The Strategy Sessions: The Coral Reefs

0:00Hey, it's Seth, and this is Akimbo.

0:09another special strategy session i am so lucky to be here with lenita fix and we're going to be talking about an urgent but under understood issue and the strategy that can be brought to bear on it we might not come up with answers but we will definitely find some questions good morning lenita how are you good doing great good morning good morning why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself. I've read about the work you do. It's so important, but you can say it better than me. Okay. So my name is Lanita Fix. I am the executive director of an organization called the Reef Institute. We are a coral conservation organization in Florida on a mission of coral conservation through education, research, and restoration.

0:57Okay. So when the typical person thinks of coral, they think of the stuff they find at the gift shop or the things they saw that one time they went snorkeling. But coral is actually a complicated creature that's alive. Tell us a little bit for the layperson what coral actually is. Sure. So coral is an animal. It lives in a symbiotic relationship with an algae that gives it its color, its nutrients, and also provides oxygen. So one coral animal is called a polyp. It is a complicated creature. We would say it's the diva of the ocean. It multiplies to become a colony. So when you go out snorkeling and you see that coral reef and you're like, wow, it's so beautiful, you're actually looking at hundreds and thousands of animals living together to kind of create that ecosystem.

1:55And then for the lay person that's probably read a lot about coral and it being in trouble and it makes the news all the time, it basically falls into kind of two categories, what we call soft corals. Those are the big sea fans that you see. They just have enough skeleton to basically hold them up. And then you have what you call reef building or stony corals. So when people talk about quote unquote corals being in trouble, that's really what they're talking about. They're talking about these like stony corals that are kind of falling apart in the ocean. Now, if all the lions or panda bears disappear, the earth will probably go on the way it was.

2:35But what happens when all the coral disappear? So there's a quote by a famous marine biologist named Sylvia Earle. I can't ever find the actual quote, but there was this time I was watching her talk and she actually makes the point, We don't even know what we know will happen when coral goes away. It's really the foundation of everything in the ocean, foundation of life in the ocean. So we would argue that probably bees and coral are the two most important creatures on the planet. Okay. So now we're going to come to the strategy conversation. Because kind and caring humans like you are showing up to make a difference.

3:16What is it you don't have enough of? well i mean the practical is money you know we don't have enough that's great that's what i thought you know how much money would make a difference like in an individual person giving or like just like how would you know we know what it would mean to cure juvenile diabetes what would it mean to make a significant impact on the coral do you need a billion dollars $100 billion,$10? I would say that ultimately it's consistent giving that would make a difference. So I know that's not really the question that you've asked. I'm reticent to say, oh, it would take$2 million or$5 million because I feel like we can be pretty scrappy with what we get.

4:04It's more about that my attention doesn't get to be on what's important, which is getting the word out about what we're doing and doing the work because so much of my time is spent on fundraising. So it's more about that consistent giving that is important than really even the amount. And that's because your real mission is focusing public opinion and causing human beings to change their behavior over time. Absolutely. So it's not that you're in the ocean doing surgery on coral. It's that human beings have to stop doing stupid things that are destroying the coral. And one way that we'll stop doing stupid things, if you create the conditions for people to say, whoa, we're going to stop doing that.

4:55Is that sort of the focus of where the work goes? The focus of our work is kind of on the after effects. So human impact is, people always ask me what is the, what is the greatest issue with coral in the ocean? And the issue is people, you hit the nail on the head. It's, we make poor decisions. We've made a series of poor decisions. I like to say that we haven't treated the ocean as a treasure. We've treated it as a commodity. And when you treat something as a treasure, you treat it completely different than if you treat something, you know, if you've got an heirloom piece of jewelry, you treat it differently than a trinket you bought from Walmart, like you just do.

5:35And so what's happened is there's this series of things that we've done that have caused issues. So for us, what we do is kind of, we're dealing with the after effects. So we're literally rescuing coral, reproducing that coral and trying to kind of repopulate the ocean. So that's kind of where our focus has been organizationally. So focus is the key here along with the human condition. So let's start breaking us into pieces. The first challenge is, as you pointed out, the tragedy of the commons. When the ocean belongs to everyone, it belongs to no one. And since it belongs to no one, people say, well, someone's just going to wreck it if it's not me, so I might as well make a dollar taking a shortcut.

6:16So that's where the problem begins. And then insightful people show up and say, well, we think we can make a difference. We can ameliorate some of the damage. And there's a two-part problem that you're describing. Part number one is how do we get some individuals to send cash? And problem number two is how do we get other individuals who don't send cash to at least pay attention and stop treating it like a trash dump, right? I'd like to sort of highlight. So you can see that the strategy then is hard because you don't have one problem. You have at least three problems and they're all dancing with each other.

6:59And I don't know where to start. That's what always happens. And everyone says I should start with PR, but then it feels like there's no time for that. Right. Well, and of course, if we don't have time to do it right, we don't have time to do it over. And so time is one of the four things that I talk about in this strategy. Now, I want to talk for a minute about philanthropy because when someone donates to a worthy cause, they only do it when their donation is worth more than the amount they gave you. So every time we are raising money, it's actually on sale. That if someone pays$3 million to name a dorm at University of Texas after themselves, they're only doing it because it's worth$4 million to their ego or their reputation.

7:46So everything's a bargain. We're not asking people to give money. We're offering them a chance to get what they get by paying for this thing that we're doing. Right? Right. So one of the challenges that nonprofits face is, should they get 10 people to give a million dollars each, or should they get a hundred thousand people to give a hundred dollars each, or if I did the math right, or$10 each. right so an organization like save the children which like you is trying to raise awareness as well as money the typical donation is twenty dollars whereas an organization like uh the acumen fund the typical organization typical donations by fifty thousand dollars different strategies and tactics will get you there so given where that begins if we're going to start with the money, who is the ideal donor and in what setting are you interacting with them?

8:45So, I mean, obviously what we all, what everybody in the nonprofit world thinks that they want is that, you know, is less high-end donors. My belief, I've been in the nonprofit world for a long time. And I think those people are tapped out. I think they're tired. When you end up with those people, what becomes complicated is typically that level of donor has two or three causes in there that they're going to give to. And you're constantly fighting with other organizations to be that one organization that they're going to give to. So I think that even though it feels like it's more work, the more effective donor is more donors, less money.

9:32Because I think the average person is more likely to get invested. And I believe that the average person typically has a little bit more to give than they think they do. And so they just want to know that you're doing something worthwhile with their money. So you kind of bring them in, like you build relationships with them, and then eventually they become genuine partners in your mission with you. Right. So this is, there's a lot of insight of what you just said, but there's also a bunch of traps here that I'd like to highlight. Cause I think what we're trying to do here in the podcast is universalize some of these messages.

10:10The first thing is that people don't give money to charity because the cause they're supporting is efficient or effective. Cause if that was the case, everyone would only give money to cure river blindness. Because for$2, you can keep someone from going blind for the rest of their life. You just can't beat that. No one should give money to a museum or the coral reefs or anything else until we've cured river blindness. But the fact is, that's not what people do. Because people make donations based on affiliation and status. Affiliation is what do people like me do? Who's to my left? Who's to my right?

10:51What am I part of. And status is, am I moving up or am I moving down? And so a lot of high net worth individuals who had 100, 200, 500 million dollars, when the financial crisis of 2008 hit, they only had 80 million or 150 million dollars. And they gave less money to charity, which is absurd because they still had more money than they could spend for the rest of their life, but they felt different and their peers felt different. So when they start talking to you about, tell me about the efficacy and blah, blah, blah, that's not really what they're saying. What they're saying is, how does it feel for me to try on this hat?

11:30How does it feel for me to see myself as a philanthropist? So when we think about high net worth individuals, many of them feel tapped out because charities are using them as ATM machines and not offering them new status or new affiliation that makes them eager to do it again. And when we think about people who aren't high net worth, their story about money doesn't have a lot of room in it for, I had this money and now I don't have it anymore because I gave it to a cause that's over there. So what we seek to do is create the conditions for people to want to do this. So for example, when TED first got started, the line to give a TED talk was very small.

