Leadership2050: Andrew White and Daniel Hooft
In this episode of Leadership2050 Daniel Hooft, CEO of bluewater farming company Kelp Blue talks about the life skills that prepared him to set up a nature-based solution to climate change, including tapping into indigenous wisdom to manage for the long-term and getting your team to embrace continual change.
Daniel Hooft was born in the Netherlands, raised in Dubai and Canada, and his journey to founding Kelp Blue has been anything but linear. This is key to his success as an entrepreneurial CEO, he tells Andrew.
Daniel started sculpting while travelling throughout the former USSR after leaving school. He studied engineering back in The Netherlands but kept up his work as a sculptor, and to expand his horizons and inspire his art he went into the oil drilling industry. He spent 20 years working for Shell before setting up Kelp Blue in 2020.
Kelp Blue is a large-scale, zero impact, offshore kelp farming enterprise, which he hopes will provide a for-profit solution to climate change and rewild our oceans.
I think it's important that as leaders, we create organisations where change is normal and embraced.
Kelp is a fast-growing giant seaweed that provides a habitat for marine life while sequestering large amounts of CO2 – possibly more than typical land forests. Kelp Blue sustainably harvests the kelp canopy for use in agriculture, food, pharmaceuticals and textiles.
In their conversation Daniel talks to Andrew about his leadership lessons, including tapping into indigenous wisdom to manage for the long-term, getting your team to embrace continual change, and why letting people go is key to creating a forward-facing company.
Leadership2050 is a podcast exploring the leadership we need to successfully transition to 2050. Who are the innovators setting the agenda for a more equal and sustainable future? In each episode Andrew talks to a visionary leader from the business community who is confronting the challenges humanity faces and finding solutions.
Andrew's research and teaching focuses on how leaders transcend 21st century challenges such as disruptive technology change and the climate crisis. Also, how they create cultures that are diverse, inclusive, resilient and high performing, alongside the ongoing challenge of delivering profitable growth. At Saïd Business School he directs the Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme, and works with leaders from industry and governments across the world.
