Inside Social Innovation

Latest Episodes:

LaborVoices: Last-Mile Supply Chain Visibility Oct 10, 2013

Show notes

LaborVoices brings unprecedented transparency to supply chain management to improve social responsibility. In this short audio lecture, Dr. Kohl Gill, CEO of LaborVoices, Inc., discusses his company's mobile technology platform. He uses crowdsourcing to let workers' voices bring accountability to supply chain management. Dr. Gill believes that real time information drives improvement in workforce management from both a social responsibility and operational perspective. In this Social Innovation Conversations, Stanford University podcast, Dr. Gill shows how LaborVoices helps to create real-time, long-term relations and communication from supply chain executives to the factory floor. This supports accountability across all stakeholders, creates a better overall work environment, and improves social, environmental, and company performance.

Dr. Kohl S. Gill is the CEO of LaborVoices, Inc., providing intelligence to global workers and supply chain executives. Dr. Gill served in the U.S. State Department, as the South Asia and Middle East Labor Affairs Officer for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Dr. Gill served as an Indicorps Fellow in the slum areas of Delhi, India, fighting both petty and grand corruption at the local level. Dr. Gill is a graduate of the California Institute of Technology and the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a Ph.D. for his work in semiconductor physics.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/laborvoices_last_mile_supply_chain_visibility

Embracing your Inner Punk Rock to Change the World Sep 25, 2013

Show notes

Ned Breslin kicks off the series by telling us where he draws his inspiration from and where he gets his perspective on social change from–punk rock. With a disregard for tradition and a fierce desire to challenge the norm, the punk rock ethos is the heartbeat of a story of social entrepreneurship. To the rise of social entrepreneurship, punk rock offers a narrative by breaking sideways in a world that tends to go straight ahead. With the immensity of today's global challenges, Ned argues that the story arc of punk, its relentless push for change, offers important insights into how social entrepreneurs operate everywhere, whether they like punk rock or not.

Host Ned Breslin is the CEO of Water For People. Ned found himself working on a water project in northern Kenya in 1987 and never looked back. Twenty years later he moved back to the US to join Water For People as its Director of International Programs, eventually becoming CEO in 2009. He is a recipient of the 2011 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/embracing_your_inner_punk_rock_to_change_the_world

Supply Chain Environmental Sustainability, Responsible Corporate Citizenship Aug 16, 2013

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Being sustainable at the core requires corporate social responsibility that thinks beyond just good works. In this audio lecture, Coca Cola Chief Administrative Officer, Alex Cummings, shares his company's experience applying environmental sustainability as an essential element to sustainable business. Mr. Cummings relates how Coca Cola aims to double its business in a decade through social entrepreneurship. He describes how they are employing social enterprise to improve packaging and supply chain logistics. They use organic material in plastic bottles and empowering one-woman distribution companies in rural Africa. In this Social Innovation Conversations, Stanford University podcast, Cummings describes how, instead of philanthropic giving, strategic partnerships are used to strengthen corporate citizenship in local communities. Coca-Cola uses renewable resources and recycling projects to enhance environmental sustainability and international development.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/supply_chain_environmental_sustainability_responsible_corporate_citizenship

Redefining Consumerism: Innovations in Product Sustainability Jul 30, 2013

Show notes

Today's model of consumerism does not prioritize the efficient use of resources throughout the supply chain. Consumers just don't use the full lifetime of a product. In this talk, e-commerce social entrepreneur and former Walmart sustainability executive Andy Ruben emphasizes opportunities for efficient design, production, and reuse of consumer products, from the perspective of corporations and consumers. Speaking at the 2012 Global Supply Chain Management Forum, Ruben details ways to improve supply chain efficiency. He explains why he hopes this new model for product exchange will revolutionize the way we think about what we buy, and what we throw away.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/redefining_consumerism_innovations_in_product_sustainability

