safe enough to engage with that information. Right. And so that's why we devised this, this thing. And it's in our mind, it's not a documentary, but it's a it's a group experience, right? So maybe I should explain a little bit about the week. So the week is a group experience. So something that you do with your friends, your family, or your colleagues or, you know, fellow worshipers in your church or synagogue or new mosque. Anyway, whatever group of people is important to you. And you meet for three times during the week. And every time you come together, you watch a one hour documentary. And in that, you know, that documentary is, is documented with various care of carefully scripted and written in order to make it possible to face these facts in a way that is both very profound, but it's safe enough to actually go there. Right and not do what we've been doing for years before that, which was to try to push away the bad news. And so every time you come together for an hour to watch this documentary, and then we set up a conversation in your group for the next half hour, and you don't need to have a facilitator new group. So whoever organized this, we set up the conversation for you with a little video. And it's really in that conversation that the magic happens, because the group basically, you know, discusses and shares what shows up for them as they go through the same sort of U shaped journey that we've been through, right that's what the three episodes do. So Episode One is quite brutal, it's shares everything that you might have been true Like to avoid, but in a way that is very simple to understand very much about like, hey, what's going to happen to me to my children? You know, in my lifetime, we ask people to calculate how old will you be in 2050? And you know, how old will a child it's important in your life being 2050. And I remember when I did that for myself, and I realized, hey, 2050, my children who are now nine and 12, will be younger than I am today. And I feel pretty young. You know, I realized, like, wow, you know, suddenly 2050 feels very close. And we talked about, like, what do scientists say, will the world look like at that time, so Episode One is quite hard. But we make it safe enough to go there. And then you have a conversation with the group, which means that you're not alone in facing this, you're suddenly there with your friends, you found that you've all seen this together, and you all process it together, right? And then you can't binge watch, that's one of the things you actually have to sit with it for at least 25, four hours. So you know, you actually really grapple with this. And then your second,

Greg Voisen
You know, I think what you and Helen have done and the way that the I'm going to call them little miniseries, I'll keep saying that, because it's kind of what they are, you know, you made it very personal. Even the way the camera has the two of you at the beginning right next to one another at a desk. It's a very personal, like, upfront conversation with people, right? And then throughout this so that my listeners know, I've been through it. So for personal experience. What happened for me was the first video for segment going down to you, as he's talking about, is all about the challenges we're all facing, right. And it did bring up a lot of emotion for the people that were involved. I at one point, that gal from France, who was speaking, I was crying, okay, I literally was crying by what she was saying that she didn't, couldn't predict her future, just like you said, your children, that's what you're looking for. And I think that that emotional aspect, plus the two of you speaking personally, the way you do in the beginning of this, and then you have a third Narrator who's marvelous, by the way, who speaks through much of it as well. And I'm just going to encourage my listeners, you know, go to the weak dot O, and just set up a group yourself, I don't care if it's one person, three people, 25 people, it really works when it's full, smaller. So I wouldn't say get it more than about 20. To do that, it also should be in business as well. That's what I was taught. That's what I was just telling Frederic, I plan to take this to businesses, because businesses can start being more socially responsible, more concerned about the environment, using more sustainable products and things. We can help co2 emissions, we only have co2 emissions are really the biggest thing and temperature rises and keeps rising and keeps rising. We're gonna have floods, we're gonna have fires, we're gonna have all kinds of things that are going to occur. Tell me a little bit about this, because like, making this documentary miniseries was not cheap. You were fortunate enough, from what I heard to be funded through a donation help you create this three series to make it up and it took a while to make I guarantee you this just didn't occur overnight. This film crew worked tirelessly to get this done to get all these people from these different continents. Right? You have people in Europe, that your that your video, how did that happen? How long did it take you to create and shoot and edit this miniseries?

