Purpose 360 with Carol Cone

Social impact is moving out of standalone CSR departments and into the center of how organizations think about leadership, culture, talent, and innovation. Recorded live at the Engage for Good conference, this special episode of Purpose 360 brings listeners inside conversations shaping the present and future of the industry.

Engage for Good brings together leaders across philanthropy, nonprofit leadership, advocacy, and cor...

Balaji Ganapathy returns to Purpose 360 as a leader with decades of experience shaping one of the world’s most purpose-driven organizations and a renewed vision for what comes next. Longtime listeners will recognize his journey from building impact at Tata Consultancy Services to scaling global social initiatives. Now, he is launching his own venture, Social Positive. But throughout his career, one throughline remains: pur...

Bombas was already thriving—scaling rapidly, achieving billions in sales, and donating more than 200 million items to people experiencing homelessness—when founder David Heath recognized that the company’s next phase of growth would require a different kind of leadership. He made the intentional decision to step aside as CEO, and Jason LaRose, a seasoned operator with experience scaling brands, was thoughtfully brought in—...

Many companies today are choosing silence over visibility when it comes to their social and environmental commitments. What might appear as retreat or inconsistency is, in fact, something more deliberate. Christopher Marquis describes this phenomenon as “strategic hibernation,” or a calculated pause in external communication driven by political tension, stakeholder scrutiny, and shifting expectations. Rather than abandonin...

Baltimore faces a set of deeply interconnected challenges: aging and unsafe housing, high energy costs for families with limited means, and a generation of underemployed youth struggling to access meaningful work. These overlapping issues reveal a systemic gap highlighting an opportunity to rethink how housing, workforce development, clean energy, and economic mobility can be addressed together.

We invited Brendan McCluskey...

Playspaces are often dismissed as “nice-to-haves” with their colorful swings, slides, and monkey bars, but KABOOM! was founded on the urgent belief that they are an essential community infrastructure. The organization’s origin traces back to a tragic moment when two children lost their lives playing in an abandoned car because there was nowhere safe to play in their neighborhood. That devastating inequity sparked a movemen...

Sustainability is at a pivotal moment. Amid political backlash, greenhushing, and growing scrutiny of ESG and DEI, many have questioned whether the movement has lost momentum. We invited Andrew Winston, globally respected sustainability advisor, bestselling author, and recently named #1 management thinker in the world with Paul Polman by Thinkers50, to share his perspective on where sustainability truly stands. Drawing on ...

In a moment defined by disruption and accelerating change, Carol Cone sits down with one of the world’s most seasoned CEO observers to decode what’s really keeping leaders up at night. Alan Murray, journalist, former CEO of Fortune, and now Founding President of the WSJ Leadership Institute, has spent decades in candid conversation with the heads of the world’s largest organizations. What emerges from this exchange is a ra...

JUST Ice Tea was born from a refusal to let a company’s purpose and impact disappear. JUST Ice Tea’s roots trace back to Honest Tea, a pioneering brand built on the idea that beverages could be better for people and the planet. But when Honest Tea was ultimately discontinued after being sold, something incredible happened. The founders and long-standing partners across the supply chain came together with a shared resolve t...

Patagonia has long stood as the north star for companies striving to create meaningful impact and proving that business can thrive with purpose. Today, Patagonia stands alone in its ownership model: it has one shareholder—the planet. Instead of “going public,” Patagonia famously “went purpose,” restructuring in 2022 so that 100% of its voting stock flows into the Patagonia Purpose Trust to guard its values, and 100% of its...

Purpose 360 convenes leading voices in social impact, business, and philanthropy at the start of every year and asks them to share their predictions for what lies ahead. As we enter 2026, purpose leaders are navigating rapid advances in AI, growing pressure on social sector funding, shifting workforce expectations, and a renewed focus on culture, leadership, and human connection. Together, these experts offer perspectives ...

Leadership coaching has the power to unlock profound personal and organizational transformation. That belief lies at the heart of 100 Coaches. Founded by executive coach Marshall Goldsmith, 100 Coaches began with a bold experiment: Marshall offered to teach 15 people everything he knew for free, in gratitude for the teachers and leaders who helped shape him. As those first 15 committed to “pay it forward,” the idea resonat...

Sport has always been central to Nike’s identity, not just as a business, but as a force for human potential. This commitment extends to the social issues at the heart of youth athletics today, particularly surrounding keeping youth in sports and connected to physical activity and elevating the role of caring, well-equipped coaches. With young people today navigating unprecedented levels of stress and lack of physical acti...

Only a handful of companies were bold enough to connect their business to a deeper societal or environmental issue in the early days of purpose branding. These companies stood out precisely because they believed that brands could and should stand for more than profit. But the tide has shifted over the past two decades. Purpose became not just acceptable but expected, and suddenly everyone has a stance on the climate and co...

The most prominent argument against purpose is that doing good doesn’t actually pay off at the bottom line. For decades, and throughout Carol Cone’s career, skeptics have dismissed purpose as a “soft” strategy that is good for reputation but not for financial returns. That misconception is what Impact ROI set out to challenge. Impact ROI’s Project ROI reports have published research that links purpose to profit. And with t...

Employee engagement is rapidly becoming one of the most powerful forces shaping corporate philanthropy today. And skilled volunteerism—where employees contribute their professional expertise to nonprofits—can transform both the organizations served and the employees themselves.

We invited Lauren Coape-Arnold, Executive Director of the Apollo Opportunity Foundation (AOF) and Global Head of Citizenship at Apollo Global Manage...

There are only five years until the 2030 deadline for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and the urgency for bold action has never been greater. Many companies are struggling to truly address the mounting crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequity. Now is the time for leaders and organizations to chart a path forward, ensuring their strategies and actions rise to meet the scale of the ...

Artificial intelligence has the power to reshape economies, societies, and our daily lives. But with its rapid rise comes an important question: how can we ensure AI is developed and applied ethically so that it serves humanity instead of harming it? Responsible use requires transparency, accountability, and inclusivity—but defining and implementing these is complex. JUST Capital, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing just bu...

Hunger is one of the most pressing challenges of our time—driven not only by a lack of food, but by inequality, conflict, climate change, and health crises. For more than 45 years, Action Against Hunger has been on the frontlines of addressing these interconnected issues. The organization works in nearly 60 countries, reaching over 21 million people annually through lifesaving nutrition programs, sustainable farming soluti...