Alain De Botton – acclaimed writer, philosopher and founder of The School of Life, and Anne-Marie Huby, co-founder of JustGiving – the world’s first and largest funding platform for donating to causes are both guests on the latest Secret Leaders podcast.
This week’s Secret Leaders podcast launches Tuesday 17 November and was recorded earlier this year with a live audience before the pandemic hit.
Alex Depledge led the conversation as the sub host, standing in for a sick Dan Murray-Serter. They discuss ‘for profit, for good’ businesses, as both Alain and Anne-Marie have founded purpose-led for-profit businesses that have achieved remarkable success.
Alain begins by sharing his experience of building The School of Life, and why focusing on the business’s higher purpose was more important than getting stuck on the numbers, he says: “I think it was a blessing in that when I set up the School of Life, I was ignorant to all sorts of complications, which enabled me to keep an eye on the higher purpose.
“I didn’t really ask myself how the bill was going to work out, I just knew that I wanted to provide quality self-help advice. My job is to be the guardian of the business mission, which is essentially to raise the levels of emotional intelligence in the name of the more fulfilled.”
As the founder of JustGiving, Anne-Marie explains that she was able to create a foundation that focused on a greater good, rather than profit: “We proved that there was appetite among investors to invest in companies that don’t just put the profit motive, or the growth motive first,” she says, “I think it’s important for that direction in business to become more of a focus, and I do believe that we’re slowly getting there – particularly as a result of the greater awareness around the climate.”
The latest Secret Leaders podcast is available on Apple, Spotify and all major podcast platforms, from Tuesday 17 November.
