Purposing Given Agency

The science on climate change is clear: the planet is heating at an alarming rate. We’re already at risk of breaching the limits set in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Rapid action is needed to ensure net zero pledges are kept and sustainable practices are implemented across business. 
No amount of disclosure or engagement will correct the course we’re on if businesses and business leaders don’t fix the fundamental market failures that are driving climate change.
Today, Becky Willan is joined by Steve Waygood, Chief Responsible Investment Officer at Aviva Investors to discuss the financial and economic arguments for tough, fast action on the climate emergency. Steve’s been at the heart of sustainable finance since the 1990s, witnessing its growth in ambition, scale and influence every year. Working with the World Wide Fund for Nature straight out of university, Steve established their ethical investment policy, and has been with Aviva Investors for almost two decades.
Do you want to learn how to build a purpose-driven business from Given, the consultancy that’s helped some of the world's largest organisations become purposeful? Download the Insiders’ Guide to Purpose HERE. 

The power to drive real change comes when every single person in the business feels that they are extended members of the advocacy team - but what are the principles that underpin a credible and impactful advocacy strategy?
Today, Becky Willan is joined by Char Love, Global Director of Advocacy at Natura&Co, whose subsidiary brands include Avon and The Body Shop. Char has a track record of working with sustainable business - co-founding corporate sustainability thinktank VOLANS and later launching B Lab UK, to help businesses on the journey to becoming certified B Corps. Char’s new role in advocacy with Natura&Co has seen her developing and embedding the principles of  Authentic, Ambitious, Agency, Allyship, Activism into their advocacy strategy. 
Do you want to learn how to build a purpose-driven business from Given, the consultancy that’s helped some of the world's largest organisations become purposeful? Download the Insiders’ Guide to Purpose HERE.  

If businesses want to achieve anything more than incremental change which reinforces that system, we need a new way of operating. It’s true that the world is messy and complicated, but if we’re serious about delivering purpose and driving environmental and social change, we need to rewire the system around us so that we can all thrive in the future.
When components of a system synchronize on shared aims, purpose can be better achieved. So how can systems thinking benefit people and the planet?
In this episode, Becky Willan talks to Sally Uren, CEO of Forum for the Future. Forum was founded in 1996 with the aim of advancing the goals of sustainability. As non-profit organisation, Forum works with with business, governments and civil society to accelerate the shift towards a just and regenerative future. Sally received an OBE in the 2017 for her efforts in making business more sustainable. 
Do you want to learn how to build a purpose-driven business from Given, the consultancy that’s helped some of the world's largest organisations become purposeful? Download the Insiders’ Guide to Purpose HERE.  

We need businesses and brands to have a tangible, positive impact on the world. Employees, customers and consumers expect it; they want to see the companies they work for and shop from take a stand on the issues they care about. But when those issues are complex and at times polarising, how does a business take action credibly and consistently, whether playing the role of advocates or activists?
To mark World Refugee Day, Becky Willan talks to Jessie Macneil-Brown, Head of Social Mission Europe at Ben & Jerry’s. It’s not only an iconic global ice cream brand, it’s vocal on the the rights of refugees and asylum seekers - one of the biggest issues of our time. It’s a political battleground and fraught with tension in the media. But for Ben & Jerry’s, they’ve not been afraid to stand firm. Jessie tells us exactly how the brand has advocated for safe routes, and helped entrepreneurial refugees resettle and thrive in their new homes. 
In this episode you’ll learn how to maintain your stance in the face of criticism, create safe spaces for open dialogue, and educate your staff on the right language to use. 
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Do you want to learn how to build a purpose-driven business from Given, the consultancy that’s helped some of the world's largest organisations become purposeful? Download the Insiders’ Guide to Purpose HERE.  

Recruitment is a commercially-driven industry where results and commissions keep the wheels turning. Few would expect purpose to be front and centre. But fundamentally, it’s an industry with people at its heart, and people are the drivers of purposeful change. So how can recruitment firms embed and activate purpose to transform their businesses?
Today, host Becky Willan speaks to a leader who climbed her company ranks from Graduate Recruiter to CEO. Hayley Still’s journey to the top of Hydrogen Group has put her in a prime position to reshape purpose at the company. Now operating in 67 countries, Hydrogen merged with Argyll Scott in 2017 - and when Hayley took over as CEO in 2022 she saw an opportunity to cement that merger, catalyze new company-wide values and ignite a fresh purpose. 
In this episode, you’ll discover how you can disrupt an industry through purpose, and using moments of change to rearticulate and reinforce core values. 
Do you want to learn how to build a purpose-driven business from Given, the consultancy that’s helped some of the world's largest organisations become purposeful? Download the Insiders’ Guide to Purpose HERE.  

Pioneers of purposeful business have been around for decades. Graze is a recent addition rewriting the snacking playbook for healthy people and planet. But what if balancing the needs of society with what's good for profits was required by law for every business?
On this episode of Purposing, Becky Willan speaks to healthy snack CEO, Joanna Allen. She joined British supermarket staple Graze in 2020, believing customers shouldn't compromise between taste and nutrition. With this purpose built into everything Graze does, the business isn't afraid to lean into big decisions or tough conversations. 
And Joanna's taking these conversations beyond the four walls of the company. Reengineering product packaging to make it more sustainable meant new partnerships with suppliers. And beyond this, she's now a prominent campaigner for the Better Business Act.
Do you want to learn how to build a purpose-driven business from Given, the consultancy that’s helped some of the world's largest organisations become purposeful? Download the Insiders’ Guide to Purpose HERE.