By Michael Potts, RMI President and CEO
MOST CHANGES IN INDUSTRY AND SOCIETY ARE
incremental, focused on a single component or aspect that
might improve performance, but often fall short of changing
the fundamental design of a system. Incremental changes are
necessary and helpful, but they aren’t our specialty at RMI.
We look for opportunities to drive transformational change:
to shake up the very foundations of a system or process. For
example, we love to design high-performance buildings that
consume 50 to 80 percent less energy than typical structures.
These kinds of projects require a fundamental rethinking of
the way buildings are built.
In other sectors, we are also striving for breakthrough change:
trucks that are three-times more fuel efficient than current models,
cars that achieve 150 miles per gallon, large-scale industrial
processes that use 80 percent less energy, and electricity grids that
rely on renewable energy instead of coal and natural gas.
In the past few years, companies and organizations have
grown increasingly receptive to these kinds of forward-thinking
ideas. Skyrocketing fossil-fuel prices are only increasing the
sense of urgency. The public’s growing awareness, combined
with our own desire to dramatically increase our impact and
effectiveness, is motivating us to drive transformational change
in yet another arena: RMI itself.
Hopefully, you’ve noticed some of the changes that we’ve
already made. RMI’s increasingly transformed Web presence,
our successful RMI25 event, upcoming National Solutions
now are all signs of how we are changing the way we
communicate our work and innovation to the world.
This past fiscal year, our staff grew to more than 100
people. Philanthropy supporting our research and outreach
grew by 50 percent. RMI also attracted the attention and
partnership of pivotal industry leaders.
This growth, however, is only the first step toward changing
the nature of our work. As more for-profit practitioners enter
our fields, we will be shifting our efforts “upstream” toward
research and innovation. Rather than let market forces sort out
important questions, such as our reliance on the diminishing
supply of fossil fuels, we are actively seeking out answers to
guide industry and policy over the next several decades. This
internal transformation requires a deeper commitment to
philanthropy, which has been generously provided to us in
proportion to the mounting evidence of our impact.
To encourage a smooth and thoughtful transition to this new
model, I have asked our own team, our clients, our extensive
network of advisors and collaborators, and our dedicated board
of trustees, to help forge a new strategy for RMI. In this next
year, we are embarking on a fundamental quest to determine
our future direction in terms of scale, focus, and global reach.
These times at RMI are truly transformative. This work is
crucial, fascinating, and fulfilling—and we are delighted that
you have chosen to collaborate with us in striving to make our
world a secure, life-sustaining, and prosperous place.
