 As much of the climate geek as I am, I really appreciate a nice warm flight. You're okay with this? Because it's not carbon neutral, and I know that's why you took a boat here. Talk about the decision to give up flying. So, I did my carbon calculations, and, you know, I'm not just an environmentalist, I'm a venture capitalist, right? So, as a general partner VC firm, flying around the world was kind of my thing. And everything was carbon negative, and then I got to flying. And it was just this enormous, enormous carbon footprint, 3 million frequent fly miles. And when I became a serious environmentalist, I had to do something. And I believe, while I believe in happiness, I also believe that some sacrifices are necessary. So I made a pledge not to fly until we plant 100 million trees. And I can say, after 10 years, we planted 17.5 million trees just through the promotion of, you know, WeForest and planting trees and empowering women. And this is your nonprofit WeForest that you started? One of two. So for those that don't know, you really quickly talk about the different things you're involved in, because it's fascinating and broad. So I founded WeForest, co-founded with Marina Well, who's our CEO in Belgium. And our mission is to end climate change through tree planting, because trees make clouds, reflect sunlight, and if you plant enough trees around the equator, you can actually end global warming. And while I was doing that, I also realized that as a VC, you know, I kept seeing people who come to me with great ideas, and they're really good people, but they have no programmers, they have no engineers. And so I have to tell them, no, because their business is not going to work. It's like opening a restaurant with all the finest things, and then outsourcing the food to McDonald's. It's not going to work. And so I said, why is it that kids aren't learning to code? And this was six years ago, and so with another co-founder, James Welton, an 18-year-old, he had started a computer club in his school, and we scaled that out. We created this thing called Coder Dojo. It's in 1,500 locations in 78 countries. There are some here in Helsinki. There's some in Stockholm. They're all over the world. And it's where kids go every week for physical meetups, and they take years at really getting good at coding, because it's a language skill. And then also I'm a general partner at SOSV. And I run a thing called Rebel Bio, where we launch biotech startups and accelerate them. And you saw on this stage earlier, Ryan and Peramel, perfect day. They were in our first cohort four years ago. So here is a huge opportunity to just change the world with biology, and that's happening right now, which is cool. Cool. Well, I'd love to dive into all three of those things, and we will if we have time, but I actually... It's such a rare opportunity at a tech conference to talk about something other than tech and money, and it's super important. So, you know, what is it about happiness that you think makes it so central? Obviously we all like to be happy, but you see it as more than just a nice to have. It's a necessity. Oh, absolutely. Happiness is super correlated with productivity. It's just a fact. You know, look at... There are studies after studies out there that show a direct correlation between not just employee happiness, but founder happiness and productivity. And there are some very subtle things that people don't get. Like, I know that somebody was talking about fear, being an enormous driver of productivity, and that's true, right? I'm not saying don't be afraid. I'm just saying that that's just one part of the mix. What people don't talk about is the danger where fear turns into despair, right? And unfortunately, despair is the killer. Despair is nothing... There's no productivity in despair, and I have seen, unfortunately, despair occur in startup founders, and I've felt it myself. You know, I have been there in the failed startup. Like, I've done a couple of unicorns, which were great, but the hard run was where I blew, you know, a couple of million of my own money and other investor's money on a startup that didn't work. And were you happy at that point, or...? And here's the thing. I got to see that you can be not necessarily super happy, but not despairing. You know, happiness has degrees and levels. There is a positive track. So one level up from fear, you know, is determination. You can find a way to be determined. You can find a way to be honest. You can find a way to be vulnerable. One level down is shame. A level below that is despair. It's very hard to convert those solid, painful emotions into something powerful, but there's a way. So how do you start the day? What's your mindset? You know, what is it about the way that you approach things that you feel leads to happiness versus what most people are doing or what you did earlier in your life? Earlier in my life, sure. So we all fail this test, right? You know, people have argued with this with me, but most people, you got to know this. Having stuff and doing stuff doesn't make you happy, right? They're not well correlated, you know. And then a lot of people think that they choose a lot of what they have and what they do. It can be taken away from you instantly, but the one thing you can choose