Energy Thinks with Tisha Schuller

This solo pod continues the series on the Arc of Outrage, the predictable and unavoidable opposition cycle that data centers are facing.What you’ll get in this solo episode of Energy ThinksThe energy industry has been here before.I warned data center proponents to stop calling the opposition they are facing “misinformation.” The problem is that data centers are now on the Arc of Outrage. I watched this happen during the fracking wars, when isolated local concerns became organized opposition and organized opposition became a national movement. The specifics change, but the pattern is familiar. The Arc for data centers is particularly steep because they are evoking a basket of concerns, all at once: energy affordability, grid reliability, AI writ large, local control, and the fear that too much is being built too fast.This episode is not about avoiding the Arc. You cannot. It is about understanding where you are on it, what is coming next, and how to move through it with more skill.In this solo episode, you’ll hear me think through:* What the Arc of Outrage looks like: the Before Times, the phases, and what comes after* Why the Arc cannot be avoided, even by good companies with good projects* Why your job is to flatten the Arc (not avoid it)* Why the winners will be the companies that get real earlyHere’s a taste of what you’ll get:On skipping the Arc: “You cannot avoid it. There is no skirting the arc of outrage. There is no off-ramp. This is not a lovely little freeway. This is the Disney ride you didn’t mean to get on that you cannot get off until it’s over.”On whom data center developers need on their team: “If you can find a half dozen people who lived through the fracking wars, particularly in a blue jurisdiction, you are going to have a really good ally to help you get through this.”On the actual job in front of companies: “Your job is to soften and shorten the Arc for your project and your company.”On what leaders should expect: “Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. But if you know that, you can manage it. Set realistic expectations: with your leadership, with your investors, with your stakeholders, with your customers.”Bonus content for this episodeMy latest book: The Myth and The MomentEarlier installments in this series: The Arc of Outrage Has Come for Data Centers and Stop Calling It Data Center Misinformation.Two recent podcasts: “What You Don’t Know About Community Buy-In” with Jonathan Smith and “Jim Kerr on Your Generational Opportunity.”Watch on YouTube or listen on SubstackWhat to do next in The MomentPreparing for the Arc of Outrage? Reach out to request a briefing. Can you please take a moment to give Energy Thinks a five-star rating wherever you listen to your podcasts? If this was this forwarded to you, please subscribe here.Hit the heart button below—it helps others find our work!Keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle,Tisha Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

Planning your 2026 leadership event? Order The Myth and The Moment for your team. (Reach out for bulk pricing.)What you’ll get in this solo episode of Energy ThinksThe Myth of how climate progress is “supposed” to happen is visibly unraveling in both politics and the media. But it isn’t dead yet! We’re probably not even past “peak climate-crazy.” How we work and engage now—in The Moment—will shape everything that follows. And if you’re not vigilantly strategic, you risk feeding the zombie—maybe without even knowing it.In this solo episode, you’ll hear me think through:* The seemingly convincing evidence suggesting that The Myth and “peak climate-crazy” are behind us* Why that evidence makes me nervous—really, really nervous* The intentional leadership—how we as oil and gas leaders talk about climate and decarbonization, and how we act—that will keep The Myth from reanimating and derailing real progressHere’s a taste of what you’ll get, in two quotes:“This idea that we don’t have to talk about climate and decarbonization anymore is silly. Entire jurisdictions still treat it as a dominant priority—even as they hit the brick wall of affordability and reliability.”“We have an unprecedented generational opportunity to build the next-generation energy system. Let’s do it in a way that anticipates, engages, and respects the wide and wild world of our stakeholders.”Listen in to hear this crucial episode of Energy Thinks—it will help define your 2026 strategy.Bonus content for this episodeMy latest book, The Myth and The Moment.My series on working with the Problem Solvers: Part 1, “The World According to the Problem Solvers,” Part 2, “Ding Dong The Myth Is Dead,” Part 3, “Three Steps to Calling It Right,” and Part 4, “How Building Becomes the New Climate Leadership”.Article on Tom Steyer’s run for California governor.Watch the episode on YouTube or listen to the podcast on Substack.What to do next in The Moment* We can help your busy team work more strategically. Email us to secure a contract spot for Q2 2026.* Please take a moment to give Energy Thinks a five-star rating wherever you listen to your podcasts.* Was this email forwarded to you? Please subscribe here.* Feeling that holiday spirit? Hit that heart button below.Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season!To effective inoculation,Tisha Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

