Driving Impact Without Authority: Lessons from California’s ZEV Story

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The Triangle’s Corner

California needed more EV chargers — fast.
The law said every city must “streamline permitting.”

But it didn’t clearly say how. Or who should lead.

That’s when Gia Brazil Vacin and her team at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) stepped in.

With no regulatory power or grant dollars, they did something more powerful:

They connected people, clarified rules, and built momentum.

They launched a “Permitting Olympics,” turning coordination into a visible, even playful, competition. When cities hesitated on legal grounds, they went to the Attorney General for clarity to speed up progress.

Gia’s team later shaped the ZEV Market Development Strategy, a “North Star” that aligned agencies, academia, and communities toward one shared goal: a zero-emission future.

From my time working at the State of California, I’ve seen firsthand how the ZEV Market Development Strategy helped connect and align our ambitious zero-emission goals.

Gia’s story is a masterclass in leading without authority, and designing backwards from impact.

🧭 One Big Idea

Leadership without authority is a superpower. When you build trust, connect the dots, and design backwards from outcomes.

❓ One Key Question

Where in your work is there a statutory or leadership gap, something everyone agrees should happen but no one’s clearly leading?

💡 One Practical Action

If a program or law lacks a clear lead, step in as the convener, or help defining a convener. Bring partners together to define roles, clarify what “success” means, and set a simple shared timeline.

👉 Want to learn more about us?

I am Nader Afzalan, Ph.D.

Founder of The Triangle and Director of the Sustainable Environmental Program at UC Berkeley.

At The Triangle we help measure the community impact of programs and design programs that deliver.

🌐 thetriangle.io
📩 nader@thetriangle.io

Watch the 2 minute story here.

My 7 takeaways from my conversation with Gia Brazil Vacin:

Backbone, Clarity, and Design-Backwards Execution

Step into the gap and own coordination. When no one’s named the lead, take it. Convene partners and define what “streamlined” actually means.
Make the work visible and fun.
Catalyze change through playful recognition to shift culture, not just process.
Balance flexibility with clarity.
Ambiguity slows action. Publish plain-language guidance and seek rulings to unlock progress.
Lead through trust, not titles. Use neutrality to your advantage. Being outside regulatory or funding roles can open doors others can’t.
Design backwards from outcomes. Start with the end goal and trace steps back to today. Use simple logic models to stay focused on impact.
Name a backbone entity.
Coalitions struggle without a program manager for the whole. Assign one to sustain cadence and alignment.
Upgrade metrics from activity to outcome.
“Held a meeting” isn’t a result. Measure what changed not what happened.

Want to learn more about Gia’s current role?

She is currently Deputy Director, Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Market Development at California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.

Missed last week’s story: Here is the 2 minute summary video

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