In 2008, entrepreneur Eric Ries wrote the seminal book ‘Lean Startup’. Many social entrepreneurs tried to use the ‘Lean Startup’ principles but missed the need for impact at the core of any social change initiative. In today’s episode, we talk to Ann Mei Chang, a leading expert on social innovation and author of “Lean Impact: How to Innovate for Radically Greater Social Good” - the book that puts impact at the heart of Lean.

Starting her career as a tech executive, Ann Mei then served as the Chief Innovation Officer at USAID and first Executive Director of its US Global Development Lab. On the show, we chat about why vanity metrics inhibit impact, how to unblock the barriers to impact in the social sector, and how changemakers can get started in applying the Lean Impact practices.

Get a copy of Ann Mei’s book here.

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Motivation is a thread that can help teams thrive and achieve extraordinary things, or it can unravel and become one of the greatest barriers to change. In the social sector, we seldom address motivational challenges that everyone, from front-line workers to managers face. So how do we find or reignite our inner drive?

In this episode, we speak to one of the world’s leading experts in intrinsic motivation, Sharath Jeevan. Sharath is the Executive Chairman of Intrinsic Labs, a company that supports organizations all around the world to solve deep motivational challenges, from governments to leading UK universities and high-profile corporations.

Get a copy of Sharath’s book here.

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The disconnect between maximizing profits and making a positive impact makes it challenging for a business to pursue both - and to do it well. This episode’s guest, Bart Houlahan, Co-Founder of B Lab, set out to solve this. Through B Lab, Bart helped pioneer a movement that is transforming the role of the business community from being driven by money, to drivers of social change.

In this episode, we talk about the shift from a shareholder economy to creating real value for stakeholders. Bart and I also discuss the challenge of scaling with integrity and harnessing the power of business as a force for good.

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Understanding systems change is hard, doing it is harder. That’s why we chose Jeroo Billimoria, a true serial systems entrepreneur and leader, for this week’s episode. She is the founder of several innovative and award-winning NGOs and has over twenty years of experience running systems change organizations as a Skoll awardee, an Ashoka and Schwab Fellow. She is now the founder of One Family Foundation, which incubates social innovations and applies systems thinking to help organizations scale.

In this episode, we dive into how scaling and systems change interact. We talk about how to better understand your ecosystem, goal setting, and Jeroo’s critical advice for entrepreneurs who want to take a systems approach.

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Our inaugural guest for the podcast is Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America, a think tank that was founded in 1999. From 2009 to 2011, she served as director of policy planning for the United States Department of State, the first woman to hold that position. Anne-Marie is also the Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. In 2012, she wrote “Why women still can’t have it all,” a piece that quickly became The Atlantic’s most-read article in its then 150-year history.

In this episode, Anne-Marie and I will be talking about designing for scale and how leaders and organizations can think about scaling impact from the onset. Anne-Marie will also share the inspiration behind her new book, “Renewal: From Crisis to Transformation in our Lives, Work, and Politics.”

Get a copy of Anne-Marie’s book here.

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How do you scale solutions to the world’s biggest problems? Mission to Scale is a new podcast that reveals the tools, mindsets, and strategies that organizations and funders need — to make the most impact. On the podcast, host Dan Berelowitz talks to brilliant leaders from today’s most dynamic nonprofits, social enterprises, and purpose-driven brands about pursuing change, at scale. From creating lean strategy to team building, each episode helps you take the guesswork out of changing more lives.

Produced by Spring Impact and Hueman Group Media.

Follow and subscribe to Mission to Scale on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

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