Happy Thanksgiving! To celebrate the holiday, I’m rerunning the year’s most popular episodes.What you’ll get in this episode of Energy ThinksI’m joined by longtime friend and colleague Roger Pielke Jr., senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute—and one of the most fearless, objective, and valuable analysts of the climate-and-energy space.Roger’s work lands at the messy intersection of science, policy, and public discourse—the crucial place where oil and gas leaders find themselves navigating The Moment.Why Roger?Roger brings a unique blend of academic rigor and clear-eyed political insight to the fraught conversations around energy and climate. Together on this episode, we dive into how political division is dismantling traditional climate narratives—and why that’s good news. Roger shares eye-opening findings from a national poll that reveal a critical insight: Most Americans aren’t buying into climate-apocalypse scenarios. Instead, they’re seeking energy solutions that are reliable, affordable, and realistic.The climate debate we’ve known for decades—polarized, partisan, predictable—is changing. As Roger explains, the simplistic framing of climate apocalypse versus climate denial no longer holds water, and that creates opportunity for pragmatic energy solutions. Roger’s insights are crucial for leaders like you who are juggling conflicting pressures from your stakeholders.Bonus content!* Subscribe to The Honest Broker on Substack for Roger’s thoughtful insights on science, policy, and public dialogue.* Read Roger’s survey analysis, co-authored with Ruy Teixeira: “The Clean Energy Transition’s Voter Problem.”* Watch the episode on YouTube or listen on Substack for our exploration of The Myth and The Moment.What to do next in The Moment* Got this email from a colleague? Subscribe here.* Ready to face The Moment head on? Hit that heart button below.Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving!Tisha Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

What you’ll get in this episode of Energy ThinksHow can oil and gas leaders like you meet the Problem Solvers where they are? Listen to my new conversation with Kevin Krausert, CEO and co-founder at Avatar Innovations, an energy technology venture studio operating in both Calgary and Houston. (Disclosure: I sit on the advisory board for Avatar, because I share Kevin’s vision of the industry as central to meeting the generational opportunity of The Moment.)In this episode you’ll hear about* The opportunity our industry has during the current “five-year hangover” following cleantech euphoria* Kevin’s three-pillar vision of an energy future led by you* The hazards of over-relying on a purely disruptive energy futureWhy Kevin?Kevin leads Avatar Innovations, at the sweet spot of energy opportunity: the center of a Venn diagram of innovation, investment, and infrastructure.Some of Kevin’s insights* On what cleantech euphoria got wrong: “Five years later, we’ve woken up and realized that the Silicon Valley obsession with disruption is not going to work in energy. You can’t disrupt your way to a new energy future. You can only build it.”* On the secret sauce of Avatar’s oil-and-gas-centric innovation: “You have to do technology development and leadership development at the same time. … If you do technology development without leadership development, culture will eat technology for breakfast every day of the week.”* On Canada’s Avatar for The Moment: “There’s probably no one person that amalgamates this moment than Mark Carney, our new prime minister. He was really the high priest of the net-zero finance movement, but now he’s prime minister of the world’s third largest oil exporter. [He leads] at a time when the easiest and fastest way to turn around Canada’s economy and productivity challenges is going to be through doubling down on oil and gas.”Bonus content!Applications for the Avatar 2026 program are now open for the cohort starting in February 2026. Check out the program and consider encouraging two high-potential leaders in your organization to apply.Kevin’s podcast interview on The Climate Cycle: “Rewiring Risk and Return in Climate Tech with Kevin Krausert, Avatar Innovations”My Both of These Things Are True newsletters “California’s Refinery Reckoning” and “The 3 Ts of Energy Realism.”Watch on YouTube or listen on Substack to hear Kevin and me discuss The Myth and The Moment.Order The Myth and The Moment: From Polarization to Progress in the New Energy Landscape.What to do next in The Moment* Email us to help your team build a 12-month action plan to lead The Moment. We have one project opening in February.* If this email was forwarded to you, subscribe here.* Did you skip the five-year hangover? Tap the heart button below! It helps others find my work.Play ball! Tisha Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

