Radical Truth

Robert Rubinstein
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Investing
  • Updated Weekly

Radical Truth is a podcast produced by TBLI Group and hosted by Robert Rubinstein. TBLI is making the financial system work for all. Our podcast cover the wide range of ESG and Impact Investing topics. What it is? Why is it booming? Is it really helping? Is Impact regenerative in nature? How will climate change impact investments? There will be regular interviews with thought leaders, some known and some not known, but all brilliant and we will have engaging conversations with all of them. Let’s make the financial system work for all. This is Radical Truth. Visit https://tblicircle.com/

  1. 2d ago

    The $91 Million Math Problem: Why Finance Funds "Future Forests" While Real Ones Burn

    Why did a consortium of the world's most risk-averse institutions—including the World Bank Treasury, BNP Paribas, and Amazon—just pour $91 million into a forest that does not yet exist? In this episode, Robert exposes the bizarre, inverted logic of modern climate finance. We break down the strange math behind a massive cross-border deal funding 50,000 hectares of "future forest" in South Africa at a staggering $1,820 per hectare—all while existing, high-integrity ecosystems are left to burn because they don't fit the financial sector's securitisation models. Discover the structural flaw at the heart of the Restoration vs. Conservation debate. Wall Street and corporate giant offtake buyers have fallen in love with a photogenic future asset class while entirely ignoring the cheap, fast, and unglamorous work of protecting the standing forests we already have. This is an unfiltered look at the performative arithmetic driving today's green bond and carbon market landscape. The $91 Million Deal: A look inside the capital stack involving the World Bank Treasury, sovereign wealth, and corporate offtakes like Amazon. Future Forests vs. Existing Ecosystems: The dangerous financial incentive structures that value hypothetical future trees over standing, high-biodiversity primary forests. The Securitisation Trap: Why institutional finance is obsessed with funding risky, long-term restoration projects instead of deploying immediate capital to conservation. A Financial Reality Check: Deconstructing Amazon's own celebratory data to show the deep contradictions in "risk-averse" climate investing. #ClimateFinance #GreenBonds #CarbonMarkets #NatureBasedSolutions #ConservationFinance #WorldBank #Amazon #ESG #SustainableFinance #Greenwashing #RadicalTruth

    13 min

  2. 3d ago

    Grassroots Over Big Capital: Lessons from an Upset Election Victory

    How does a true political underdog come from absolute obscurity to win the election for Mayor of New York City, defying every expert who said it was impossible? In this reflective episode, recorded on a brilliant Indian Summer day along the canals of Amsterdam, Robert looks back at his roots as a Brooklyn kid to unpack the monumental upset victory of Zohran Mamdani. This isn’t just a conversation about politics; it’s an exploration of the heavy lifting, unglamorous street-level work, and sheer structural grid-shifting required to build real grassroots change in America today. Robert dissects a singular, haunting image: a young assemblyman standing on Fordham Road in the Bronx with a handwritten sign, ignored by passersby, putting in the invisible work that nobody celebrates but few are willing to do. Discover what this historic win says about the changing face of modern leadership, systemic resilience, and why the real work of transformation always begins long before the crowds finally show up. The Anatomy of an Upset: How Zohran Mamdani overcame institutional inertia and massive financial blockades to capture the soul of New York City. The Invisible Heavy Lifting: Why real systemic change is never built on flashy marketing or performative announcements, but on unglamorous, solo work in the trenches. A Brooklyn Kid's Perspective: Connecting the lessons of grassroots community building back to structural problems in global institutions and finance. The America We Are Becoming: What this victory signals about the shifting appetite for authentic, bold, and untraditional leadership. #ZohranMamdani #NYCMayor #UnderdogWin #GrassrootsMovement #NewYorkCity #SystemicChange #BrooklynRoots #PoliticalUpset #HeavyLifting #RadicalTruth

    18 min
  3. Arvind Narula: 3 Decades of Impact Investing in Organic Agriculture | TBLI