Frederic Laloux
I'll answer the question. But just before that, I just want to say that, you know, the first day is sort of hard because we face the fact but there's some relief, right? Like finally, I have engaged with this, like I no longer need to push the topic away. The second episode, the bottom of the week, we sort of look how we got into this mess and how we pick it out. But then the third episode, like, builds you up again, right? And it's like, full of inspiration. So people come out of this, like, energized. And I mean, the reality we're already seeing is amazing. Like people are so energized by this, that they tend to say like, hey, I've seen it at home. Now I want to bring it into my organization, like you were saying, or people see it inside the workplace. And then they say like, hey, my wife, or my husband or my friends need to see it. So, you know, it's I don't want people to think that it's only hard. It's just the beginning that it's hard. But actually at the end of it, you come out of it really energized to do your part. So back to your question. Yeah, so we, you know, when we just had this clarity that this is what we needed to do, but we had never done films, Ellen, my wife and I, we've written books, but never done films. I didn't even know where to begin, didn't even know how much it would cost. So you know, we talked to film teams and get some idea of how much of a cost and films indeed are expensive and so we I learned to fundraise, which I had not done before. And I was lucky that you know my book, a previous book has been quite successful. So there were a number of others. have entrepreneurs that trusted me and just, you know, made small, medium or larger checks as donations because they believed in this in this vision. And that allowed us to, you know, to fundraise enough money to make the phones happen. And it took us, it took us three years to happen. We, we prototyped, and tested this quite a lot. We actually had 5000 People go through test versions of this, where we simply read scripts to people on Zoom, just to see what the scripts work, because, you know, once you decide on the scripts, you know that the film is locked, it's very hard to change it. So we had like, five successive rounds of testing, and just had grouped after groups go through this and just see, you know, is this working? Because so many of us come into this, like, not sure, like, God, we really want to do this or not want to do this. And, again, what we, what I've learned, the experience is that people tell us all the time, like, oh, I'm so relieved, I finally engaged with the topic, because I knew it was there. And I wasn't really engaging. And I really do believe like, that our children will ask us in 1020 30 years, like, what did you know? And what did you do? Hey, Daddy, why didn't you know, why weren't you at the forefront of this? And so I want to be able to say, hey, you know, I woke up to this, and I did my part. And more than doing my part. It was it was joyful. Right? I like this is I'm convinced that facing the climate emergency, and environmental breakdown is going to be the defining adventure of the next decades, right for humanity, there's no way around it. And so when there's an adventure, we have a choice, right? Like every generation that gets like a big adventure, you know, thrown at them, you know, people who have to free the world from fascism, you know, or like, you know, do you join? Or do you stay on the sidelines? And, and I'd much rather join, join this. And it's,

Greg Voisen
well, it's a, it's a peaceful movement, let's face it, I mean, we're all in it together. And it's all our individual actions that make up the grand total scheme of what's actually happening. And at its best, you know, it's like, well, do I think about that flight that I'm going to take because of the amount of emissions that the plane is going to do. And I'm going to offset it with carbon footprint, my carbon footprint, I noticed that CBS even just the other night on a documentary 60 minutes, was profiling the collection, the air collection units for co2 in Iceland, right. And now you're seeing oil companies, like one of the big ones involved in building more of these plants all over the place that are collecting air intake, and literally shooting the carbon down into the ground and, you know, making it harden. And basically, I think that that is that is that it's one area, we don't know, Fredrik, if that's going to solve the problem, quick enough, fast enough? And I guarantee you it's not, it's going to be helpful. But I'm hopeful. And you were you have three main issues you address in the program? And what role do you believe technology could play in reducing this carbon footprint? Because, you know, it's, it's, there are things going on that you know about that I know about? And it might be good to share one of these things, and what is it that you believe I know, my son, I was talking to him about, you know, just chat CBT. And he's no, my son's very much an environmentalist and a minimalist, and he works at Adobe. And he said, Look, what you guys don't realize is that all these computers that are running, to run Amazon and to run Google and to run CBT, are increasing our carbon footprint, because they're using more electricity, right? And electricity is being created by fossil fuels. And I don't think anyone ever gives that thought, you know, they're like, hey, we're just gonna keep using this. And we're gonna keep developing that. What do you think technology can do to help us as we move forward?

