A Good Force – a GivingForce original series

About A Good Force – a GivingForce original series

A Good Force. Where we spotlight moments that shaped the leaders behind enterprise CSR and ESG to turn purpose into measurable change. Hosted by Ejaz Rashid, Founder & CEO at GivingForce.

Publisher

Ejaz Rashid

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

17 Dec 2025

Latest episode

2 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

27 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   2 Oct 2026

   EP 27 - Coro Strandberg (Canadian Purpose Economy Project)

   Summary Coro Strandberg, President of Strandberg Consulting and co-founder and Chair of the Canadian Purpose Economy Project, traces her path from social work and the Vancity board to more than two decades advising businesses on social purpose. She explains how CSR evolved into sustainability and ESG, why metrics and executive incentives decide whether purpose ever leaves the boardroom, and how the Canadian Purpose Economy Project is working with boards, investors, business schools and disclosure standards to make social purpose the norm. She closes with practical first steps for companies ready to define their purpose and bring it to life. Keywords social purpose, CSR, sustainability, purpose economy, purpose governance, corporate governance, social impact, ESG, purpose disclosure, business transformation, social innovation Key topics The origins of social purpose and CSR Transformational company guidelines and leadership The importance of metrics and disclosure in purpose The Canadian Purpose Economy Project and global efforts Practical steps for companies to define and implement purpose Sound bites "Aligning those incentives was what drove subsequent innovation and really moved it from a boardroom agenda to, if you will, a management agenda." "Boards of directors don't know the purpose of the companies that they're stewarding." "A lot of businesses have an implicit purpose and they need to make it explicit." Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Coro Strandberg and her background 01:28 The start of Coro's journey in social responsibility 02:49 Early moves in community development and credit unions 03:15 The shift from philanthropy to strategic CSR in 1992 04:17 Communicating and embedding social responsibility in organisations 05:34 Incentivising management for social and environmental goals 07:27 The significance of metrics and sustainability reporting 09:16 The frontier ideas of purpose-driven business models 10:58 Transformational company guidelines and leadership qualities 12:54 The evolution from CSR to sustainability to ESG 15:01 The discovery of social purpose within organisations 16:46 The Canadian Purpose Economy Project and its vision 18:15 Gaps in purpose understanding and disclosure 19:27 Purpose governance guidelines and global outreach 23:20 First steps for companies to define purpose 24:41 The motivation behind purpose-driven work 26:07 Mobilising business for societal impact 27:01 Transforming business models to embed purpose 28:09 Operational shifts needed for purpose integration 29:32 Final thoughts and the importance of explicit purpose Guest links Coro Strandberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corostrandberg (https://www.linkedin.com/in/corostrandberg) Strandberg Consulting: https://corostrandberg.com (https://corostrandberg.com/) Canadian Purpose Economy Project: https://purposeeconomy.ca (https://purposeeconomy.ca/)

2. 

   25 Sept 2026

   EP 26 - Christian Bader (Premium Food Group ApS & Co. KG)

   Summary Christian Bader leads corporate social responsibility at Premium Food Group, in one of the most scrutinised industries there is: meat. He started out in journalism, then spent years farming in Zimbabwe, where he learnt that sustainability only sticks when it pays. He explains what really drives the carbon footprint of a steak, how deforestation-free soy became a sector-wide standard, and why a customer buying a product a second time is the number that tells him a sustainable product has worked. Keywords sustainability, food industry, climate action, responsible sourcing, regenerative agriculture, carbon footprint, deforestation-free soy, primary data, vegan food, hybrid food, industry collaboration Key topics Christian's career transition from journalism to sustainability The complexity of environmental metrics and acronyms The role of economic viability in sustainable farming Impact of meat production on climate change Innovative practices like regenerative agriculture and deforestation-free soy Industry collaboration for sustainability standards Consumer behaviour and product repurchasing as success metrics The potential of vegan and hybrid foods as alternatives Sound bites "Sustainability and economic viability have to go hand in hand." "When you are standing on a field in your gum boots, you realise that here sustainability is not a theory. It's about someone's livelihood." "We're not gonna save the planet by hoping that people are going to become vegan." Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Christian Bader and his background 01:22 The complexity of environmental metrics and acronyms 01:53 Christian's career transition from journalism to farming and sustainability 02:46 The role of economic viability in sustainable farming 04:00 Christian's entry into corporate sustainability and climate action 06:49 Balancing animal welfare and climate impact in meat production 11:59 Exploring alternatives to traditional meat, including vegan options 13:43 Measuring success through consumer re-purchasing and product acceptance 15:34 Industry collaboration and setting sustainability standards 17:17 Collecting primary data and sector-wide sustainability initiatives 20:48 Christian's experience moving back to Germany and cultural adaptation Guest links Christian Bader on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-bader-84b43190/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-bader-84b43190/) Premium Food Group: https://premiumfoodgroup.de/en/ (https://premiumfoodgroup.de/en/)

3. 

   24 Sept 2026

   EP 25 - Emily Salazar (Lime)

   Summary Emily Salazar is Director of Social Impact and Advocacy at Lime. She got her start in impact work as a master's student in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, when a community garden she ran for local kids was sold to a developer. She organised the community, then went to the city as a partner rather than an opponent, and came away with a bigger garden on better land. From there she moved to HeadCount, where she brought digital tools into a paper-based voter registration operation, and then to Lime. She talks through Lime Access, Lime Hero and Lime to the Polls, and why impact only scales when it's built into the core business. Keywords social impact, urban mobility, micromobility, community engagement, advocacy, civic participation, voter registration, food access, sustainability, transport, Lime, HeadCount Key topics From community gardening to a career in impact and advocacy Treating stakeholders as partners instead of opponents Bringing digital tools to in-person voter registration at HeadCount Why impact needs tech and marketing to scale Lime Access, Lime Hero and Lime to the Polls Takeaways Advocacy works better when you treat the other side as a partner. Digital tools paired with in-person organising reach people you'd never meet face to face. Impact needs tech, marketing and product thinking behind it to scale. Impact programmes grow fastest when they're tied to the core business. Expect to fail and iterate. The collaboration lesson has to be relearned more than once. Sound bites "Impact is not just impact, it's tech, it's marketing, it's all of these other things, and it can't be siloed into just this impact space." "Impact and advocacy doesn't have to work against business and development." "Mobility is such a fundamental part of everyday life for city dwellers." Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Emily Salazar 01:05 Community gardening and food access in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 03:13 The garden sale and grassroots organising 05:02 Shifting from adversarial to collaborative advocacy 07:25 Learning the collaboration lesson again and again 08:24 Scaling civic engagement at HeadCount 10:43 Bringing digital tools to voter registration 12:37 Why impact needs tech and marketing 13:21 Burnout, 2020 and the move to Lime 15:33 Why transport access is social impact 17:47 Lime Impact Lab and Lime Access 20:28 Lime Hero, Lime to the Polls and Lime's impact pillars 22:18 What's next for Emily Guest links Emily Salazar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilygibbs1/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilygibbs1/) Lime: https://www.li.me (https://www.li.me/) Lime Impact Lab: https://www.li.me/why/community (https://www.li.me/why/community) HeadCount: https://www.headcount.org (https://www.headcount.org/)

Who has been a guest on A Good Force – a GivingForce original series

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Smruti Govan
• Cheryl Rosario
• Denise Melanson
• Jessica O'Neill
• Karen Arsenault

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Contact A Good Force – a GivingForce original series

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.