    4d ago

    Arvind Narula: 3 Decades of Impact Investing in Organic Agriculture | TBLI

    How do you lift the poorest farmers out of poverty while building a world-class business? 🌾 On the latest TBLI Radical Truth podcast, host Robert Rubinstein sits down with Arvind Narula, Chairman & Founder of the Urmatt Group. With 30+ years pioneering organic agriculture across Thailand, Argentina, and Laos, Arvind drops unfiltered wisdom on what it actually takes to scale purpose-driven businesses in frontier markets. 🌱 What you'll learn: Raising Capital: The brutal do’s and don'ts for social entrepreneurs. Team Building: Who to hire (and who to avoid) in emerging markets. Risk Management: Why you can't fully de-risk a project—and how to stay resilient. 🎙️ About the Podcast:TBLI Radical Truth cuts through the noise of mainstream finance. Hosted by Robert Rubinstein, it delivers unfiltered conversations and radical honesty from the changemakers repairing the global financial system through genuine impact investing. 👇 Listen & Subscribe:🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tbliconference🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3h3sUhuclxb2BETNEXY1mN?si=15980bb71561420b #ImpactInvesting #OrganicAgriculture #SocialEntrepreneur #FrontierMarkets #ESG #Sustainability #TBLIRadicalTruth

    1h 1m

  4. 5d ago

    Pledges vs. Capital Flows: Exposing the Structure of Extractive Finance

    Why, after decades of high-profile "impact" conferences and trillions in capital pledges, have the underlying mechanics of the financial system barely moved? In this episode, recorded in the run-up to the PEI Impact Investor Global Summit in London, Robert delivers a sharp, structural critique of why the financial system aggressively resists working for all stakeholders. Every year, asset owners, pension fund CIOs, and global elites gather in Davos, Monaco, and New York to sign stewardship pledges and print glossy sustainability reports—yet on Monday morning, the capital flows exactly where it always has. We don't have a failure of awareness; we are drowning in awareness. We have a failure of structure. Discover why the same extractive industries get funded while regenerative entrepreneurs get a polite "no," and learn what it will actually take to shift the real plumbing of global finance. This is the audiobook version of Robert's urgent call to action. The Conference Ritual: Why the annual cycle of inspiration at events like the PEI Impact Investor Global Summit results in business-as-usual capital allocation. Awareness vs. Structure: Moving past "purpose drives profit" slogans to look at the structural blockades keeping money trapped in extractive finance. The Monday Morning Reality: Why fossil-fuel pipelines get refinanced while high-integrity, regenerative solutions are left out in the cold. Fixing the Plumbing: What a real structural shift in the global financial architecture looks like. #PEIImpact #ImpactInvestor #FinancialSystem #RegenerativeFinance #SustainableFinance #CapitalFlows #ESG #ClimateFinance #SystemicChange #RadicalTruth

    15 min

  5. May 22

    Radical Truth: Shaking Up the Elite "Impact Mafia"

    Have the global financial elite invented an entirely new way to feel good about themselves while doing absolutely nothing to fix the system? In this episode, Robert exposes The Impact Mafia—the exclusive club of high-net-worth individuals and fund managers using the beautiful language of "impact investing" as a convenient smokescreen. We look past the $5,000 suits, the champagne galas, and the high-minded rhetoric to pull back the curtain on what is frequently just an accountability facade designed to protect capital while performing virtue. This episode is a direct adaptation from the upcoming book, Radical Truth. It’s an unfiltered, unapologetic look at how the financial sector replaced systemic change with performative metrics. If you are tired of the "Impact Theater" and want to talk about true non-extractive finance, this conversation is for you. The Impact Mafia Defined: Who they are, how they operate, and why the current system rewards virtue signaling over actual social and environmental outcomes. The Ultimate Smokescreen: How the beautiful terminology of sustainable finance is used to obscure business-as-usual wealth accumulation. Radical Truth: Moving past the elite comfort zone to spark a disruptive, honest conversation about where capital actually flows. #ImpactInvesting #TheImpactMafia #RadicalTruth #SustainableFinance #ESG #Greenwashing #ImpactTheater #CorporateEthics #WealthManagement #FinancialSystemicChange #NonExtractiveFinance

    45 min

  6. May 21

    Niceness is Killing the Planet: ESG, Greenwashing, and Radical Truth

    A high-powered banker walks away from a massive salary and a prestigious title. Why? Because he realized he was optimizing spreadsheets for people strip-mining the planet, and he wanted true, nature-based solutions. In this episode, Robert breaks down why the financial industry’s obsession with being "nice" is actually fueling the climate crisis. We dive into the critical difference between Conservation vs. Restoration, and why we continue to fund the wrong environmental solutions because the right ones can’t be securitised. Using a powerful distinction inspired by Simon Sinek and Trevor Noah, Robert explains why niceness is a performance, but kindness is a posture. Discover how conflict-avoidance, performative ESG metrics, and polite greenwashing in the wealth management space are deferring catastrophic costs to the next generation. It’s time to trade comfortable politeness for radical honesty. The Great Escape: Why top-tier financial professionals are leaving banking for true nature-based solutions and big purpose. Conservation vs. Restoration: Why we fall in love with photogenic restoration while ignoring fast, cheap, and unglamorous conservation. Kindness vs. Niceness: Why "nice" is conflict-avoidance dressed up as virtue, and why finance is the most aggressively nice (and quietly cruel) profession on Earth. The Frictionless Economy: How performative arithmetic and ESG reporting protect bonuses while stalling real climate action. #ESGInvesting #ClimateFinance #Greenwashing #NatureBasedSolutions #EnvironmentalConservation #ImpactInvesting #SustainableFinance #CorporateEthics #SimonSinek #KindnessVsNiceness #WealthManagement #ClimateChangeSolutions #RadicalTruth

