Changing the world through Green Hydrogen with Emily Olinger, Chief People Officer, and Rob Hanson, CEO of Monolith Materials | Season Six, Episode Twelve

Welcome to Season Six of Conversations in Cleantech! From inspiring stories and words of wisdom to future foresight and the tech from the bleeding edge of cleantech, during this season you can expect to learn all about how pioneering cleantech companies and the leaders at their helm are propelling us towards a cleaner, greener tomorrow. In this podcast episode co-hosted by Brightsmith Founder and Director, Jenny Gladman, we are thrilled to be joined by Emily Olinger, Chief People Officer, and Rob Hanson, CEO of Monolith Materials. Monolith is working on clean commercial-scale green hydrogen production through a process called methane pyrolysis. While Emily and Rob work for the same business and share the same mission, they have vastly different roles within Monolith and face very different challenges on a day-to-day basis. In this insightful conversation, we’ll explore several topics gaining insights from the perspectives of Emily and Rob - from Rob’s story that led him to found Monolith 10 years ago and Emily’s unconventional route into cleantech to the challenges of scaling production, building the right culture and ensuring long term viability of Monolith. 01:26 - Introduction to Emily and Rob 05:01 - Rob, what was the inspiration behind Monolith, and how did you get started? 09:45 - Emily, how has your journey at Monolith been so far? 11:57 - Emily, how do you go about finding mission-driven, purpose-driven individuals? 14:03 - Rob, how have you built such a great yet diverse executive team? 16:16 - Rob, how do you go about facing the challenges that come with scaling a startup quickly alongside the gigantic task of the operations of Monolith? And how do you keep yourself sane in the process?  19:00 - Rob, how has it been going from an early-stage startup to being extremely competitive in this space? 20:52 - Do you see the globe coming together to solve climate issues and trying to find the right solutions? If so, how do you see this working at Monolith? 26:12 - Emily, do you think your career will remain in this sector from now on? 27:11 - Are there any hot tips you've got for building a culture that aligns with what you're trying to achieve? 30:14 - What does the short and medium-term future for Monolith look like? How do you see the business needing to adapt to industry changes and demands?    Connect with your host Jenny Gladman on LinkedIn. Find your guests, Emily Olinger and Rob Hanson on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening to Conversations in Cleantech brought to you by Brightsmith. This is a Loaded Hype production.