Corporate Responsibility Through the Stakeholder's Lens Jul 12, 2013

Show notes

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives are usually thought of as top-down, with the interests of company executives taking precedence over other workers. In this talk, CB Bhattacharya, a visiting Stanford professor and author of Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value, examines why the traditional approach to CSR should be reexamined. Speaking at a seminar organized by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, he details how his research supports stakeholder-driven corporate social responsibility initiatives. He explains why this change from top-down to stakeholder-driven initiatives means higher returns for us all.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/corporate_responsibility_through_the_stakeholders_lens

New Models to End Extreme Poverty Jul 11, 2013

Show notes

"Poverty is not just about an economic challenge. Extreme poverty is a condition where families cannot make meaningful choices to determine their own future." The role of Nuru is to put those choices back on the table. In this audio interview, Jonathan Chang speaks with Jake Harriman, Founder and CEO of Nuru International. Nuru works to raise awareness of poverty in the developed world. At the same time they foster self-sufficiency in remote rural communities in East Africa. From combat operations in Iraq to Stanford Business to rural Ethiopia, Harriman traces his personal path towards sustainable solutions to poverty. This show was recorded as part of the Impact Innovators series, in which we speak with some of the most important players in the world of impact investments.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/new_models_to_end_extreme_poverty

Thinking about Talent Apr 30, 2013

Show notes

Human capital is the most valuable asset in the social sector. Developing an effective human capital strategy enables nonprofits to grow, scale, and achieve greater impact. In this audio lecture from the Stanford Social Innovation Review's Nonprofit Management Institute, Omidyar Network partner Sal Giambanco discusses how nonprofits can create a recruiting framework and demonstrate organizational value to employees. He explains how to attract and engage an excellent team. By sharing examples from his years of coaching nonprofit executives from around the world, he explores questions such as: How do you attract the right talent to your organization? How do you enable them to be successful? How do you build a talent pipeline to engage future leaders? In this lecture, Gimabanco discusses techniques a nonprofit can use to execute a successful human capital strategy.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/thinking_about_talent

The Art of Collaborative Leadership Apr 25, 2013

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Good leadership requires moving across boundaries of sector, race, ideology, class, and political affiliation. Instead of competing for resources or working in isolation, leaders should reach across divides to develop healthy networks of trust and collaboration. In this audio lecture from the Stanford Social Innovation Review's Nonprofit Management Institute, Rockwood Leadership Institute president Akaya Windwood discusses how we can get movements and sectors to work together to advance the common good. She shares specific approaches and tools for leaders to step out of their comfort zones. These enable a collective effort that builds mutually beneficial relationships.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/the_art_of_collaborative_leadership

A Crash Course on Creativity Apr 23, 2013

Show notes

Whether we are struggling to generate fresh ideas or staring at problems with no solutions in sight, the spark of creative genius often seems out of reach. In this audio lecture from Stanford Social Innovation Review's Nonprofit Management Institute, Stanford Professor Tina Seelig discusses how we can unlock our creative genius through a set of tools and conditions we each have in our control—our "innovation engine." Based on real-world examples and a dozen years of experience teaching courses on creativity and entrepreneurship in the Stanford School of Engineering, Seelig challenges traditional assumptions about creativity to show us how we can seek out the right resources and environment to fuel our innovation engines. She contends that just as the scientific method demystifies the process of discovery, there is a formal process for unlocking the pathway to innovation.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/a_crash_course_on_creativity

The Critical Role of the Strategic Brand Apr 16, 2013

Show notes

While branding has been traditionally perceived as a tool for fundraising and public relations, nonprofits can take a new approach to brand management that effectively drives their mission and maximizes impact. In this audio lecture from Stanford Social Innovation Review's Nonprofit Management Institute, Harvard researcher Nathalie Kylander challenges traditional branding principles and proposes a new framework for developing a more strategic brand. By examining the concepts of brand democracy and brand affinity, Kylander discusses how a strategic brand can create greater social impact and tighter organizational cohesion. She examines what successful branding looks like in the nonprofit sector and how the rise of social media and technological change can drive the development of a clear, strong, well-managed brand.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/the_critical_role_of_the_strategic_brand