Frederic Laloux
I mean, specifically on carbon. I think technology can play a huge role, right? In particular, renewable energies, right? There is no doubt about it. Like if you want to get off fossil fuels very quickly, solar and wind and to some degrees, you know, new, much safer, smaller nuclear reactors will be the key to that. So there, there is no decarbonisation without these new technologies. So that's great. And they are all sort of ready to be scaled and the prices are going down dramatically. I mean, you know, wind and solar are now cheaper than certainly coal and cheaper than gas in most places of the world. So you know, it's a no brainer. But carbon is only one of the problems we're facing right now. Right, we're talking about two other problems. One is just the collapse of the living systems. I mean, just the collapse of ecosystems, like, every year, all sorts of plants and animals go down by one or 2% Every year, because humans just take over their habitat. And their technology can't do that much. Right there, it's much more of a question of us being mindful, and like your son, you know, realizing that we can be perfectly happy, you know, by questioning our lifestyles. And the same, the third issue we talk about is sort of this pervasive pollution of most people to know about, like, the plastics we've produced have disintegrated into micro plastic that is now everywhere, including in our bloodstream, including in mom's milk that they give to their babies. I mean, it's everywhere. And we have no easy solution for that, I

Greg Voisen
think one of the points that was made that we're consuming a credit card a month. In other words, what I mean that is, in during this video, they break up these microplastics, which are being consumed through foods that we're eating and things that we're ingesting reality is in the air, we're breathing. And it was a wake up for me, I didn't realize that I was eating a credit card a month,

Frederic Laloux
you know, or actually, the week before or for a month or for a

Greg Voisen
month. I mean, it's mind boggling. So, you know, I think for people, it's a wake up call. And like you did you said you have three main platforms, which you address, and, and food insecurity is one of them. And I want you to address that a bit. Because it's not just the food and how it's produced. But it's also the distribution of that food worldwide globally.

Frederic Laloux
Yeah, I mean, so many people, when we think about, you know, the environmental challenges, think about energy, right? We think about renewable energy and electric cars, and they have a big role to play. But very few people realize that our food systems are a major part of the problem. And, you know, could be a real issue 1020 30 years down the road simply to feed us. So they're part of the problem, because a third of all greenhouse gases come from our food systems, not from fossil fuel plants. So even if we go entirely renewable, will still exceed the warming that scientists tell us we should stay below just by keep producing the food, the way we produce it. The fruit system is a pretty horrible system. Like if you actually look at factory farming. Yeah, most of factory farms, we have, like, you know, there's laws that we're not allowed to film inside them, because what's going on inside them is so horrible that, you know, people aren't, aren't really allowed to know.

Greg Voisen
Well, plus, also, and I'd add to and I think, I don't know if many people know, but between the pesticides, and the nitrogen based fertilizers, nitrogen based fertilizers are actually exacerbating the issues that the farmers are using to get the crops to yield what they need to yield, because they need a higher demand for to supply it. But those nitrogen base products and all the runoff that's actually going into the streams and waters in the earth and the oceans is a real issue. But I don't think the average person out there is really focused on nitrogen based fertilizer.

Frederic Laloux
No, that's why we show these things in the film, but in a very sort of accessible way, like, you know, the food that we eat, it's, it's part of the problem. But it's also sort of in a second episode, there is a much more beautiful food system that is emerging. Something that people generally call regenerative agriculture, yes. And there is a chance for us with regenerative agriculture to actually revive ecosystems, and to make food much more secure. So one of the problems is now as the world gets warmer, and as we're lacking water, is that it's not clear if we can continue, you know, to feed everybody and we can already kind of, you know, feed everybody right now, there's, you know, building people who are lacking food, and we in the rich world are lucky enough that most people, you know, have access to food. But if you look at the bread baskets that we have in the Midwest, United States of the European breadbasket, you know, they're all under threat from heat and drought. And, and when

Greg Voisen
they are aqua, the aquifers have been depleted in California here, we are fortunate enough to have this huge rain, which is kind of filled these aquifers again, but the reality is we're talking about over time for my listeners, and they know that this is not late today. Immediately, it's for us to take action today. And you know, I'd like to know if you could share some of the success stories that you might have that have evolved from the 1000s of people that have viewed your miniseries and participated in these sessions. What have you heard from them either individually or corporately, or what's actually brewing at the week?

