Meaning and Purpose Network: The purpose-driven organisation: challenges, controversies and solutions

Creating more ethical, inclusive and sustainable futures for organisations through partnership and knowledge sharing

This conference brings leading thinkers together to address one of the most pressing problems facing the world today: how can organisations become authentically purpose-led and contribute to social, environmental and climate improvement? Held in the Great Hall at King’s College London and hosted by the King’s Business School Meaning and Purpose Network, the event provides an opportunity to hear the latest ideas, share solutions, and network with other delegates.

Who should attend?

The event is aimed at:

• Thought-leaders, such as consultants and others who are helping organisations become more purpose-led
• Purpose, sustainability and corporate social responsibility professionals in organisations
• Anyone with an interest in purpose-led organising

Places are free of charge to MaPNet members; a £30 fee is payable by others to cover catering costs. We are pleased to be able to subsidise this event from our grant from the King’s Innovation Fund.

Agenda

13.00-13.45	Registration and lunch
13.45-13.55	Welcome
	Professor Ko de Ruyter, Vice Dean Research
	Introduction
	Professor Katie Bailey, Professor of Work and Employment King’s Business School and Director of MaPNet
13.55-14.20	A practitioner’s guide to transformational purpose
	Tom Rippin, Founder, On Purpose
14.20-14:45	Human stories behind the mobilisation of purpose
	Tim Heard, Co-founder, Circle of Intrapreneurs
14.45-15.05	Round table conversations
15.05-15:30	Purpose: The John Lewis Experience
	Dean Taylor, Director of Research and Insight, John Lewis
15.30-15.55	Shaping culture for good: embedding purpose at ITV
	Susie Braun, Director of Social Purpose, ITV
15.55-16.10	Break
16.10-16.30	Round table conversations
16.30-17.15	Panel discussion: Pathways to purpose-led transformation
	Darren Ashby, Chief Impact Officer and Partner, Businessforzero, Faran Johnson, Chief People Officer, MIB
	Gemma Piggott, UK Head of Corporate Sustainability, JLL
	Chair: Dr Catherine Tilley, Lecturer Business Ethics & Sustainability, King’s Business School
17.15-17.35	Purpose: moving ahead to a disrupted future
	Lisa Merrick-Lawless, Co-Founder of Purpose Disruptors
17.35-17.45	Closing remarks
17.45-18.30	Drinks and networking

 

Speakers

Darren Ashby

Darren is Partner and Chief Impact Officer at businessfourzero. Over the last 6 years he has led purpose-driven transformational programmes across a diverse range of clients including Reckitt, Lloyds Bank, LVMH, John Lewis, and Electronic Arts. As a partner to CEOs and CPOs, Darren is able to connect the dots between Purpose, Strategy and Culture, to make change actually happen. Previously he has held commercial strategy, innovation and transformation roles, both as a consultant for EY and ?WhatIf! (now part of Accenture), and as a Director in the Group Strategy team at Cadbury plc.

As part of the founding team at businessfourzero, he was MD through the start-up phase, has helped develop the IP and offer as the business has grown, and as Chief Impact Officer works across our senior team to raise the bar on the quality and impact of our client work. He is currently writing the first businessfourzero book, due to be released in the Spring.

Katie Bailey

Katie Bailey is Professor of Work and Employment at King’s Business School. As Founder and Director of MaPNet, Katie brings together organisational leaders, consultants, academics and students with the aim of co-creating knowledge that helps organisations become more purpose-led. Katie has won multiple international awards for her research in the areas of meaning and purpose, employee engagement and human resource management and has published her research in many leading journals. Katie is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and the RSA, Academic Fellow of the CIPD and Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Employment Studies. She is also a member of the Renewing Work Advisory Group of Experts (ReWAGE) convened to advise the UK government on future employment policy. She was formerly a Trustee of the Involvement and Participation Association and has held a number of editorial roles, including Co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Management Reviews. She regularly speaks at conferences around the world and within organisations on purpose and meaningful work.

Susie Braun

Susie Braun is Director of Social Purpose at ITV, leading on ITV’s mission to shape culture for good. With four focus areas - Better Health, Climate Action, Diversity and Inclusion and Giving Back - ITV seeks to use its huge reach and unforgettable content to help change attitudes and behaviours both on-screen and behind-the-scenes.

Susie began her career in advertising, followed by a stint in not-for-profit before moving to ITV in 2019, where her team runs projects including the UK’s most recognised mental health campaign, Britain Get Talking, ITV’s ambitious Climate Action and Net Zero agenda, and ITV's fundraising and volunteering programme, including Soccer Aid for UNICEF.

Tim Heard

Tim is passionate about helping companies to innovate more effectively and positively impact society. In support of this passion, he has successfully worked across industries, improving his methodologies in the process, as well as launching multiple award-winning propositions.

Tim is one of the world's leading experts on intrapreneurship. He has used his experiences of being an intrapreneur, social intrapreneur, and the first Head of Intrapreneurship at Barclays to become a globally recognised speaker, lecturer, author, and theorist on the topic.

