Investor’s Business Daily | Morey Stettner
Jennifer Gremmert sought to convince a roomful of utility executives to approve subsidies for low-income consumers in 1996. It didn’t go well.
“It was shocking to me,” recalled Gremmert, now chief executive of Energy Outreach Colorado, a Denver-based nonprofit organization that provides households with affordable access to energy. “I cried when they said those things. I was young and emotional.”
As she left the meeting, she remembers thinking, “I just set us back three steps.”
The incident became a teachable moment for Gremmert. She came to accept that different people hold different views — and it’s important to speak their language and build a case that anticipates and addresses their concerns.
"Early on, I'd think, 'Wait, how can they criticize me. I'm doing all this great work,'" she said. "Now I realize, 'Oh, they just understand things differently and face their own issues.'"