    12 min
  7. How to Rebuild Banking for Justice & the Climate | Kat Taylor

    May 16

    How to Rebuild Banking for Justice & the Climate | Kat Taylor

    Where your money sleeps at night matters. Think about that for a second. The deposits sitting in your checking account tonight don't sleep. They get lent out. They fund somebody's pipeline, somebody's prison contract, somebody's payday loan operation — or they fund a small business in a neighborhood the financial system spent a century walking past. You didn't choose any of that. But you're financing it. What if the bank you use was actually working for you — for your community, for the climate, for the people the system has left behind? What if banking itself could be rebuilt as a force for social and environmental justice, instead of an engine of extraction? My guest today is doing exactly that. Kat Taylor has dedicated her life to restoring social justice and environmental well-being — and to proving, at scale, that another financial system is possible. She is the Co-Founder and Board Chair of Beneficial State Bank, a Community Development Financial Institution and certified B Corporation, built to bring beneficial banking to low-income communities in a way that is economically and environmentally sustainable — and to change the banking system itself, for good. Across social enterprises and philanthropic ventures, Kat works on deep systems change. Not patching the model. Redesigning it. I'm Robert Rubinstein, and this is Radical Truth — knowledge that inspires. Today we explore how to actually use the financial system as a tool for environmental and social justice, and what it takes to bend capital back toward humanity. Let's get into it.

    1h 6m
  8. The 1% Problem: Why Women Build Companies But Don't Own Them | Michaela Berglund, Feminvest

    May 12

    The 1% Problem: Why Women Build Companies But Don't Own Them | Michaela Berglund, Feminvest

    What if the real gender gap isn't pay — but ownership? Women in management and on boards exit the companies they help build with, on average, just 1% of the equity. In this episode of the Radical Truth Podcast, host Robert Rubinstein sits down with Michaela Berglund, CEO of Feminvest and Feminvest Ventures — the Stockholm-based fund and 50,000-strong community backing companies that are at least 50% women-owned. This isn't a diversity conversation. It's a capital allocation conversation — and one of the most under-priced commercial opportunities in finance right now. We cover: • The 1% equity problem — why women build companies but don't own them • The capital access gap and where it actually comes from • What LPs, family offices and institutional allocators keep missing • Feminvest's investment thesis and how the 50%+ women-owned filter changes deal flow • The Nordic model — what it gets right on gender and capital, and where it still falls short • How a 50,000-member investor community actually moves money • What needs to change for women-led capital to scale 🎧 About Radical Truth Radical Truth is the TBLI Group's interview series with the people rebuilding finance, capital and capitalism from the inside — sustainable investing, impact, ESG done seriously, and the truth no one says out loud. Hosted by Robert Rubinstein, founder of TBLI Group. 🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with the people changing how capital moves. 🌐 More from TBLI Group: https://www.tbligroup.com 👤 Connect with Michaela Berglund: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelaberglund/ 🌍 Feminvest: https://feminvest.se #Feminvest #WomenInFinance #ImpactInvesting #GenderLensInvesting #RadicalTruth #TBLI #SustainableFinance #VentureCapital #WomenInVC #NordicModel #FemaleFounders #EquityGap #MichaelaBerglund #RobertRubinstein

    1h 1m
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About

Radical Truth is a podcast produced by TBLI Group and hosted by Robert Rubinstein. TBLI is making the financial system work for all. Our podcast cover the wide range of ESG and Impact Investing topics. What it is? Why is it booming? Is it really helping? Is Impact regenerative in nature? How will climate change impact investments? There will be regular interviews with thought leaders, some known and some not known, but all brilliant and we will have engaging conversations with all of them. Let’s make the financial system work for all. This is Radical Truth. Visit https://tblicircle.com/

Information

  • Creator
    Robert Rubinstein
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    142
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Robert Rubinstein
  • Show Website
    Radical Truth

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