12:21Over time, as the status of giving a TED talk went up, a lot of people would kill to give a TED talk. This wasn't because Chris called them on the phone and begged them. It was because the conditions were created for them to want to see this. So the hard work is not dialing for dollars and haranguing people, asking them for a favor. The hard work is how do we create the conditions, particularly for medium to high net worth individuals who don't see themselves as philanthropists. Because if you can help them see through the scaffolding you build, that their status will go up in their community, things will change.

13:05A very pedestrian example of this is in New York where I live, the highways can be adopted. What it means to adopt a highway is you pay some money and they put your name on the side of the road. You don't actually have to go and pick up the litter. Someone else picks up the litter using your money. There are people whose names you will see on the side of the road who are not philanthropists, but they wanted to feel that way. And when they saw their peers having their name on the side of the road, they went out of their way to put their name on the side of the road. So one of the things that occurs to me is that there are a lot of people, particularly in Florida who visit Florida, who have disposable income to put on a scuba tank or have disposable income to go to Bonaire or whatever.

13:52if you created underwater plaques and halls of fame with their name on the bottom of the ocean and there was a way that people started to see that because you were broadcasting it their name would be notable by its absence because i can see oh there's jacques custod's name and there's this person's name why aren't you there it's an alphabetical order what would it mean to adopt a whole reef and to have your little sign next to the reef floating on Instagram, whatever it is. That's a tactic, not my point. But my point is, when we find the smallest viable audience of people who know they need to be in the room, they want to be in the room.

14:35So it's not about how do I justify the work you're doing to transplant coral. That's a subtext. The main text is, we missed you. All your friends were here. and now they're wondering what's up with you. Are you in trouble? That's what people do in the back of their head before they give money. How do we create that environment? Does that make sense? It does make sense. Yes, definitely makes sense. So the story of the potato, I think, is really useful here. And it's relevant in some ways to the quarrel. In the 1500s in Europe, there were no potatoes at all. A potato is a miracle. It's two to three times more efficient at creating food from sunlight and fertilizers than any other food ever created.

15:21And it comes from Peru. But because Peru was a colonized place, when the potato got to Europe, people looked down on it. And because food is life, people felt like if they ate something that was looked down upon, it would hurt them. There was a theory in France at the time that you ate foods that looked like the part of your body they were designed to help. So walnuts were thought to be brain food because they look like brains. And it was said in parliament that potatoes looked like the tumors on the hands of people with leprosy. So you shouldn't eat a potato because you'll get leprosy. And they were almost banned in the UK.

15:59And then in France, this guy came up with this great idea because he wanted to promote potatoes. He got some acreage, he leased some acreage near Versailles, near Paris, and planted a whole field of potatoes. And then he surrounded it with armed guards. And all day the armed guards were patrolling. But he didn't pay for them to stay at night. So at night the potato field was unmanned. And all the peasants came and stole the potatoes because they must have been valuable because they had been guarded. And so by creating status around this food, he got people to try it. He didn't beg them to try it.

16:39They actually stole it. They wanted to try it so bad. So when we think about how do you find, you only need 100 donors to get you started. This circle of 100, right? Are they the people who eat at Joe's Stone Crab? Are they the people who are part of some community that's focused on something else? Are they the volunteer fire department? Which circle of people, if you can turn just a few of them, will watch their status go up and then everyone will have to follow them, right? So it's not about holding a gala. It's the opposite of that, but for the same purpose, which is what are the signals we're going to send to help people understand people like us do things like this?

17:28Yeah, I think what, that's a lot to chew on. It's quite a rant. I know I was ranting. No, it was good. I think what I always grapple with, and I sound like want, want in these types of conversations is how do the people that you would think are, you know, are the tribe of people that should want to give to this are not those people. It's not the boat owners. People are always like, oh, you need to go talk to yacht owners and scuba divers. And, and I finally said to someone really frustrated the other day, I was like, the people that you think are going to give money are not the people that are going to give money to this.

18:12And they're like, well, who are going to give money? And I said, the average person who likes the ocean, like that's, who's going to give money to this, you know? And so, um, and then we specifically live in an area where there's a lot of other, uh, more charismatic animals, you know, that people want to give money to, uh, sharks and manatees and sea turtles. You know, we're one of the, you know, handful of sea turtle nesting places in the world and everybody loves a turtle. Um, you know, and so I have this animal, we always joke that doesn't even have a face, you know, how do I, how do I get, how do I get you excited about it?

