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___If you’re stuck at home and thinking: what can I do to help my community? I hope today’s podcast will inspire you.
Last week, my colleagues at The BBC World Service invited me to join the show Business Matters and share news from Silicon Valley. Even though the valley is one of America’s COVID-19 hotspots, I was determined to report something positive.
For inspiration, I thought of Mr. Rogers, America’s beloved TV personality and puppeteer. He famously said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
During this unsettling time, when it’s easy to get scared and give in to despair, I find his advice reassuring. But I think he meant more than one thing. I think, if Mr. Rogers was alive today, he’d say:
Find people who are helping…
Find opportunities to help, and encourage others to help in their communities.
So I scoured the news for uplifting stories about people who’re helping in my community. A tweet from California Governor Gavin Newsom caught my eye. He praised the rapid response of a Silicon Valley company that’s stepping up to meet the urgent need for ventilators to keep COVID-19 patients alive. I immediately got in touch with Bloom Energy and interviewed its chief operating officer, Susan Brennan that afternoon. She told me she challenged her team by saying, “We’re going to solve this thing!” I wanted to know: was the solution the brainchild of one person, or a team effort? You’ll find out below.
My interview aired on the BBC World Service on April 2, 2020.
Listen to the BBC podcast: Silicon Valley story is at 42:50 and 47:20.
Or listen to the Fresh Dialogues podcast below or at Fresh Dialogues Podcasts.
FRESH DIALOGUES PODCAST
Here are highlights of my conversation with the BBC’s Jamie Robertson and Enda Curran, chief Asia economics correspondent at Bloomberg in Hong Kong. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
We began by discussing the record 10 million people in the United States who’re unemployed, many almost overnight.
Jamie Robertson: Alison, you must know people who’ve been made unemployed. Are they just lying down and taking it or are they getting up and doing something else, finding other opportunities?
Alison van Diggelen: In California, Governor Newsom has set up a job matching site. The state has partnered with private companies so you can go online and find jobs that fit your skills. Other people are doing coding classes, or online training, to become yoga teachers for example.
This week, I interviewed Susan Brennan of Bloom Energy and heard about an engineer called Joe Tavi. He hasn’t lost his job, but has found a new job. He was on the production team for fuel cell making, but is now on the “Tiger Team” to refurbish ventilators for the cause. People are really seeing opportunities within this devastation.
Robertson: We’re going to be hearing from him in the last piece on this program. You’ve got a fascinating report….
Over in Silicon Valley, a fuel cell company called Bloom Energy has stepped up to refurbish non-functioning ventilators for hospitals in record speed by repurposing their warehouses. Here’s the company’s COO, Susan Brennan.
Susan Brennan: Valves, pumps, airflow, batteries: If you look at the pieces, there’s so much commonality between a ventilator and a fuel cell. Completely different function and process, but at its base level: very common inputs.
I spoke to the head of health and human services on March 17th, St Patrick’s day. That’s when I built the Tiger Team. I said: this is a mission, either you’re in or you’re not in. But if you’re in, we’re going to solve this thing!
My engineer, Joe Tavi, went home on a Wednesday. He downloaded the manual, taught himself overnight, developed processes the next day, Thursday. On Friday we convinced the state that we were capable of doing this.
Everybody’s asking: what they can do right now? Where is that niche that you have, that you can go fill?
Continue listening to the BBC podcast at 48:36.
Susan asks a very good question: where’s the niche that you have, that you can go fill?
Find out more
Bloom Energy is refurbishing between 1000 and 2000 ventilators a week. To date, it has delivered over 1000 ventilators in California and Delaware. If you have ventilators in need of refurbishment, please contact Bloom Energy today. You could save a life.
It’s only one of hundreds of Silicon Valley companies that have stepped up to help fight the pandemic with donations, expertise and support.
If you’d like to share what you or your company is doing to help fight the pandemic or support people in your community, join the conversation at Facebook
More at Fresh Dialogues
To find out more about Bloom Energy’s fuel cell technology, watch my 2010 Fresh Dialogues interview with CEO, KR Sridhar
