Heidi Solba
on Loving the World
“Be kind to yourself and serve your curiosity. Dream big, act bold and learn. Make the decision to carve your own path.”
Heidi Solba believes the right reason will create the right path. Just give yourself a chance to be part of your actions! As for organizations and their leaders, the only way forward is to praise the people for their results and, most importantly, nurture their self-esteem. The essence of sustainability is “more about values and understanding the earth and humanity and making the right decisions to serve it well.”
She also has a very at-hand solution for the ones who complain: ask yourself why you are still okay with hearing the same people saying the same clichés at the same conferences, while still expecting to make a difference. And not just think – but actually speak the truth and say how you really feel about it, deep from your heart!
Heidi Solba literally works with the World itself.
She is the Founder, President and Head of the Global Network of Let's Do It World. Their flagship campaign is World Cleanup Day, where Heidi Solba unites millions of volunteers to tackle the global waste problem.
No wonder she is such a human-driven human. Working with people from more than 191 countries with such different backgrounds, cultures and challenges makes you understand how and why we are all connected. No wonder she can see all of our humanity as one: national borders, differences and titles begin to blur. Still, her kindness and sensitivity are rooted back in her childhood. Her first #inspirators were Life and the World itself, pure Nature and her childhood freedom full of exploring the surroundings.
That’s such a beautiful way of seeing inspiration as your heart's calling.
You should definitely discover her pottery artworks and the African paintings inspired by her travels in Namibia's deserts or several countries in Africa, her heart’s second home. One of her hobbies is to collect and read the autobiographies of famous painters and artists and understand how they created such integrated lives and art. And the way she talks about Estonia - her home land – is purely magical.
The key to finding joy, in Heidi’s words?
Being yourself, the wilderness, storytelling, ancient wisdom, a good laugh, opening your heart: “The more I live, the more I know that joy and beauty lie in simplicity.”
Thank you, Heidi, for being a World Lover!
#INSPIRATORS QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: Heidi Solba
Company / Institution: Let’s Do It World and World Cleanup Day
Title: President and Head of Global Network
Website: www.worldcleanupday.org
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidi-solba-49643aa/
Country of origin: Estonia
Country you currently live in: Estonia
Your personal definition of Sustainability:
It is all about balance and the right decisions. We, humans, are creating the environment and the society - it means we have to choose and lead accordingly, with responsibility. It means simply being aware, serving with wisdom, and treating with care. I am certain that the essence of sustainability is more about values and understanding the earth and humanity and making the right decisions to serve it well.
Main business challenge you face:
How to hold up the motivation of humans and volunteers working for the environment, and keep them inspired at times of global, and also personal challenges.
How to keep the focus on things that might be invisible to the eye, and yet are the core of our whole existence, well-being, and future.
How to create cross-sectoral co-intelligence with followed empowered actions.
How to act more and talk show less.
How humankind can look more to the heart, talk and live from it.
Main driver that keeps you going:
A driver comes from the inside. It is related to heart energy, self-awareness, and being in connection to kind people and the surrounding environment you love. If you have all this, you have a sense of gratitude, and an ability to notice the beauty of the World, which will eventually lead to self-empowerment, and, in turn, to impact and success. I love to see the awakening of humans in their spirits and abilities, it is amazingly beautiful.
The trait you are most proud of in yourself:
I like to paraphrase and rather say that I am grateful. And it is merely the gratitude for living a life full of exploring, in an open-minded way, meeting the enormous amount of people in the World, and often working out of my comfort zone with inner self-development. Just accepting all those huge energies, and adapting myself accordingly is exciting.
I am also grateful that I choose to select activities aligning with my values, supported by inner strength and passion. It gives a great combination of persistence and goal orientation to get things done.
The trait you most value in others: Kindness, generosity, sincerity, open-mindedness, and trustworthiness.
Passions & little things that bring you joy: There are so many! Just open your heart, and you can feel a lot of joy. The more I live, the more I know that joy and beauty lie in simplicity. Being in nature in the pure wilderness, or in touch with pure energies from animals, children, and kind people. A good laugh, coziness, good company, quality, travel to see the wisdom of the indigenous roots, being yourself, storytelling.
You name it!
The #inspirators who determined you to take the sustainability path:
Life and the World itself, pure nature and my personal free childhood full of exploring the surroundings.
The wild nature of my beautiful homeland, Estonia.
My heart's calling and the alignment with my soul's journey.
A hint or starting point for companies or professionals that are taking the first steps in the sustainability journey:
Be the bold #inspirator within your organization! In reality, you are creating a better future - as you are creating better people within your organization because the way you are creating those people affects each day! Be aware of that!
Start with “why” as the right reason will create the right path. Look at the bigger picture not just from your organizational point of view, but also think about how your decisions will influence society in a broader way.
As a tactic, it could also be great to start with yourself or a small working group within the organization. Go step by step and celebrate each success with fun and good internal communication. That will create a healthy organizational culture and will support positive change. Praise the people for the results and offer the context to support organizational change. Nurture your people’s self-esteem and their values.
Most used and abused clichés in sustainability that bother you:
Usually, clichés will appear if people are not related to understanding the bigger picture, or not feeling enough, or not understanding enough. Clichés are spread from limited minds. Clichés are just taking place in our brains, consuming the energies and leaving a void of inaction. Rather, we have to ask ourselves why we are still okay with hearing the same people saying the same clichés at the same conferences, while still expecting to make an enormous difference.