is how you be about stuff. So when I wake up in the morning, the first thing I'm going to be feeling like is, oh, my God, it's morning. And then I've got a choice. I can choose in that moment to be a certain way about it. Like I could turn around to my wife and say, honey, you know, this is horrible. I could be a complainer, more or less happiness in the world if I do that, obviously less. Or I can get up and I can reaffirm to myself what am I here to do? Now, a long time ago, I designed a future where I committed myself to a world that works for all living things. That is a big, scary challenge, right? But when I remind myself of that in the morning, what am I committed to? Well, I'm committed to my family. I'm committed to being a great dad. I'm committed to being an empowering person. And I'm committed to being there for a world that works for all living things. As soon as I start to choose that way to be, all the nasty stuff starts to go away. That is empowerment. And it's a choice. It's a choice we can all make. And do you feel like you're doing this 24-7 or there's real challenges for you? How do you deal with it when you're not in that place? Oh, absolutely. I mean, we're all human, right? So our emotions come and go unbidden. You know, I was having a conversation. Somebody says something. It reminds me of something terrible. You know, you feel that kick in the gut. And you're like, oh, God. The quicker you can remind yourself to choose how to be around that, the faster you get out of it. You know, euphoria is not a great way to be. You know, happy all the time, that's bullshit. That's why affirmations don't work. You know, you walk into the bathroom and you look in the mirror and you've got a three-alarm hangover. And you start affirming that you're great. Even you know it's bullshit. So that doesn't work. But if you can choose to take the lower emotion and actually convert it into a way of being, like I'm unstoppable or I'm unbreakable, then you can start to actually feel the way through. You know, when you get that kick in the guts, you can choose to be authentic. You can say, oh, wow, I just felt really bad. You know, you just got this terrible memory of something horrible. You know, and be honest and share. You know, there's this thing that happened. And I mean, I know it happened in a conversation with you. And I shared, right? The terrible reminder of someone killing themselves. You know, but then by being authentic, it lifts. You know, there's always a path out, is the thing that I'm talking about. Not a steady state of euphoria. That's, you know, chemically induced maybe. Even those wear off. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And the downs are really bad. But we're trying to fix that with biology. There's a whole debate about whether that's good or not. Interesting. You know, when I was talking to somebody ahead of our chat and I said the topic, they were like, oh, wow. You know, privileged person, you know, they can choose to be happy. Like if you're living paycheck to paycheck or starving or can't feed your family, it's just not realistic. And you've talked about it as something you can always choose to do. How do you reconcile that, you know, that position that it's easy to do in your position and it's hard for others? Okay, well, two things. Evidence one, I discovered this philosophy when I was poor in debt, had my first child on the way and really, I was in a dead-end job, right? My first inspiration to become an entrepreneur and quit that dead-end job came from working with The Hunger Project, where the leader, who was the country director of India, God Resta, at the time, brought to Melbourne a whole lot of Indian village women that they'd been working with and empowering. These women had never seen electricity and they stood up on a stage and they promised they made pledges about how they were going to transform their village. That was incredibly moving. And to be around that, even though I couldn't afford to give any money, I made a pledge to that because the leader asked me a question. She said, who could you become if you were able to make a pledge and fulfill on it without any suffering? And until that moment, I thought, well, you've got to kind of suffer heavily through life before you can do something like that. And she said, no. Determine it, make it happen, make the pledge, and then, when it happens, deliver the cash. I quit my job the next day. The other thing is, I've worked in some of the poorest places in the world, side by side, and the amount of joy and happiness I see in people who are in incredibly dreadful circumstances. And yet, somehow, in those incredible circumstances, they find a way to be joyful. Why should we say you can't do that? You know, that's kind of weird, isn't it? Okay, your life is really shitty. Oh, well, you should have no joy in there either. Bullshit! That's where you should have the most joy. You know, we should help people bring the most joy to that because then, they can start to see a way to bring their circumstances up. The choice of being away in that circumstance that is powerful and, therefore, somewhat happy or enormously happy, that's true empowerment. That's a huge part of the human condition. So, yeah, it's not about, okay, I'm already rich and now