A decade ago, Sal Khan envisioned using technology to tailor education to individual and community needs.
Purpose is about both social impact and shareholder value, argues Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati. But rarely, he adds, does any particular initiative perfectly embody both social impact and profit maximization. He advises leaders to take a portfolio approach to purpose, recognizing that some initiatives will be purely market-focused, some purely impact-focused, and that some may indeed synthesize social and financial outcomes.