Frederic Laloux
Let me start from the small to the bigger scale, at the small scale, just we hear just so many groups that tell us like that the conversations they've had with their friends, their family, their colleagues were just the most beautiful conversations that they've ever had. Not only on this topic, but often on any topic, like, it's just, you know, brings people together to share about something that is fundamental to each and every one of our lives in a very deeply respectful way. We've had, like, you know, many conversation, you know, people telling us, like, in our conversation, like, I got closer to my dad, who never understood me around this topic. Or, you know, we, I could, I could share lots of stories simply of like, you know, the beauty of having people engaged on something respectfully, deeply, over three days. And then we, you know, people make changes in their lives, you know, people tell us, like, hey, you know, I sold my second car, I was like, somebody told us, like, we used to have a second, second home, but we needed a plane to get there and then longer made any sense for us to do that. People saying they, you know, I reinvented with our friends how we holiday together, and it's actually much more joyful. And so people just come up with lots of stuff that we would have never imagined. But knowing

Greg Voisen
your background in, in, you know, businesses and consulting businesses, and in these memes, and also, this economic structure we built around consumerism, okay, and you address it in it a little bit, you don't go super, super deep into this area. But I'd like to get it from the horse's mouth. You know, we have already indoctrinated ourselves as a species around this concept of consumption. And the more consumption we have, the more pollution, the more crap ends up in the landfills, and the plastics and all the rest of the stuff that's there. And I think at the core level, though, and I don't know if you'll agree with me, but as I look at all of this, it is really about how and what we're consuming as individuals, because it consumption has a byproduct, and the byproduct is waste. And I don't care what kind of waste it is, you even talked about the chemicals that are going into the system from consumptions of antidepressants and things that people are taking, it's getting into the waterways, and then it's in the water. And I mean, you know, you take this down to the microscopic levels. But I would like you to just address from your standpoint, because you spent so many years inside corporate America, helping businesses grow. Right? What would you say about this level of consumption? And how would you say we ease back from it?

Frederic Laloux
Yeah. I mean, that's why I'm so excited that people take the week inside their workplace and see it with their colleagues, because it brings about beautiful conversations, and then real questions about like, what is our business model? And should we continue the way we do like, two days ago, we received this email from a fast fashion firm, you know, fast fashion, is one of the main respondents, you know, that they're responsible for so much pollution so much. And as we know, it's not even bringing people happiness, right? It's like this endless race where you have to have the latest, to bring in a new word three times, and then throw it away. And so it was just beautiful to see people inside, you know, the leadership team of this fast fashion firm, going through this, and then saying, you know, what, we're super excited to change our model. And they just wrote a lengthy email with like, 50 different actions that they've decided that they want to take on coming out of this film. And I think,

Greg Voisen
Congrats to you. Yeah. Right. I think that's, that's a great example. That's a great example.

Frederic Laloux
And I think part of the reason is, is that in the whole film, like there is no blame and no shame. Right? It's, it's a sort of, like, Hey, we're all trying to figure this out for ourselves, what can we do so that in 1020 30 years, we're proud of what we've done, so that we can look our children in the eye that we can look ourselves in the mirror, and everyone, depending on what your job is, you know who your friends are, you know, we'll have a different answer. And so we don't blame or shame anybody. And so it makes it easy to bring this into organizations who then look at this and then say, like, Okay, wow, yeah, you know, let's look at our own actions, and what can we change? What can we improve? Another beautiful stories that we've had is one of the wealthiest families in the world, shareholder family, they own businesses that employ over a million people. And, you know, they're like, it's different generations. And there's a group of three people who have watched version of the week and then they So we have to have other family members watch this. And they've had over 100 family members now go through this. And you know, it's behind closed doors, these very wealthy people, you know that. Normally, you know, you don't get access to we don't have access, but the films got in there. And now, suddenly, you have these different generations talking to each other where the young kids say to the older ones who sit on the boards of these companies, hey, we need to change like we want this to change. And coming out of that, not only through what we've done, you know, there was stuff already going on, but I'm sure it played a part, they've decided now that the top 60 presidents and CEOs of the family groups would all spend seven full days learning about the climate and making climate plans for their different organizations.

Greg Voisen
Congratulations, congratulations, that's, that's a big win. It's a very big win, you don't have to mention the companies, we all kind of get it. And I know it's private. But so thank you for that, because I think just that in itself could make a huge impact. But again, it does come down to something that is simple about consumption, I'm not certain you or I can answer this, because they don't know if we have enough background or expertise or knowledge. But when somebody manufactures something for consumption, and people in the world rely on wages, and salaries are the manufacturing and consumption and distribution and everything of that particular product, whether it's apple, or it's Nike, wherever it is, there's an issue here, because we have advertisers every day on TV and the media news, trying to sell us that we're not enough, and you talk about enoughness in this. And it's this whole prevailing issue of enoughness, that really is sustaining that model. Because people are not feeling enough. So they gotta get a new this or a new that or we got to change this, or we're going to do that or, you know, it's endless. It's endless. It's an endless cycle. Talk, if you would a bit about that, as it relates to the week.