My new book, The Myth and The Moment, is here! Order your copy today.What you’ll get in this (solo) episode of Energy ThinksIn this solo pod, I reflect on the Abundance conference I attended in D.C. last month. Is there an abundance agenda that oil and gas employees, communities, leaders, and supporters could get behind? In other words, is there an abundance for the rest of us, in which cost of living eclipses everything else?At the conference, speakers added “clean” before every mention of “energy” as if it were a tic, conveying a reflexive, tribal desire to say “We want to build, but only the stuff that our tribe approves of.” Sure, cleaner energy is undoubtedly our shared goal—but it has to be affordable and reliable as well.Listen to hear me unpack the qualities our industry—and the rest of the world—could get behind in an abundance movement:* Nonpartisan: Target outcomes, not tribes.* High-energy: Energy makes other abundance priorities possible and affordable.* Pro-building: Not just ADUs—support pipelines, too.* Clear trade-offs: It’s more than permits; it’s understanding and making way for trade-offs.Above all—and most radically—abundance needs to shed any good-guys-versus-bad-guys framing. Transforming policy conversations will require a real shuffling of coalitions—not just convenient “labor” additions, but real labor additions, like the employees of oil and gas companies and the citizens of their supporting communities.My recommendation: Let’s take the first step and define what we would like to see out of the abundance movement. It will have to grow beyond its center-left roots—and I’m guardedly optimistic that it will.Mentioned in this episodeVarieties of Abundance by Steven Teles, Niskanen CenterWatch the episode on YouTube or listen to the podcast on Substack.What to do next in The Moment* Email us to set up a briefing on how your company can understand The Myth and The Moment—and activate on it.* Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.* Love energy? Love your enemies? Tap that heart for either or both.Energy without enemies cannot exist unless we make the first moves. Here’s what that looks like in practice: disciplined transparency, posture that calms the room, and a bias toward projects that measurably improve affordability, reliability, and cleaner outcomes. It’s how we foster trust—and permission to build—at the same time.Build more—and argue less,Tisha Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

What you’ll get in this mini pod Energy ThinksScott Hallam, president & CEO of Boardwalk Pipelines, joins me to offer his takes on my new book, The Myth and The Moment, and to map how leaders can drive what comes next. You’ll hear:* Why “the Myth” won’t disappear—but will evolve* How leaders can engage with true believers in the Myth* How to build and test a durable strategy for your business that stands up under changing political regimesWhy Scott?Scott has front-line experience making the case for the triple mandate for energy leadership: decarbonization + reliability + affordability—all anchored in technology and innovation. He challenges us to think big (not “small ball”) to drive what comes after The Myth: America’s energy advantage and best-in-class infrastructure.Some of Scott’s insightsOn the Myth’s staying power (and how to meet it): “I think that The Myth will continue to evolve, and I just think there’s too much investment emotionally and intellectually for The Myth to ever really go away… as those of us that are in the moment, we have to find ways to come alongside those that really believe in the promises of clean energy.”On building a strategy that survives political whiplash: “We have to consistently test our strategies and our thinking… finding the right alliances… with those that may not be like-minded, but there’s common ground.”On how we create what happens next in The Moment: “We want to think big. We want to make sure that everything we’re looking at and considering is because we’re thinking large scale, big, big opportunities.”What to do next in The Moment* Watch on YouTube or listen here.* Order The Myth and The Moment for your team’s year end meeting! Contact us for a bulk order.* If you’re a paid subscriber, thanks! If not, you can support my work by upgrading to paid.* Hit that heart button in a BIG way to help others find my work!Home run!Tisha Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

In this bonus solo episode, Tisha Schuller unpacks and connects three threads:* The kind of endurance it takes to keep moving when every instinct says stop,* A culture-war symbol that may become a bridge, and* The surprising leadership muscle that unlocks momentum after you’ve run out of strategies.Mentioned in the episode:The Myth and The Moment is now available.“Ruben Gallego's 'Big Ass Truck' Pitch to Fellow Democrats”, Newsweek by Jesus Mesa“Ford leaders sharpen their focus on how to beat the Chinese to lead in global markets”, Detroit Free Press by Jamie L. LaReau“Beatitude”, VocabularyWatch the episode on YouTube or listen to the podcast on Substack to hear me discuss The Myth and The Moment.Subscribe here for Tisha’s weekly Both of These Things Are True email newsletter.Follow all things Adamantine Energy at www.energythinks.com.Thanks to Kayla Chieves who makes the Energy Thinks podcast possible.[Episode recorded on August 24, 2025] Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe