In a world grappling with environmental degradation, social inequality, economic instability, and creeping authoritarianism, leaders, policy makers, and business leaders the world over are appreciating and accelerating the uptake of social purpose in business. The power of purpose lies in part in its ability to coalesce the complicated and fragmented work of sustainability, corporate responsibility, ESG, and impact, and in part in its bold reset of the role of business in society.
On March 3, 2025, the Canadian Purpose Economy Project (CPEP) convened the first-ever international meetup of 25 global ecosystem builders who are working to advance social purpose in business. Representatives attended from England, Scotland, Australia, Europe, Canada, and the US. Together, their diverse but complementary work offers an inspiring snapshot of the global movement toward purpose and its role in shaping the future of business and society.
The gathering represented a landmark moment in the globalization of the social purpose business paradigm, where the purpose of business and the economy is to create a better world. It builds upon CPEP’s roadmap for building a national purpose economy ecosystem, as set out in From Profit to Purpose: Architecting the Purpose Economy.
This article presents key themes and insights from that meeting, highlighting the challenges and opportunities as we navigate this critical shift to mainstreaming social purpose in business.
The Paradigm Shift: Purpose-Driven Organizations
Dr Victoria Hurth is an independent ‘pracademic’ and Fellow of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). Her insights highlight the paradigm shift that’s already underway, with businesses moving from short-term self-interest to long-term, purpose-driven strategies. Hurth is co-leading the development of ISO 37011, an international standard for purpose-driven organizations. She emphasized that this standard is not just another guideline but a vehicle for global consensus on what it means to prioritize the long-term well-being for people and planet in businesses and organizations.
ISO 37011 complements ISO 37000, which clarifies governance structures for organizations worldwide—and which already has organizational purpose at its centre. By providing a clear framework for decision-making, these standards offer businesses and organizations clear guidance on how to align their operations with societal needs.
Aligning Interests: The Role of Legal Systems and Governance
Establishing a standard is one thing; accelerating its uptake is another. Colin Mayer, former Dean of the Saïd Business School at Oxford is today the Academic Lead of the Future of the Corporation program at the British Academy. During the meeting, Colin emphasized the need to align corporate interests with social and environmental goals—work that is deeply intertwined with legal systems worldwide, which often define the purpose of business. Mayer’s work with senior judges in commercial courts across 50 jurisdictions underscores a growing recognition that legal frameworks must evolve to support this new agenda. The focus is on creating legal environments that encourage businesses to prioritize long-term sustainability alongside profit.
This alignment is not just about legal reform; it also involves rethinking government policies. Mayer highlighted efforts within the UK and Europe, as well as international forums like the G20, to harmonize business interests with societal needs. The divergence in approaches, particularly between the US and other parts of the world, presents both challenges and opportunities for innovation. For instance, while some countries are moving towards more stringent regulations on corporate responsibility, others are adopting a more laissez-faire approach, which may lead to an environmental and social ‘race to the bottom.’
The European Landscape: Challenges and Setbacks
Speaking of Europe, Mario Abela from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) painted a more nuanced picture. Despite significant progress in sustainability reporting and the EU’s Green Deal, recent proposals threaten to unwind some of these gains. The example of Equinor, Norway’s state-owned oil company, abandoning its ambitious climate goals, illustrates the challenges faced by corporations in maintaining their commitment to sustainability in the face of economic pressures, and the challenge of finding reliable, enduring case studies of success at scale.
However, GRI remains optimistic, focusing on updating economic impact standards to incorporate purpose business models more effectively. (GRI is in discussion with the Canadian Purpose Economy Project about how to leverage CPEP’s Purpose Disclosure Guidelines.) This work aims to strengthen disclosures and maintain a strong voice in the sustainability landscape. Abela emphasized that while setbacks are inevitable, they also present opportunities for innovation and resilience. The ongoing efforts to enhance reporting standards and push for greater transparency are crucial in ensuring that businesses remain accountable to their stakeholders for their purpose and sustainability progress.
The Power of Storytelling
Storytelling is another powerful tool in this transformation. By sharing success stories, businesses can inspire others to join the journey towards a more purpose-led and sustainable future. These stories can highlight successes and setbacks, providing valuable lessons for those navigating similar challenges—including up and down storytellers’ supply chains, across their sectors, and beyond.
