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Leadership

Fortune’s CEO Initiative Brought Businesses Together To Create Global Change

By
Susie Gharib
Susie Gharib
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By
Susie Gharib
Susie Gharib
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October 16, 2017, 11:56 AM ET

All across America, people are talking about leading with purpose. Whether it’s in boardrooms or company cafeterias, there’s a new conversation underway about how doing good is good for business.

Fortune has been facilitating the discussions by bringing together business leaders from a variety of industries to strategize how they can cooperate to make a difference in a big way. In September, Fortune launched the CEO Initiative, where 100 CEOs met in New York City to build on a landmark meeting with Pope Francis in 2016 at the Vatican. The Pope urged a select group of Fortune 500 executives, scholars, and philanthropists to cooperate to bring prosperity to the world’s poor.

How effective are these gatherings? Do they inspire and motivate change? The short answer is yes. But some participants tell Fortune that the next step is to broaden the reach. As Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant explains, “Here you have a collection of companies that passionately believe. What we need to do now is to bring the rest of our sectors along and engage them in these conversations. We just need to bring more people into the fold.”

Watch the video above to hear what other business leaders said on the topic.

About the Author
By Susie Gharib
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