THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Dear HBAP Community, 

My name is Katelyn and I am asking that you to give this proposal a high score even if you don’t quite “get it”. 

My goal is to drive a positive feedback loop between investors and stakeholders on Planet Earth by creating a new kind of ESG (environment and social governance) data validation pathway. 

Simple, really.

What follows is a brief personal introduction and a few philosophical statements about my ideation. Although the opinions below are mine, they have been greatly influenced by my peers in this program and conversations with leaders across the globe. Also, facts.

Today, I am asking for your help.

Because I have no ducking clue what I’m doing. Quack! 

Please forgive my sense of humor. 

Just making sure you’re still with me…

I believe humans are good at their core. 

There is a shift occurring in the values and beliefs driving multinational corporate executives and board directors. 

They desperately want the companies they run, the products/services they sell, and the impact they have on the world to be lasting and sustainable.

People everywhere are waking up to the profound existential crisis we find ourselves in as a species.

Look no further than the losses in your own community this past year. 

Pause and breathe. 

Every season we say, “seems like the fires and hurricanes are getting worse!” 

Look around you.

You will see that hearts and minds everywhere are beginning to move mountains.

The number one challenge for all multinational corporations today is how to strike a balance between making money, reducing human suffering, and adapting to ecological collapse. 

This will be ongoing for decades and is much bigger than Net Zero. If you don’t believe me, read this.

No definition for Net Zero is universally acknowledged and agreed upon. 

The broadest accounting consensus is, “achieving a state in which the activities within the value chain of a company result in no net impact on the climate from greenhouse gas emissions.” 

Nowhere in this definition does it even begin to account for the real-life social consequences of the techno-structural changes we must undergo in order to thrive on this planet. Nor does it take into account many of the other biophysical limits we are already exceeding.

Leaders everywhere are asking themselves, how do we actually translate global goals into real demonstrable change on the ground using data analytics and technology? 

Whether you are aware of this silly truism or not: to be human is to feel. 

In order for you to evaluate this proposal, I need you to turn up the heat in your heart a bit.

Breathe.

Imagine something that makes you feel loved.

It is normal to feel afraid, overwhelmed, and scared when you start understanding how complex and interrelated our global problems actually are. 

Please don’t let your natural inclination to turn away from this reality dissuade you from giving my proposal a high score! 😉 

I’m just one person, and I need help to get this concept out of my mind and into a format where others can understand it.

Technology is ambivalent to human suffering. You are not.

A dear family friend of mine recently advocated in her book to be unapologetically ambitious in pursuit of your goals. 

I want to use technology to heal the human soul. 

I believe there is a glitch in the matrix, and it IS our responsibility to fix it. 

I don’t have an MBA or an impressive resume to back up this concept. 

Just a burning naive desire to create greater harmony between human, natural, and technological systems. 

That’s why I joined HBAP.

Harmony, after all, is a universal truth that we all aspire towards. Consciously, or not.

What I do have is a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with an Emphasis in Multicultural Community Psychology from a professional school called Alliant International University. 

I hold additional certifications in Mental Health in Complex Emergencies and conducted my doctoral research on emotions and global environmental problems. I earned a BA in International Studies, where I focused on economics, food security, and creativity in entrepreneurship. 

For the past 12 years I’ve been working one-on-one with convicted sex offenders, immigrants seeking hardship waivers and asylum, and normal people suffering from deep sorrow, despair, and anxiety. 

I am also a daughter of Silicon Valley, ancestral land of the Ohlone peoples. My family moved there when my dad got promoted to CFO of Sun Microsystems, where he worked for more than 20 years. My mother is a transpersonal psychologist and an artist. 

Today, I live in Los Angeles, ancestral land of the Tongva people. My husband is the Organizing Director for a large international trade union and we have a young son who is almost two. 

I watch way more Moana and Frozen than I would like to admit.

I share these realities because our experiences form the basis for what we believe is possible in life. 

Everything from the assumptions you make, the beliefs you hold, and the biases you have about yourself in the world–they emerge from you.

I still smile every time I see the Java logo somewhere.

It makes me think back to the time I shot-up a bunch of Sun employees at Laser Quest off San Antonio Blvd in high school. 

They didn’t like losing to a teenager on their lunch break.