Frederic Laloux
Yeah. I mean, we live in a strange world where, you know, a lot of people don't get their basic needs that are met. Right. But then on the other hand, there's many people, middle class and up who are on this constant rat race, because there's this constant injunction from advertising, that, you know, you can't possibly be happy the way you are, right? You're not enough, you know, and then they dangle string in front of us and tell us, you know, if you only own this, then you will finally be being afraid it's real. It's a real race. I mean, if these advertisers spent billions of dollars doing that, it's because it's effective. We talking to film about an inflection point or a particular moment, that happened in United States in the 1920s. There was a moment where businesses realize that there was a new generation growing up, whose basic needs were met. And then they were wondering, hey, if their basic needs are met, you know, what more can we sell them if they're already content, like their basic needs are met. And they found that like, you know, the only way to do that is to, you know, advertise and create false needs, needs that actually don't exist. And then we satisfy them. And as soon as they're satisfied, we create more false needs. And there's an actual report that people did under the Hoover administration that talks about, like how we will use advertising to create national needs that don't exist, so that we keep, you know, selling, keep the

Greg Voisen
economy going. You know, it's interesting, you say that, because the reality is, is that you got, we've gotten to the heart of it, the heart of it is really what you address in the video around enoughness, this feeling of not having enough, and then us consuming more of something that we don't really need, is it a need? Or is it a want? And it's pervasive in this western world? I won't say it's pervasive everywhere. But it is pervasive in the western world where we're consuming, probably 80% of the resources. And I think when you look at happiness, because happiness is what underneath that is one of the psychological issues, that that if I get that new car, I get that new jacket or I get whatever, it's going to make me happier. And the reality is, is the studies have shown and I think, our listening audience, whether you're making 50,000 I think it was or 60,000 or 100, the degree of happiness didn't go up by the amount of money that you actually made. There's a certain point where it didn't matter if it was 50,000 or it was 100,000 You're not any Is likelier to be any happy? And I think that's the key. It's a key part of this. So, you know, moving forward, I'm certainly going to continue to promote this. What are your hopes for the screenings in the week as they continue to grow? What do you hope that can happen regarding awareness of the environmental issues? And how can each of us impact global warming, food insecurity, and sustainable farming?

Frederic Laloux
I mean, our hope is that it reaches as many people because we just need everybody in this right, like, people who deal with, you know, deal with the food system, they need, you know, we need to reinvent the food system and move into regenerative agriculture, everybody who deals with energy, we need to onboard everybody. And so that's, that's basically all of us. And so our hope is that, you know, people will be so touched that they keep sharing it and, you know, keeps going viral. Because people just come out of it and feel like, hey, I'm at some place, I'm, you know,

Greg Voisen
how many people have seen it now proxy. So,

Frederic Laloux
you know, we've had 5000 People do the test version, and then we now just launched and we've had, we've just been 20,000 People who've registered.

Greg Voisen
Fantastic So, and it's going to continue to be a movement and grow, and I'm going to do my damnedest to help it do that.

Frederic Laloux
And then to a question about, like, what people do, what we found is really interesting. Some people, you know, they start with, basically from a blank page, they just say, like, hey, I have this job. And with this job, I can affect that. And that's what I will do. And they just come up with their own stuff. And other people tell us like, oh, just give us a list of things to do. And so, on the website of the week, after you've experienced that, you can just look at this list, and you can basically start crossing things off, sort of, by order of importance. And so you know, some people like to use lists other people, you know, start from a blank,