In the end, the shift to a purpose economy is not just about changing business models, but also the narrative of success. True prosperity is measured by the positive impact business has on the world around us, as well as companies’ bottom lines.
Ben Kellard is Director of Business Strategy at CISL. His work on building a narrative for a well-being economy will be an invaluable contribution. By articulating shared principles and a compelling story, in collaboration with like-minded thinkers from around the world, Kellard aims to provide a clear alternative story to that of current economic models. This narrative is crucial for inspiring change and guiding businesses toward a more purpose-led future. Kellard noted that narratives have the power to shape our perceptions and behaviors, so crafting a compelling story about the benefits of a well-being or purpose economy can galvanize support across different sectors.
Afhdel Aziz, Founder & Chief Purpose Officer at Conspiracy of Love, punctuated the importance of narratives, pointing out that most companies want to be seen as good corporate citizens. However, many leaders are struggling with messaging and momentum in the face of shifting socio-political understanding of this movement toward purpose. Finding and amplifying stories of success he believes will shift the conversation from a tone of fear to one of optimism.
One particular venue for storytelling is corporate sustainability and impact reporting. Wes Gee, Principal of Works Design, is an expert in this work and his firm conducts an annual study of trends in sustainability reporting—including the uptake of social purpose. Their 2024 Trends Report reviewed 105 companies across 14 sectors. Among their findings: 72% of the companies had a social purpose statement and 58% had a report theme aligned to their purpose. Those companies’ purposes were associated with biodiversity, DEI, healthy, economy, climate, and significantly (56%) society writ large. Works Design and the Canadian Purpose Economy Project are collaborating on identifying ‘first movers’ to trial the Purpose Disclosure Guidelines.
Shifting Business Education Toward Purpose
Phil Preston, an Australian purpose strategist, author, and speaker, shared that Melbourne University has recently established a Centre for Social Purpose Organizations, which aims to animate the university’s own social purpose of “unleashing leaders and ideas for a sustainable future.” He’s seeing some good university collaborations—as is the Canadian Purpose Economy Project.
Tessa Vanderkop, one of the CPEP’s co-founders, shared insights into the Project’s work over the past year, including its efforts to encourage business schools to embed social purpose in their curricula.
Mary Ellen Schaafsma, Principal of Purpose Pathways, an advisory practice focused on social purpose business, shared her work to educate business leaders. In partnership with the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Purpose Economy Project, she has led some 250+ leaders through a free and accessible five-webinar series on social purpose.
Interestingly, she’s also working with a major Canadian real estate association to engage its members and uplift their collective performance through purpose.
Leadership and Cultural Transformation
Alongside Phil Preston, his colleague Carolyn Butler-Madden explained they’re collaborating together to educate, inspire, and advise leaders of larger organizations to take up a social purpose across their enterprises. Their learning echoes Kellard’s view that story is an important, uplifting force for individuals. When individual leaders discover and articulate their own purpose, they extend the ‘why’ of their work into their sense of identity. In this way, a shared narrative can become a profoundly compelling force for leadership, helping leaders (and their teams and organizations) to aspire to a grander vision, galvanize support, and weather the inevitable challenges that will arise along the way.
In a period of dramatic and constant change, uplifting resilience is becoming a common refrain. As we advance on this journey toward social purpose business becoming mainstream, leadership plays a crucial role in driving cultural transformation within organizations. CEOs and boards of directors must not only articulate a compelling purpose but also embed it in their actions and decisions and collaborate with others to achieve it. This involves fostering a culture of transparency, accountability, impact, and continuous learning.
James Payne from the Forum for the Future shared practical insights into maintaining resilience in volatile times. His organization has developed an eight-point compass for personal and business resilience, with purpose at its heart. This framework offers guidance on how businesses can stay focused on long-term goals despite short-term challenges. Payne emphasized that resilience is not just about weathering storms but about creating systems that are inherently more sustainable and equitable.