18:50And the disconnect has been when you tell people, like you started out the conversation, it's vitally important and you can get behind it. They still are like, well, that's nice. Or they feel like the problem is so bad that nothing we're going to be able to do. So it's just too big. It's just too big. You're not going to do anything real anyway. So why? So I bought it. And everything you said is right, but some of it is noise. The people who donate are not people who like the ocean. There are lots of people who like the ocean. The people who donate are people who want to be seen either to themselves or to others as people who like the ocean and do something about it.

19:37That's not the same as liking the ocean. No, it's not. And so people are constantly giving you excuses and there it's called a broomstick problem and the broomstick problem comes from the wizard of oz dorothy gets to the wizard and the wizard says bring me the broomstick and i'll then i'll send you home he doesn't say this because he wants a broomstick he says it because he wants her to go away and so people are people are saying bring me back this science or bring me back this plan or bring me back this whatever because they want you to go away what they're saying is i'm afraid I'm afraid of running out of money or I'm afraid if my friends ask me about this, I'll sound stupid or I'm afraid that I'm backing the wrong animal or, or, or, or, and no one likes to admit that they're afraid.

20:28So when you show up, you're creating tension. They've either got to give you money or get rid of you. Those are the only two options. And good people like you don't sign up to make tension. That's not what you woke up this morning hoping to do. But it's the only way that donations get made. Fear of missing out. We have a deadline. That little thermometer that the United Way has, right? The United Way doesn't miss its goal partly because once it hits 80%, no one who didn't give wants to be the person who was responsible for it not going over the top. Right. So the challenge we have is to create whatever the dynamic is that causes peer pressure within circles of people.

21:21And it doesn't have to, you're right, it doesn't have to be scuba divers. It can be people who live in Kansas. That's fine. But what would they say to each other? Do you remember the Lance Armstrong bracelets? Yes. Right? None of those people cared about cancer. What they cared about was, I don't want to look like I don't care about cancer. Those are two totally different things. And so when you create a different set of conditions, so let's think about what do yacht owners care about? Yacht owners care about who is seen as having the best yacht. They care about how cool are the people who are hanging out on this yacht.

22:02They care about the social status and ranking, or they care about everyone leaving them alone because it's an isolated thing. It's one or the other, right? So if you're the adjudicator, if you're running the beauty pageant of yachting and you're the picker, they need to be in your circle because that's how they're going to get what they seek. And if it looks like they're doing it because they're saving the coral, that makes it even easier for them to feel status. Do you see what I'm saying? Yeah, absolutely. So if you announce in conjunction with three media companies, the Yacht of the Year Award, and all you have to do to enter the Yacht of the Year Award is make a$5 ,000 donation to the reefs.

22:47And then there's this big unveiling and all this other stuff. You can see how now we're playing with status. We're doing it on behalf, not just of the reef, but on behalf of the people who seek status. and the same thing's true with affiliation. So as we wrap this up, I just want to give you one other example, which is years ago, I was walking through the airport in Cleveland, Ohio, and I was stunned to discover, I think this is in sort of bad taste, but the cause was good. So I was fine with it, that they had erected five prison cells in the center of the, whatever they call that terminal. And inside each one was a fairly respectable looking person and a telephone.

23:37And what they had done was taken these people who were executives, whatever, and said, you're in jail until you make bail. And bail is you got to get$20 ,000 for March of Dimes. We're raising money for March of Dimes. You got to keep calling your friends and say, you got to bail me out. I'm sitting here in this airport locked up until I get$20 ,000 from March of Dimes. Now let's dissect what happens here. No one who was doing it was forced to do it, but all of them who agreed to do it did it because they were seen as leaders because they were asked. They had status when they called their friend half smiling saying, quote, I'm in jail, unquote.

