The Profit Imperative: Rethinking Revenue in Impact Enterprises
Join us for a compelling Deep Dive conversation with Russell McLeod, author of the recent IE magazine article, “How Prioritizing Profit Can Maximize Social Impact.” In this insightful piece, McLeod interrogates the common tendency within the impact sector to treat profit as secondary or even suspect in the pursuit of social good. Drawing on examples from high-growth ventures like Someone Somewhere and tentree, he argues that impact enterprises can achieve far greater scale and resilience when they deliberately align their business model with customer value—prioritizing revenue generation not as a tradeoff, but as a catalyst for mission fulfillment. This discussion will explore why embedding profit into the core of an impact strategy may be one of the most effective—and underleveraged—paths to systemic change.
Topics We’ll Explore
Deep Dives are hour-long Zoom Meetings: Live Q&A Sessions (as opposed to our Zoom Webinars, where the audience is in View-Only Mode) between the author(s) or subjects of a Magazine article and our members. Be sure to read the article in question and come bearing questions!
Russell McLeod is a business leader and social entrepreneur championing profit with purpose. As founder of Toronto-based Mightyhum, he partners with growing organizations—particularly purpose-driven businesses—to develop product offerings, create go-to-market strategies, build profitability, and streamline operations.
Previously, as Executive Director of ME to WE, one of Canada’s best known and most awarded social enterprises, Russell demonstrated that profitability and impact can coexist. His leadership helped deliver $20M to WE Charity, providing clean water to over 1 million people, education to 200,000 children, and launching 30,000 women-led businesses globally.
Russell remains dedicated to advancing the circular economy through meaningful collaboration and mentorship.
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