Episode #6: Start with a Crisis - With Sophie Livingstone

In Episode #4 of the Change Project Giles Gibbons suggested that the separate nomenclature of ‘charity’ and ‘business’ is potentially becoming ever more irrelevant. What is more important are the values that are brought to bear and the impact an organisation has. In today’s podcast Neil Almond interviews Sophie Livingstone, Managing Director of Trustees Unlimited with the aim of exploring some of these ideas further.

Sophie has great experience as a social change activist and is perhaps best known for her leadership of the pioneering youth charity City Year, where, with her team, she took it from start-up to a hugely successful organisation with three regional bases. Sophie has always cherry-picked the best of business and blended it with leading thinking from the charity and social sectors.

This podcast explores how to help people coalesce around a central vision for change by developing a sense of urgency and alignment around a ‘crisis’. Sophie explores how to lead through change and how to maintain consistency of values and culture as you grow. She also shares some of her learnings around how to measure success and get funders eating out of your hand.