Similarly, Junxion Strategy has developed a Purpose Performance Assessment that will be published in the coming weeks. This tool was informed by the work of the now-dormant Social Purpose Institute, and has been designed as an accessible assessment for individual companies to understand their progress as they work to embrace leading practices and embed their social purpose across their operations.
This kind of transformation of organizational culture requires efforts to engage all stakeholders, from employees to customers and communities. By involving diverse voices in the decision-making process, businesses can ensure that their purpose is not just a statement but a lived reality that resonates with everyone involved. Indeed, Carol Cone cited research indicating that company leaders see their employees as their primary audience for social purpose news and insights within their companies.
Gareth Williams, Head of Policy at Scotland’s Prosper, shared that he and his colleagues will soon publish a research paper that presents their findings on the link between employee engagement, productivity, and purpose.
The Future of Boards and Investor Stewardship
Gillian Secrett, Director, Leadership and Culture at CISL has been researching the future of boards. Her findings highlight the importance of aligning purpose and strategy and emphasizes the role of investors and sustainability data in strategic decision-making. While Secrett concurs with Mayer’s emphasis on legal and policy frameworks, she also notes that markets must support and incentivize purpose-led practices to drive practical change.
At the level of individual organizations, Secrett underscores the need for boards to be more proactive in integrating purpose into their governance structures. This involves goal-setting to be sure, but also ensuring that every board decision reflects a commitment to the company’s purpose.
The Canadian Purpose Economy Project last year published Purpose Governance Guidelines for boards of directors, reflecting and reinforcing the imperative that purpose should be guided and overseen by companies’ highest decision-making bodies.
The role of investors is critical here, as they can influence corporate behavior by demanding more purpose-led practices and holding companies accountable for the environmental and social impacts of their purpose. The Project has launched a Purpose Investing Lens Campaign to support investors in integrating social purpose into their investment strategies.
Embracing the Challenge
The journey toward purpose-centered economics is fraught with challenges, from legal and policy hurdles to economic pressures and societal skepticism. Nonetheless, it’s most definitely worthy of the effort, as it holds the potential to align business toward addressing some of the significant challenges we face in our communities, societies, and world.
The collective of leading thinkers and thinking leaders who came together last week demonstrates the profound shift that’s well underway in how we think about business success and its contribution to stable, healthy, sustainable societies. And this handful of people are just one small subset of a massive cohort of concerned citizens around the world that are nudging, pushing, or even shoving business toward better practices, in service to purpose and life. Collectively, they represent the global transformation of the economy towards purpose-led business, that unlocks all their assets, relationships, influence, reach and scale to create a better world for all.
The Purpose Economy presents a paradigm shift in how the economy and business operate. It requires a deep alignment of interests, innovative legal frameworks, and practical tools for businesses to thrive by serving societal needs. The audacity of compassion and the courage to reimagine our economic systems are essential for creating a future where business and humanity can flourish together.
Ultimately, the success of this shift will depend on our collective ability to envision a different future—one where business is a force for good, where economic growth is sustainable and equitable, and where purpose is at the heart of every decision. By embracing this vision and working together, we can create a brighter future for generations to come.
Getting Involved
This global gathering marked a pivotal moment in the evolution of social purpose in business, reinforcing that the movement is growing in scale and structure, establishing standards, and generating institutional support. The work ahead remains complex—navigating legal systems, embedding purpose in governance, shifting business education, aligning investor priorities, and more—but the momentum is undeniable.
As leaders across sectors push forward, they are shaping a future where business is measured by profitability and by its contribution to a better world. The landmark gathering of these pioneering ecosystem builders underscored this shift, signalling that the globalization of the social purpose business paradigm is not just an aspiration: It is happening now.
Now is the time to amplify the purpose economy and social purpose in business. How will you contribute? Consider sharing this article, following the thinkers whose work we’ve profiled here and amplifying their work, inviting conversations in your business or industry association, and endorsing A Call to Purpose, the Canadian Purpose Economy Project’s call-to-action for CEOs.
However you decide to get involved, you’ll be contributing to the steady building of the global purpose economy ecosystem. The journey will continue with new opportunities to collaborate, refine strategies, and share insights. The next chapter in this transformative movement is already taking shape—one that promises to be even more impactful than the last.