Club Lunch: How to Raise Money And Do Good in Asia

Free market capitalism has traditionally been associated with profit, prestige and enormous executive wealth. But recently, a long list of companies have started to make a notable shift to integrate purpose and social corporate responsibility into their business models. This new “do good” approach challenges the notion that doing good is antithetical to profit, and increasingly a younger generation of business leaders are finding ways to align societal impact with their business goals.

John Wood discussed how companies are utilising corporate responsibility to build a bond with customers, win the war for talent, motivate employees and increase social media influence, and attract top investors along with some of the challenges of the evolving “do good” model. His latest book, Purpose, Incorporated: Turning Cause into Your Competitive Advantage, is on this subject, and is based on case studies and interviews with over 100 entrepreneurs and executives from major companies ranging from Credit Suisse, Google to Starbucks.

Mr. Wood is the Founder of Room to Read, an organization which has opened over 20,000 libraries in 15 countries across Asia and Africa. At age 35, John left his position as Director of Business Development for Microsoft’s Greater China region. He has been named by Goldman Sachs as one of the world’s 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, has been a three-time speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative and is a five-time winner of Fast Company Magazine’s Social Capitalist Award.