Let’s not just think about that! Let’s just speak the truth from our hearts!
An honest piece of advice for young people who lose hope:
Just give yourself a chance to be part of your actions and feel your personal success by overcoming yourself.
Be kind to yourself and serve your curiosity.
Dream big, act bold and learn. Go on the journey of being active and gift yourself an opportunity to face your inner growth as an environmentalist, leader, and, eventually, as a human. Everything in this world is about decisions. Make the decision to carve your own path.
Books that had a major impact on you: So many!
Gerald Durrell and Astrid Lindgren, my favourite childhood authors! I still have a hobby to collect and read the autobiographies of famous painters and artists from the past few centuries. It has been fascinating to see their integrated lives and art. I do paint myself too as a hobby!
Currently, I read:
Elisabet Sahtouris - EarthDance, Living Systems in Evolution
David Wallace-Wells - The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming
I would always something by Simon Sinek and Eckhart Tolle!
Must-reads for any Sustainability professional:
I would rather read books about nature and life, evolution and ecology – the most prestige and well-working sustainability model in the whole world. We, humans, shall learn from that model and not go too complex.
Movies / Documentaries you would watch all over again:
Actually, I do not watch movies over again or too often in general. I try to avoid media if I feel it to be meaningless. But I do suggest watching documentaries!
The one on Netflix - “My Octopus Teacher”. It is so multidimensional and, yet, simple. So tender and powerful at the same time! So amazingly simple and so beautiful! My breath stopped so many times, the depth of the ocean captivated me!
And, surely, Our Business. Our Planet also on Netflix. I love to watch David Attenborough’s environmental documentaries about the Earth and Universe.
Blogs / Websites / Podcasts etc. you visit frequently:
Tällberg Foundation
The Economist
TED Talks
Noema
Music that makes you (and your heart) sing:
Hmm… I have to sing more! I find myself rather dancing or moving. I like ethnic music and all mixed versions of that, surely my biggest loves are Bossanova and good jazz. The best is, of course, nature’s voice. By the way, silence is becoming very pleasant too!
Places you travelled to that left a mark on you:
I have travelled a lot, but the most extraordinary places for me are related to the indigenous people and the wilderness. Being in Namibia's deserts, Amazon’s jungles, several countries in Africa (my second home for my heart and soul) and being in connection with nature are always my first choices. All places where is possible to hike, explore, connect, and breathe are close to my heart.
And Estonia, my home land! It is full of contradictions – the oldest language, indigenous roots, nature healing, art and traditions, and its mystical wilderness is breathtaking and mixed with high tech, startups, unicorns and many great minds.
Global Sustainability Voices you recommend us to follow:
Giles Hutchins
Gunter Pauli
Paul Hawken
Best places for business networking (online or offline): LinkedIn, Conferences.
Events we should attend: My intuition is saying, again, to stick to simplicity and go to the roots. Community events that bring people together and connect the collective wisdom, as well as shared responsibilities. I love being close to the indigenous peoples, you can just feel their ageless wisdom.
Associations, business clubs, tribes you belong to – and why:
I belong to the Let's Do It World movement. I've been serving it for 8 years now, working daily with managers and teams from 164 countries. Well - that's the World itself! Those eight years have changed my whole inner world, they made me humble and immensely grateful.
Working with such a large number of people with such different backgrounds, cultures and challenges makes you understand how we, as humans, are all connected. National borders, differences and titles begin to blur, and I see all of humanity as one, integrally connected to each other. It's beautiful.
Sustainable Development courses / trainings / certifications that really teach us how to have an impact:
It seems that all my time is going to the work I do, so I cannot recommend such a list. But our organization is working with Zero Waste movement and circular economy concepts. Zero Waste is basic knowledge on how to change the way we live on this planet, let’s start from that. Let’s share this knowledge everywhere, as I know that it all starts with awareness.
Let’s consume less, and, if we consume, let’s at least be smarter.
Reasons to feel optimistic about our future in 2030:
The awareness regarding the environmental questions is raising slowly, but it is still growing. More and more organizations and societies are taking part in the World Cleanup Day or any other actions needed to work on the wellbeing of our mutual home.
The growing understanding that any activity in the name of a good cause is raising humanity’s ability to collaborate for common purposes and to serve society.
Reasons to feel pessimistic about our future in 2030:
The decrease in the effectiveness and purposefulness of global international institutions and ethics.
The new forms of slavery in forms of “economic support”.
The lack of interest or even corruption and hypocrisy on environmental topics in many country governments.
The still ongoing export of the waste or second-hand goods as “humanitarian aid” from developed countries to developing countries.
The raising numbers of the consumption: it means more waste because of the lack of interest or the sleepwalking around.
The lack of global cooperation, still working in silos.
Regenerative Leadership qualities much needed today:
Ability to cooperate, ability to see the holistic picture and be a global leader.
Ability to serve.
Quote that inspires you:
“When you love people and have the desire to make a profound, positive impact upon the world, then you achieved the idea of living.”
(Sasha Azevedo)
Your own quote that will inspire us:
