Centennial Speaker Series: George Serafeim on Purpose and Profit : How Business Can Lift Up the World

Are purpose and profit mutually exclusive, or are they complementary? What are the technological, societal, and market forces that reshape this relationship, and what can we—as entrepreneurs, managers, consumers, employees, and investors—do to reshape it? Backed by cutting-edge research, Purpose and Profit provides answers to these fundamental questions, which are increasingly defining the competitiveness of businesses all around the world. Based on more than a decade of field and archival research, Harvard Business School professor George Serafeim takes readers on a journey to understand:

• How and why environmental and social issues are becoming increasingly relevant for businesses all around the world;
• The ways that companies can design and implement a strategy that has more positive impact;
• The six archetypes of value creation enabled by these new trends;
• The role of investors in supporting companies by recognizing the value of strategic management of material ESG issues; and
• How we can all look at our choices and our careers through the lens of these societal trends to drive impact in our lives and for our organizations.

Agenda
12 p.m.: Welcome Remarks: Sris Chatterjee, chair, Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis

12:03 p.m.: Speaker Introduction: Sris Chatterjee

12:08: p.m.: Presentation: George Serafeim

12:45 p.m.: Audience Q&A

1 p.m.: Closing Remarks: Sris Chatterjee

About the Author
George Serafeim is the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he co-leads the Impact-Weighted Accounts Project and the Climate and Sustainability Impact AI Lab. He is currently teaching the course “Risks, Opportunities, and Investments in an Era of Climate Change,” which he designed for the elective curriculum of the MBA program, and the course “Financial Reporting and Control” in the required MBA curriculum. Previously, he taught the elective course “Reimagining Capitalism: Business and Big Problems,” which received the Ideas Worth Teaching Award from the Aspen Institute and the Grand Page Prize, with Professor Rebecca Henderson. He has presented his research in more than 60 countries around the world and ranks among the top 10 most popular authors, out of more than 12,000 business authors, on the Social Science Research Network.

Copies of Purpose and Profit: How Business Can Lift Up the World will be raffled off to attendees.

This event is co-sponsored with the CFA Society New York, the Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis, and the Museum of American Finance.