It is the holiday season for many of us. There is always a lot of hustle and bustle. But this is also a good time to check in… with friends, family, and most importantly yourself.

I have been blessed in so many ways this year. I took a big step towards something that I had wanted to do for too long. I started my own business, Luminary Energy. I couldn’t have done it without the help and support of family, good friends, and many colleagues I trust and admire.

My company is off to a tremendous start. I have clients and leads that one close friend has continued to tell me others would dream of. That friend is right, and I am grateful for my early success.

As I reflect on the year, one thing has become obvious…

Whether in life or business, you must let go of pride, greed, hate… or thinking you know right from wrong. You should try and forget what most of us grew up with… Us versus Them.

We have in many ways been taught to compare ourselves to others. In school with standardized tests or athletics and screaming parents wanting their child to be the best rather than do their best. This behavior is learned by observation early in our lives. And unfortunately, it can carry into our adult lives impacting our careers and how we conduct business.

I work in the energy sector specifically, and my expertise is in electricity. I am fortunate to work with some of the brightest minds in this space… with many amazing people. These people share their knowledge, insights, and observations. These people also are constantly listening and learning.

They treat every discussion as an opportunity to share and learn. And frankly, we need more of that… in life, work, and society.

We have a challenge, a crisis, to support our society with clean air and water, healthy food, and safe housing. In my opinion, to be successful means access to reliable, affordable, and clean electricity.

But the order of these attributes matters…

Electricity must be reliable. I would argue that it must be more reliable than it is today if we are going to depend on it for heat, cooling, cooking, and transportation. This attribute is job one for many and should be job one for all.

Electricity must be affordable. Many active energy policies require new sources of electricity, new infrastructure to deliver the electricity, and new ways of using that electricity in our homes and businesses. Some of these policies also require that existing sources of electricity be shuttered.

Electricity should be clean and must be on a path to get cleaner. I agree that we must transition to cleaner sources of electricity. I would argue that clean does not equal renewable. I would also argue that our policies do not clearly define success. The fact that it is unclear what zero emissions means to many is a case in point and New York has a proceeding looking for input on this very issue.

This transition of electricity supply requiring new infrastructure will not be free and, in my opinion, will not create lower costs for consumers. I do believe, however, that the transition is necessary.

There are many things we can be doing to support a just transition to cleaner electricity.

• We should be willing to replace or repower fossil power plants with new high-efficiency natural gas power plants;

• We should be willing to support the infrastructure upgrades to supply these plants with reliable natural gas;

• We should also continue to support the deployment of land-based and offshore wind, solar, and long-duration storage;

• We should continue to support the evolution of demand response and distributed energy resources programs to help consumers manage their electricity usage, and improve energy security and resiliency;

• We should continue to invest in upgrading the wires which are required to keep this machine, the power system, running smoothly; and

• We should continue to research new electricity opportunities such as using hydrogen as a fuel, fusion, geothermal, and other clean energy possibilities that haven’t been dreamt of yet.

To win… to be successful, we must forget Us versus Them.

We need all hands on deck to be successful. And most importantly you should treat every discussion as an opportunity to listen and learn.