Sandy Gibson: Creating a Better Place

Planning for the end of your life is like pre-gratitude. Pre-gratitude in the sense that it's going to happen, it's going to hurt; how do you make something beautiful out of it? Sandy Gibson has the solution for making death into something beautiful by creating a better place than the traditional cemetery. Sandy Gibson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Better Place Forests, a sustainable alternative to cemeteries for families who choose cremation. When Sandy was a young boy, he lost his father to a stroke and his mother to cancer. After years of visiting their graves in a dreary Toronto cemetery, Sandy began to imagine what a better place to remember his parents might look like. In 2015, he founded Better Place Forests with his two best friends to give every family the chance to visit and remember the people they love in nature. Based in San Francisco, Better Place launched America’s first conservation memorial forests in 2017 and has raised more than $55M in venture capital. Better Place has been featured in the New York Times, on the Today Show, and by the World Economic Forum. Known for its strong culture, Comparably recognized Better Place Forests with national awards for Best Company Leadership, Best CEOs for Women, Best Company Culture, Best CEOs, and Best Companies for Women in 2019 and 2020. Sandy graduated from Princeton University in 2006 with an A.B. in History. A lifelong entrepreneur, he headed several companies and worked in finance and software before founding Better Place Forests. He previously served on the Board of Governors of Royal St. George’s College. He was born in Toronto, Canada. In this episode, Sandy shares the origin and mission behind Better Place. Listen to this episode and learn about: Sandy giving credit and thanks to his early employees and investors (4:20) The mission of Better Place (5:56) The what, how, and why of Better Place (10:42) Being intentional about life and death (21:01) The purpose and planning of a funeral (27:04) Needing meaning to survive (33:30) The difference between being grateful and glad (36:22) The 4 things to do to move on from a relationship (38:38) Living with meaning, intention, and appreciation (40:25) Finding purpose in unavoidable suffering (44:10) Giving gratitude to tough times (48:50) Gratitude as the protein after the workout (55:59) Links Connect with Sandy on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandygibsonca/ Better Place Forests - https://www.betterplaceforests.com Benefit finding research - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21642850.2014.889570