Jacob Harold

Jacob Harold, cofounder of Candid and former CEO of GuideStar, delves into the evolving landscape of social impact in business. He discusses the complex balance required for for-profits to incorporate social responsibility while addressing financial sustainability. Harold emphasizes the necessity of diverse toolkits and ethical frameworks for effective change. The power of storytelling in driving social narratives and enhancing collaboration among organizations is also explored, alongside the crucial need for standardizing nonprofit data for transparency.

From corporate social responsibility to ESG, an increasing number of for-profit organizations are pursuing positive social impact. But to “do well by doing good,” Jacob Harold (cofounder of Candid; former CEO of Guidestar) tells HBR IdeaCast host Curt Nickisch that you need a good strategy. Otherwise, things can go very wrong. “We have a lot of work to do to figure out: what does it mean to do good in this moment?” Harold cautions. Key topics include: business values, ethics, storytelling, social impact strategy, mathematical modeling, environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), innovation, and complex systems science. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: The Growing “Do Good” Economy (November 2022) Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast. Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.