I'm happy. Actually, you know, there's another thing. I know a lot of miserable, rich bastards. Well, I was going to say, I'm sure the flip side is the case, too. I'm sure you're not necessarily surrounded by happy people, at least in the situations you don't choose. Yeah, you know what? I try and choose the circumstances where there are more happy people than not. And I certainly try and share this so that others can choose to be ways that lead to more happiness. Because remember, too, happiness is emotion. It comes and goes unbidden. You can't control your happiness. You can't actually choose to be happy. But you can choose to be ways that are highly correlated with positive emotions coming up. And that's good for everyone. You know, if we choose to be generous and kind, there's more happiness in the world. Full stop. So, for people in the audience that are kind of like, yeah, I hear it, it's a bunch of happy talk, what are some practical things? What are some things that pretty much anyone can do to just take that first step to shift their mindset a little bit? Okay, the most important thing, the thing why it's difficult is we think that there's nothing we can do about our emotions because they come unbidden. And the trick is to find the emotionally resonant way to be with what you're feeling. So I was walking down this stage and I got to tell you, you know, I'm a deep nerd and so I suffer from stage fright. It doesn't look right now, right? But I do. I get very nervous before I speak in public. But you know what? The physical sensation of nervousness is identical to the physical sensation of being excited. And so halfway down there, I go, I'm in purple shoes. They match my purple chop. I choose to be excited. It feels the same as being nervous. But boy, it's easier to talk to you guys when I'm feeling excited, right? That's a choice of being. And it's a simple one anyone can make. The most important one, I think, that people should look at is whenever they start to feel sad and depressed, you know, or particularly guilt and shame, instead of that feeling of guilt and shame leaving it there or trying to push it away, accept it and then choose to be vulnerable. The one thing that I can ask anyone who's feeling depressed or downed or shamed or guilty, choose to be vulnerable and share what you're feeling with other people, right? And even if they spit in you or they don't like you, keep sharing until you find one who has compassion. And on the other hand, choose to be compassionate, guys. Someone comes to you and they're ashamed of something. Be honored that they come to you. And instead of choosing to be uncomfortable about it, which we all do, choose to be compassionate. Choose to say a kind word. It's not hard to do that. Being compassionate, being kind are easy choices when someone's coming to you, you know, with shame or guilt or sorrow. Just that little difference makes all the difference in the world. So I'm generally view things from my cup half full kind of person. I try and find the good in new experiences and excitement. I must say, though, I've struggled mightily since around early November last year. I don't know, something happened around that time. And whereas I'm able to do what you're talking about in my personal day-to-day interactions, I do find myself with a lot of angst over things that aren't in my control. You know, I'm not in control of what certain people do on Twitter, which countries they threaten. But it makes the prospect of, you know, nuclear war more likely. How do you deal with the things about which you don't have control that still make you anxious and nervous? Okay, here's the big secret, right? You only have control over one thing really reliably. You know, people think that they can they control what they do rubbish. 99% of the people in here have at least five things on their to-do list that are important that aren't done, right? Only five, I'm jealous. Yeah, exactly, right? What you can choose always is how you be about it. Now, you know, anyone who sees my Twitter feed will see that I have not made a lot of comment on Twitter about that guy, right? That's because I'm choosing to be non-combative. I'm choosing to be kind. You know, the solution to these problems is hugely about being kind. You know, there's a Finnish professor going around North Korean universities, you know, tutoring young North Koreans in entrepreneurship. I can promise you that he's doing more to make the world a better place than any other Twitter that I've met in the space. Choose to be kind in that area. Choose to be resolute. I love what Al Gore said, you know, because like the Paris Climate Accords, I put a lot of effort into getting trees into that. And when the US didn't sign, I was like, that was a moment of despair for me. I was like eight years of solid effort, gone. And then, you know, I sort of say, well, hang on, maybe others will step up. And they chose to be courageous. The cities in the US, when they said we got this, that's choosing to be courageous in the face of that. It's a better choice. Convert your despair into courage. It's easier. Well, I'd love to keep talking. Unfortunately, we're out of time, but I hope everyone got something out of it. And thank you so much, Bill. And thank you for being great. Thanks.