Nick Cooney is the founder and managing partner of Lever VC, an early stage fund focused on food and ag tech innovation. He also founded the Lever Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing a humane and sustainable food system, and authored “What We Don’t Do: Inaction in the Face of Suffering and the Drive to Do More.”
In this episode, Nick tackles the Malthusian Trap debate and explains why more people face starvation today in raw numbers than ever before, despite technological advances in food production. He argues that capitalism alone cannot solve global food insecurity because it represents a complex systems problem requiring economic development, better governance, and philanthropic intervention beyond market mechanisms.
Nick draws on evolutionary psychology to explain why people naturally care more about local issues than distant suffering, advocating for logic-based approaches to maximize impact. He emphasizes that organizational success breeds engagement more than empowerment structures, warning that flattened organizations often create accountability confusion and poor decision-making when people lack necessary expertise.
Nick stresses that leaders should focus on helping teams achieve clear, meaningful results rather than prioritizing feel-good management approaches that may undermine actual effectiveness.
Listen to this episode to explore how leaders can address complex global challenges while building more effective and engaged organizations.
You can find episode 478 on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts!
Watch this Episode on YouTube | Nick Cooney on The Consequences of Inaction
Key Takeaways
[02:17] Nick reveals something not found online that he practices what he preaches by donating a large portion of his annual income to support efforts that reduce suffering in the world.
[03:03] Nick explains the struggle with food distribution despite production advances noting that while technology has made food production more efficient there are more people living in extreme poverty and facing starvation today than hundreds of years ago due to raw population growth.
[06:45] Nick outlines why investment money sometimes goes to the wrong places explaining there is a fadish nature to venture capital where certain things get in fashion plus ag-tech innovation is often slower to be adopted than other technologies and faces regulatory challenges.
[10:26] Nick addresses why capitalism has not solved world hunger stating that while there has been good progress with the percentage of global population in extreme poverty trending down free markets alone are not going to be a full solution.
[14:38] Nick explains what drives people to care about issues noting that humans are descended from apes optimized for survival in pre-Agrarian life giving us strong instincts to care about those close to us but having far less concern for those out of sight.
[19:16] Nick clarifies his focus is not specifically on hunger but on animal suffering because he spends most of his time on animal suffering since it is an area where there is huge amounts of extreme suffering that does not have to be there.
[22:05] Nick discusses managing teams in impact-focused organizations explaining he has been fortunate that his entities were working in areas with clear positive impact so people were attracted to work there because of the positive impact they knew they were having.
[27:20] Nick agrees with concerns about flattening organizations stating that excessive flatness can lead to suboptimal results because people may not have the expertise to make smart decisions and it can make empowered people feel discouraged when they fail.
[30:49] Nick confirms the abundance-scarcity parallel in organizational design explaining that companies flush with cash get very fat with higher burn rates while cash-tight companies are forced into much smarter decision making by economic necessity.
[33:44] Nick explains the impact of inaction in corporate settings noting there is a huge bias towards focusing on what we are doing ethically rather than consequences of inaction but today the biggest harms are caused by failing to put time, money or mental energy into helping those facing extreme suffering.
[39:53] Nick reflects on duty of care laws stating it is interesting that legally we treat a child 10 feet away versus 200 feet away dramatically differently even though the outcome is exactly the same if both children suffer and die.
[45:28] Nick emphasizes the incredible power individuals actually have, explaining we can save hundreds of lives and spare hundreds of thousands of animals from suffering through really cost efficient charities which means we have a greater level of responsibility to use that power well.
[47:21] And remember…“The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity.” – George Bernard Shaw
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Quotable Quotes
“What did evolution optimize us for as a species? Survival." Share on X "I think it's really important to bring in logic, thoughtfulness, a quantitative analysis if we really want to do the most good that we can." Share on X "Any one of us, at least those of us living in the us, Europe, semi industrialized or industrialized countries, we have the ability to literally save the lives of hundreds, thousands of people, spare hundreds, thousands, tens of… Share on X "Free markets alone are not going to solve the problem. They can help it, but there's, or in some cases could hurt it as well." Share on X "Today the biggest harms that we cause to others are not caused by bad actions we take. They're caused by our inactions failing to put time, money, or as you were alluding to mental energy into helping those who are facing extreme… Share on X "We actually have this really incredible amount of power. We don't think that we do." Share on X "Occasionally when everyone is empowered to do something, like no one knows who's supposed to step up and do something, and you kind of get into this situation where you can be a victim of, let's say, the bystander effect." Share on X "There is a system for many things that does keep us in check about, keep us accountable for the things we do not do. And that would be in our legal system." Share on X "Part of the job of a leader, whether you're trying to run a business or a nonprofit or save the world, is you're trying to get people to care." Share on X "I don't know that we spend enough time on the design part and step back and go, well, how do we design an environment where we get the right behaviors psychologically." Share on X
This is the book mentioned in this episode
Resources Mentioned
- The Leadership Podcast | theleadershippodcast.com
- Sponsored by | www.darley.com
- Rafti Advisors. LLC | www.raftiadvisors.com
- Self-Reliant Leadership. LLC | selfreliantleadership.com
- Nick Cooney Website | https://nickcooney.com
- Nick Cooney X | @nickcooney2
- Nick Cooney Facebook | www.facebook.com/nick.cooney1
- Nick Cooney LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/in/nickcooney1
- Nick Cooney Instagram | @nick.cooney2/
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition by Robert B. Cialdini
- “An Essay on the Principle of Population” by Sir Thomas Malthus (1798)
I’d like to know if Nick believes in God. I didn’t get a sense that he does yet he has a call on his life to alleviate suffering and teach others how to care and love one another.
1 John 4:7-8 (podcast # 478) says “Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love.
Thank you for providing nine years of weekly podcasts. That in itself is an example of what we humans are capable of. I think Nick mentions this beyond performance mindset to what we are truly capable of. His content was excellent but he talked very fast so I’m grateful for the Key Takeaways. Good points raised on abundance and scarcity environments and mindsets. I have to confess I’ve been slow to listen to all 478. My bad.
Kudos to you both in Chicago and war ravaged Portland!! 😉
Is it possible to take the podcasts to another level, perhaps sit around a table and interview your guests? Similar to The Diary of A CEO.
Let me know if you want author/leader suggestions from my side of the pond.
Jan, just wondering if your wee dog, Seamus still sits at your feet whilst you record every week? If he does he knows the power of silence. 😅
I’m curious to know what drives you both to keep the show going and how have you maintained this level of discipline?
All is well in Ireland. Except I miss the BIG wilderness environs in the US. That’s what took me there originally. An all girls wilderness camp in Connecticut.