Is “purpose-driven and profitable” the new norm? | Interview w/ George Weiner | CEO of Whole Whale

Summary: Hiring the right people, attracting the right clients and giving them the results they really want, leaving no data to go to waste. George Weiner, founder and chief whaler at Whole Whale shared how he built a social impact digital agency that is doing well by doing good. Description: We live in an age […]

Summary:

Hiring the right people, attracting the right clients and giving them the results they really want, leaving no data to go to waste. George Weiner, founder and chief whaler at Whole Whale shared how he built a social impact digital agency that is doing well by doing good.

Description:

We live in an age where data is abundant. It would be a shame if any of it went to waste, just like it was a shame that whalers in the 1850’s left large parts of the whale to rot. This is where the name Whole Whale comes from. The analogy with whaling stops there, as this digital agency only works with social impact organizations, and only if the majority of employees agree to take the new client on.

Founder George Weiner used to think like many companies still do: the ends justifies the means. Later he realized that this approach fails to take into account the unintended consequences of every decision, and he built them into his way of looking at the world and running Whole Whale. However, it remains to be seen whether the general public will subscribe to the idea of purpose-driven companies, and make more of them profitable than the few exceptions we see today. 

It is not always clear even within an organization what the end goal really is. Whole Whale does a sort of “business therapy” to find out what their client wants, and once they defined the goal, they use aggregated data to measure what is working. They produce data packaged with a narrative that’s just as compelling as the story of Whole Whale.

Key takeaways:

what it takes to be a B-Corp, and what it isn’thow to cultivate a unique company culture from hiring to exit interviewshow you know you are “doing good” in the digital marketing worldhow society is dealing with negative externalities

Mentions:

Whole Whale’s Website: https://www.wholewhale.com/

Digital fundraising course: https://www.wholewhale.com/university/online-fundraising-essentials/

Connect with George on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeweiner/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wholewhale