Recognised by the UN, Cambridge University and One Young World for leadership in social innovation - Tim co-founded the Circle of Intrapreneurs; now the world’s largest network of intrapreneurs – which grew from a LinkedIn group to a global movement within 3 years. In the process, he has advised hundreds of organisations, from small charities to major corporations through to the US Air Force, to become more impactful and he has impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

Tim now works for 11:FS to help companies to launch cutting-edge propositions and to innovate faster, smarter and more sustainably.

Faran Johnson

Faran is one of the leading change and transformation experts and joined Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) as its Chief People Officer in November 2021.Faran brings over 30 years’ experience in the public, third and private sector. She previously worked on the UK’s response to Covid-19 as Chief People Officer at the UK Health Security Agency (incorporating NHS Test & Trace). She has also held executive positions at Channel 4, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings and Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service leading large scale business operating model and culture change programmes

Faran is passionate about developing organisations’ values and culture and growing communities. She firmly believes in leading with integrity, authenticity and respect for people, their development, and community impact.

Lisa Merrick-Lawless

Lisa was recently named in Forbes 43 People Changing Advertising For The Climate. She was also one of Campaign magazine's Top 10 Trailblazers of the year in 2021 for her work on climate change in the industry.

With over 20 years’ experience in the marketing, advertising and communications industry she has held leadership positions both client and agency-side working with brands such as Coca Cola, Tetley, Strongbow, Unilever, Greenpeace, WWF and innocent.

She re-trained, completing a short course at Cambridge University in Business Sustainability Management and co-founded Purpose Disruptors in 2019, to ‘catalyse the advertising industry’s climate transition’.

Lisa holds various advisory board positions, is a writer, speaker and panelist as well as a judge for industry creative awards. She is also an assessor on the new Marketing, Media and Creative course from Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. She lives in London with her family and rescue greyhound and spends as much time as possible in nature, in particular cold water swimming.

Gemma Piggott

Gemma is UK Head of Corporate Sustainability at JLL, a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management. JLL shapes the future of real estate for a better world by using the most advanced technology to create rewarding opportunities, amazing spaces and sustainable real estate solutions for its clients, people and communities.

Having joined the business over 7 years ago, Gemma is responsible for developing and delivering JLL UK’s corporate sustainability strategy with a focus on tackling the climate and nature emergency, championing a just and equal society, and growing responsibly.

In this role, Gemma oversees multiple partnerships with industry partners and leads a team to deliver positive environmental and social impact and significant employee engagement. Gemma is a member of the UK Senior Management team and a trustee of the JLL UK Foundation.

With her work increasingly focused on a purpose-driven approach, Gemma was a member of the steering group for the development of the BSI PAS 808, the first principles-based standard for a sustainable, purpose-driven organisation (PDO).

Tom Rippin

Tom Rippin is a multi-award-winning, international social entrepreneur, speaker and writer. He has an unusually broad set of interests and has been published in the fields of social innovation, management, economics and cancer research.

As a recovering management consultant, Tom has served global corporates and NGOs, multilateral initiatives such as the UN Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, and several UK public services.

For over a decade, Tom has focussed on developing leaders who will help transform our economy. By founding On Purpose he has helped over 800 professionals transform their lives and careers and – unusually for a social enterprise – scaled internationally to work in Europe’s three largest economies. Drawing on his experience as a research scientist he applies insights from systems thinking to organisational management and to paint a picture of what a truly healthy economy will look like.

Between leaving McKinsey & Company and founding On Purpose, Tom was an advisor to the CEO of Comic Relief and ran the international operations of (RED), the business founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. He is a Trustee of Global Action Plan, which connects what’s good for you with what’s good for the planet and the International Futures Forum, which develops people for the 21st century. He was the first Chair of Tempo Time Credits, probably the world’s biggest time-currency, and has been an Advisory Board Member of Big Society Capital, the world’s first social investment wholesaler.

Dean Taylor

With over 24 years in the marketing industry working for brands like Sony Ericsson, Virgin HQ, Virgin Active, Nokia, Candy Crush, PepsiCo and the John Lewis Partnership, delivering in global and local Marketing, CRM, Insight & Research, Sponsorship & Performance Marketing roles, and with stints agency side in more creative, planner, radio producer roles, Dean Taylor, Partner and Director of Research and Insight, John Lewis brings a unique perspective on what consumers & customers really care about and how good brands can really stand for something, as well as why now, more than ever, Purpose matters for the customers and employees of tomorrow.

Dr Catherine Tilley

Catherine Tilley is a Lecturer in Business Ethics and Sustainability at King’s College London and Impact Director for the Institute for Sustainable Business. She studied for her MA and PhD at Cambridge University, and for her MBA at Manchester Business School. She has been a Visiting Scholar at Stirling University and is a Fellow in Construction Engineering Management at Cambridge University.

Catherine worked for over 20 years in management consultancy, mostly at McKinsey & Company, with a particular interest in organisational and strategic problems. She returned to academia in order to focus on research about decision-making for sustainable business. Her research now examines two phenomena: first, the ways in which people in companies incorporate social and environmental sustainability into their decision-making; and second the ways in which complex socio-technical systems (such as transport networks) adapt to climate pressures.

She is particularly interested in the ways in which people resolve problems of competing commitments in their working lives and this influences both her research and her teaching. Her teaching has included work with undergraduates, graduates and executives on questions of strategy, organisation, leadership, decision-making, ethics and sustainability.