24:21Now that friend says, what's going on? And you're humble bragging saying, well, because I'm one of the most important people in Cleveland, I'm doing this, but I am not allowed to give my own money. Can you do it? Right. So affiliation status, no one there is talking about birth defects because birth defects are total buzzkill. The same way dying coral is a buzzkill. That's not what they're selling. They're selling hope, status, affiliation. And the magic of this is it probably took a month to set it up, but they raised$100 ,000 in two hours. So who are you going to surround with this scaffolding so that the people who are supporting you donate?

25:07And then, cognitive dissonance being amazing, once they donate, they're going to think coral is really important. Right. And then you can enlist them to get their friends and it becomes a movement. Right. So I know this is super high level and I didn't give you any useful tactics whatsoever, but I was trying to be broad enough that people could see how it is that you build a Patagonia or an Apple computer or a save the children. It's not that this is a good cause. It's not that you can tell a Patagonia jacket with your eyes closed. it's that you create the conditions for people to do the things they've always wanted to do.

25:49I actually had this conversation with a potential board member. Um, and it was, um, I'd been in this like leadership program and it was a guy I hadn't really connected with in the entirety of the program. Um, but we happened to be at a meeting together. So I went out and up and chatted with and was making small talk and doing the things you're supposed to do and those types of things. and he, I'm very bad at those things. And he, he was like, and I loved what you said about the fear because that was immediately what he said. He's like, I just, he's like, I've never really talked to you. He goes, I didn't realize you were so charismatic.

26:26And he's like, in this leadership class, you were kind of quiet. And I said, well, because I really will always want to talk about intentional things. That's kind of who I am. Like if I'm, I, I like, I understand when I have to be in different scenarios, what I have to do. And so he, he was like, well, I just have to be honest. I feel really guilty. I'm not an ocean goer and I don't really, I don't, I'm not an ocean guy. I don't really care about being an ocean guy. And cause he asked me, he goes, well, what is your greatest need? I said, well, I could use some board members. I just need some board members who have some connections and can get excited about what we do.

27:04And, and he was like, I just don't think I'm that guy. And I said, can I tell you a secret? And he said, why? I said, I don't need you to care about the ocean. I don't even need you to care about coral at all. I need you to get excited enough that you can get other people excited about it. And that's exactly, you just kind of like, so that very much resonated with me. I literally just had that conversation with somebody a couple of weeks ago. Yeah. And it feels bad to be this direct and honest about it, but the coral don't care that we feel bad, right? The coral are just counting on us to organize people to do what they would have done if we were rational, farsighted humans in the first place.

27:41We're not. We're short-term and irrational. So part of what it is to work with a system is to acknowledge and embrace the system for what it is, not insist that the system become utilitarian and long-term thinking, because it's very hard to get people to change. Right. And I think it just really what resonated with me is we're in the middle of a giant expansion. And I lay awake every night wondering how I'm going to fund this thing. And did I make the most stupid decision in the whole world doing this? And I had a potential, like a guy that I was going to hire come in and he was like, well, you know, the problem is because you're biosecure, you can't like people need to like connect with the coral.

28:31And, um, it's funny cause that hasn't resonated with me. I was like, I don't know. I really don't think people care like to, you know, to connect with this animal that looks like a fuzzy rock. And, um, you know, and I think they think of it like all the other things that we do in this world is you tag a shark or you release a turtle into the ocean or you feed a manatee and you get this emotional connection with the animal. And I think this gives me a lot to chew on because what you're saying is, how do I, I've been chewing on this idea of sponsorships, you know, across the building. And it's not just about getting people to sponsor, it's helping them understand, oh, it's this huge status that you get to sponsor in this building.

29:18Look at what you got to do. and why are your friends not here too to do this as well? And I think that's a really interesting way of shifting gears. And actually useful, probably one of the most useful things that's been said to me in a long time. Well, you're so generous to do this in public. For people who have made it this far and we've sparked something, how do they reach out to your organization? Tell everyone what it's called and where to find it on the net. Sure. We are the Reef Institute. It's reefinstitute.org. And you can get ahold of me at lfix at reefinstitute.org. And the last name is like if you're broken and you fix it, it's just that simple.

30:04It's that simple. We're lucky to have you. Thank you for spending the time with me. I'm wishing you the best with this. It matters a lot. Thanks, Seth.