Join Jacqueline Novogratz on a quest to find a new generation of leaders for a new economy

We are living through a great awakening. The global pandemic has brought the world to a halt and exposed the insufficiencies of our current systems and the consequences of unbridled capitalism. Black Lives Matter has raised a moral reckoning. Devastating fires and floods remind us of the destruction of climate change. Social media is exacerbating political ideological rifts that have exposed the fragility of democracy.

Amid these interrelated crises, a new conversation about who we want to be and how we want to live with each other is beginning. For 30 years, our systems have been dominated by revolutions of capitalism and of technology that place the individual at their center. These systems have resulted in unsustainable inequality, destructive divisiveness and the real threat of climate catastrophe. A new moral framework is needed along with new skills, tools and blueprints to build a more just, inclusive and sustainable economy.

Whether building solutions to education, healthcare or energy; ending factory farming or creating new approaches around the dignity of work, those leaders who are bold enough to put their customers, the community and the environment at the center of their businesses, are the next big thing.

And this is no pipe dream. In Moral Leadership, each month I’ll introduce you to a new leader on the front lines of inclusive business. I will explore their business models, their larger aspirations for systems change, and the skills and insights they’ve gained along the way. We will talk about what it takes to start, to partner with adversaries, to include marginalized communities and to measure what matters. We will share images created by grantees of the Magnum Foundation to invite our readers into the stories that are shaping our shared future for the better. 

My hope is that these individual experiences will provide a better understanding of how we might solve our collective problems from the perspective of pragmatism and hard-earned experience.

These Leaders believe that business exists to do more than merely make a profit. Business can be a tool for weaving a broken nation. Business can be a tool for halting a pandemic. And the tools of business can be part of solutions to end poverty. These leaders know it’s possible because they are living it every day. I hope you’ll join me on this journey in our shared path to moral leadership every month. See you there.

About Acumen 

Acumen is changing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders and ideas. We invest patient capital in businesses whose products and services are enabling the poor to transform their lives. 

About Magnum Foundation

The Magnum Foundation is a nonprofit organization that expands creativity and diversity in documentary photography, activating new ideas through the innovative use of images. Through grantmaking and fellowships, the Magnum Foundation supports a global network of social justice and human rights-focused photographers, and experiments with new models for storytelling.