Quick Question
The former head of the Environmental Protection Agency is Obama-approved.
News aboutLove Canal,as the neighborhood was known, was everywhere, and 15-year-oldLisa Jacksonwas watching it all.
I saw what happens if we dont take care of the planet, she says.
If its not healthy, we cant be healthy.
Four years later, Jackson joined Apple as the vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives.
In 2015, she and her team set an ambitious goal: to make the company carbon-neutral by 2030.
A short drive away, I saw a budding forest where there used to be farmland.
Youve held critically important jobs and worked with some big names.
How did your career begin?
In my 20s and 30s, I was working as a staff-level engineer at the Environmental Protection Agency.
I was out in the field either taking samples or dealing with the community.
And those years of experience are what I rely on even today.
How lucky have I been?
Back then, I wouldnt have believed Id be where I am now.
Early in someones career, how can they develop more confidence?
When youre starting out, its important to grind, to learn your craft, right?
You bring a different perspective your own and in any room, thats important.
Any advice for succeeding at work?
Find a manager whos actually going to help you have your voice heard.
A lot of times they dont even know that youre feeling a lack of confidence.
you know youve got a supportive manager.
If the reaction is Not my problem, you tuck that away.
What was the most important lesson you learned from Obama?
The first time I met him, before he was president, we were at a Senate hearing.
He was the only senator who sat through the whole hearing.
That taught me so much about him you go into the details.
Not just like, Oh, yeah, someone else is handling that.
You have to be able to answer questions in front of the boss.
What about a lesson from Tim Cook, Apples CEO?
To do great work, you need great collaboration.
From deadly hurricanes to dangerous heat waves, news about climate change has become incredibly dire.
What gives you hope?
Anyone who has done great work has faced odds that must have seemed insurmountable.
And yet he took care with every single step.
If we all did something whoever you are, whatever you do it would make a difference.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