Greg Voisen
Well, I think you've taken a an issue, which could be daunting. And you've turned it into something very simple. And you've turned it into something where people don't, anyone, I'm saying, like, I don't want to be this to be rude, you don't have to think actually watching this documentary is more emotional based, it stirs inside of you at all, at a very heart level. Because of the way it's done, we understand at the fringes what's going on, we may not understand all the deep technical, scientific data or information, but we do understand the key ever. Yes. And you do that you and Helen do a marvelous job of that. And so in wrapping this up, if our listeners want to become involved in the movement, how can they do that? I know I've made a donation already, I'm gonna make more. And because you are a nonprofit, right? And you exist to serve this movement, and this cause. And so I guess the best way to get involved is to go to www the week done dot o Oh, yeah. Yep. And watch the introductory video with, you know, basically Frederic and Helen talking about it, it's very simple. And then go up there and set your group up, and then send out an email. And then you'll get access to Phil Vimeo. And you're going to have the access to these videos. And I've done this folks. And it is very simple, very simple. You set up a time in a day you send out an email, say we're going to meet on Thursday night at 7pm Be there be square. And so I think the process is really left up to you. But with Zoom, and with, if you've got zoom, you can make this happen.

Frederic Laloux
You can also do it in person, you know, gather people in your home, or you can

Greg Voisen
do this big screen. And so when I go into corporate America, which I haven't done yet, but I'm going to, I'm literally going to just open up the internet, open up their big screen, bring people into a conference room, and let them watch the video and then create a discussion afterwards. Look, this isn't about the money, folks, this is about us making the shift as a society. So everybody who's out there listening, as a consumer, as the way in which you eat and consume products, the way in which you move around with your cars, your trucks, and your SUVs, and all the other things, and it's for you to think about, you know, every time I do this, what can I do to be more aware and environmentally sensitive about what's actually going on? So would that be a good statement?

Frederic Laloux
It's a perfect statement. So I would just encourage you to get a group together, you know, maybe a small group at first and test Yes. And then often people after they've seen it, they feel like okay, now I want everybody in my organization to see it and then they go much bigger scale. One maybe last thing I want to say is we've so much equated the environmental movement with sacrifice, you know, like, in order to save the planet, you know, we'll have to do with less, that always feels like you talked about the environment. And it's like the end of the party, like, you're the party pooper. And, and, and with a week, we really taken the opposite approach. Because I fundamentally believe it, I believe that the next 1020 30 years are going to be an incredible human collective adventure, where we can turn systems that are really messed up a messed up food system, a messed up energy system, a messed up consumption system that doesn't make no one happy. And we can actually create much more beautiful systems, right regenerative agriculture, we can rewild large parts of the world, we can, you know, have much healthier streams and air and we can be much healthier, we can recreate deeper relationships and community instead of mindless consumption. And so, you know, that there, I think the reason this is going viral is that because at the end, people are really inspired to go like, I want to be part of that better world. So if you think that this is sort of a traditional environmental thing that will make you feel bad about yourself, that's not at all what it is, this is not shaming you, it's actually saying like, you know, there's maybe something much more beautiful out there. And let's, let's build that together.

Greg Voisen
Well, and you and your wife, Helen, have just been such great advocates, and you're very much bringing us into the living room. And we're bringing, you're bringing us into your living room, it's real life. And you know, I go back to the days, and I even tell my listeners about Lester Brown, who wrote Plan B four point out mobilization to save civilization. There's all these books, this is not about a doomsday I want to really important, Lee say this, we do have time to shift this and change it. And the only reason that Helen and Frederic are doing this is they realize we do obtain time. And they want their children to have as good or better of an existence on this planet, as we have had. And the reality is it doesn't look like that's the way it's going. Right. And that is trying when I was talking to my son, and I gave him your link to the website. And he's actually going to start one at Adobe. And he basically said, you know, I think about this every day, because he's got a five year old and a four year old. And I have grandchildren five and four. And I think if you don't do this for yourself, do it for the next generation. The reality is I think everybody will be impacted. Again, we're going to have all these links on repeat it one more time, go to that week, dot O, watch the introductory video, set up your group, have zoom available to at any night of the week. I don't care how many people show up. You're making an impact. I don't care if it's one, or it's five, or it's 10 It doesn't really matter. You just got to take the action and this is the action. So thank you for being on inside personal growth. Frederic and talking about the week. It's been a pleasure been an honor, actually.

Frederic Laloux
Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And thank you for you know, doing it and now bringing it out into your world.

Greg Voisen
Not a problem. We'll just keep doing it. That's the way things move. That's why it's called a movement. Whereas I just wear its whole movement. h o l o m mu, the whole movement. So thanks so much. Thanks.