So now that you know a little bit more about me and what inspires this platform, please allow me to introduce you to NOBLE.

NOBLE is a software platform with value creation being achieved through strong network effects. The more users engaged with NOBLE, the greater impact it can have in the world. 

Beyond a software platform, NOBLE represents a set of assumptions and beliefs:

NOBLE is also guided by three core principles:

NOBLE is a map. 

It is a dynamic blueprint for a more just, equitable, and diverse world for all life on Earth. 

It is also a project management tool designed to allow users to identify, track, and describe impact towards global goals at the local level. 

Shareholders will love NOBLE because we will finally connect the dots between activity level data and aspirational global goals (e.g. UNSDGs and 9 Planetary Boundaries).

NOBLE proposes to train artificial intelligence to scrape existing publicly available databases. We will look under every nook and cranny for information around the globe on factors relating to existing health and economic disparities among and between groups. 

Our algorithms are ethical by design. 

Rooted in intersectional models of human development, we propose to create a geographically-specific hierarchy of needs that is dynamic, evidence-based, and reality-tested. 

Because no two geographic locations face equal social, economic, or environmental challenges, NOBLE empowers key-decision makers to translate insights into meaningful projects in communities of greatest need.

By reverse-engineering the problem space, we can incentivize investment in historically marginalized communities where multinational digitally transformed corporations already operate.

What’s the catch? 

We want your company’s internal data. The stuff you aren’t required to disclose to the public. All of it. Even the stuff you think is junk.

Like a good therapist, everything you share is confidential. Think of us like a broker – helping you negotiate the terms of your service to humanity based on the reality of your existing operations.

We will keep your data safe. 

We plan to use things like one-time pad encryption on the blockchain to ensure no funny business.

Integrity is key to our mutual success. 

Our goal is to save all that we can on Planet Earth. Wake up.

We understand that it takes time for large organizations to change. This is perhaps especially true for complex systems like the global economy. 

If you believe in science, we only have about 10 years left to get shit done.

***Many scientists believe we’ve already crossed the doom threshold, but I am not ready to accept that fate yet.

Are you?

It’s go-time, folks.

NOBLE is committed to supporting the development of you and your organization at this time in our shared evolutionary journey.

NOBLE can only achieve its goal of driving a positive feedback loop if you buy into the change.

We will not disclose your company’s sensitive information or data directly, but the insights derived from use of our kick-ass platform coupled with your data will be analyzed, packaged, and sold to the ESG data market. I think that’s our value capture proposition. 

We create and drive a positive feedback loop in the matrix. 

Socially and environmentally responsible funds consistently demonstrate greater returns than traditional investments. This has been true for years.

It is a cognitive distortion — dare I say psychotic process — to operate on the assumption that one’s business is independent of Earth’s biophysical limitations and our societal realities.

It’s time to update our collective operating system.

We need massive public AND private investment, partnership, and collaboration. 

We must invest money into regenerative practices and projects across the entire globe while you and your multinational business continue to work towards sustainability goals on the inside.

We must invest in re-greening our communities AND reduce carbon emissions in the supply chain.

We must teach humans how to regulate their autonomic nervous system AND engineer drought and heat resistant crops.

We must reinforce infrastructure in anticipation of sea level rise AND prepare to relocate entire populations affected by climate change.

We must plant native grasses in bog-lands and marshes AND develop new sustainable energy infrastructures.

We must understand the fundamental entanglement of all particles in the universe AND respect autonomy and free will of all beings.

We must get shit done in the real world. 

The most common form of cognitive distortion is polarization–also known as all-or-nothing thinking. 

We all do it. We all have a tendency to think in black and white. 

I am no exception.

I often say that sustainability is a lot like anti-racism work. It’s an ongoing practice across the lifespan. It evolves as you learn more about reality and about yourself.

The same goes for this proposal. A lot of you may be thinking: 

“This woman is crazy. What a nut!

There is no way she can use technology to heal the human soul. 

There is no ducking way she will ever succeed at intervening in the global economy.

How naive and arrogant of her to imagine she could pull this off!”

You’re probably right. 

I am still asking you to give me a high score in this competition so that I can give it a whirl with the support of some very smart people from the Harvard Business Analytics Program.

Duck it. #yolo

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Katelyn Dowling, Ph.D.

Founder and CEO

Sustainable Self, Inc.