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Eric Adamson

Co-founder and CEO at Tortuga AgTech

Eric Adamson is a visionary entrepreneur on a mission to enhance the delicate balance between humanity and the environment. As the Co-founder and CEO of Tortuga AgTech, he leads a company dedicated to revolutionizing agriculture for a healthier society and a sustainable planet. With a background in management consulting for prestigious Fortune 500 firms and governmental entities in various industries, including Agriculture, Petrochemicals, Electric Power, Mining & Materials, and Oil & Gas, Eric brings a wealth of experience and expertise to his current role.

Highlights

Nov 1 · linkedin

OK, LinkedIn, I'll bite on your "people are talking about..." notification. The NYT's newest McKinsey feature focuses on the Firm's work with the world's largest energy companies. https://lnkd.in/dRbeVz6M

I had a front row seat to this kind of work. McKinsey's Oil & Gas work flowed through the Houston office, where many highly impressive people made successful careers advising senior executives at the world's largest energy companies. We did excellent work.

I joined McKinsey Houston to understand how the system might be transformed. I left knowing that it is a system that cannot and will not be transformed from the inside.

The fundamental thesis of McKinsey is that the biggest "impact" (change) will be made through advising the largest and most powerful companies in the world (who are also the ones who can afford the fees). Unfortunately, that impact is only measurable as accumulation of shareholder value, and even then is debatable or flimsily estimated.

Even the best outputs from McKinsey on climate (policy papers typically led by Dickon Pinner, who has been an excellent champion of climate change and tech over the decades) are still "talking" rather than "doing," and most consultants (my past self included) never get a chance to work on these kinds of studies.

If you care about these issues of climate and environment, don't fall into the trap of thinking you can create change from the inside. The world's largest oil & gas companies don't need your effort and problem solving, and the companies and technologies trying to change the status quo really do.

To fight on the right side of the fight, you will have to make personal sacrifices (lower salary, less job security), but you simply have to leave the core of the machine in order to shift it or to build a different system outside of it. The same is likely true of any major societal system where McKinsey finds itself advising the leadership - healthcare, education, and even agriculture where I work.

Energy is the bottleneck of society - it will always be at the heart of our human systems. But you don't have to help the status quo - and if you're at McKinsey or anywhere else in the middle of the system, maintaining the status quo is likely all you're doing.

Eric Adamson
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Location

Denver, Colorado, United States