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Inclusion is our greatest innovation challenges—risky, transformative, and ultimately worthwhile.

Founding Director, Institute for Gender and the Economy at Rotman School of Management | Author of The 360° Corporation

Sarah Kaplan | Director, Institute for Gender and the Economy at Rotman School of Management | Author of The 360° Corporation
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Prioritizing Corporate Social Responsibility (1:53)

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Identifying Shareholder Trade-Offs (2:31)

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Busting the Myth of Meritocracy (5:03)

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Gender Equality As an Innovation Challenge (3:25)

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Investing in Gender Equality (4:10)

Lavin Exclusive Speaker

We treat innovation as an investment: something that we do, regardless of how difficult, risky, or potentially unsuccessful it may be, because it’s worth it. Why not treat our biggest social challenges the same way? That is the question posed by SARAH KAPLAN, a former McKinsey alum turned premier MBA professor. In her rousing talks, she shows us how to reposition our biggest struggles—gender equality, diversity, the environment—into innovation challenges that will transform our organizations, making us more creative and more resilient along the way.

In her latest book The 360° Corporation, Kaplan reveals how companies, from Nike to Walmart, have risen to meet the challenges of modern business—where the name of the game is no longer to turn a profit, but to turn a profit while making a positive contribution to society. Combining razor-sharp business savvy with a rigorous academic approach, she offers an eloquent and strategic plan for leaders, managers, and executives hoping to create lasting, transformative change.

“As business leaders, we evaluate and make trade-offs every day. Sarah Kaplan has prepared a cogent guidebook to help turn these events into strategic opportunities to capture value.”— Dave Stangis, VP of Corporate Responsibility, Campbell Soup Company

Kaplan also serves as the Director at the Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) at the Rotman School of Management. There, she zeroes in specifically on solving gender inequality (another innovation challenge), both in the world of business and the economy at large.

Prior to The 360° Corporation, Kaplan co-authored the bestseller Creative Destruction, as well as Survive and Thrive: Winning Against Strategic Threats to Your Business. She was formerly a professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (where she remains a Senior Fellow), and has cultivated nearly a decade of consulting and innovation experience at McKinsey & Company. Her previous research has covered biotechnology, fiber optics, financial services, nanotechnology, and most recently, the field emerging at the intersection of gender and finance. Kaplan completed her doctoral research at the Sloan School of Management at MIT, and holds a BA with honors in Political Science from UCLA, and an MA in International Relations and International Economics with distinction from Johns Hopkins University.

Speech Topics

Women in Leadership
Gender Equality as an Innovation ChallengeHow to Address Diversity in Business and Leadership

Our quest for gender equality in the economy has plateaued. In an attempt to reignite progress, many organizations are making an economic argument for diversity, suggesting that hiring more women is good for business. But Sarah Kaplan—a University of Toronto Distinguished Professor of Gender and the Economy—argues that the “business case” may actually be doing more harm than good. It sends sign...

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Innovation
The 360° CorporationFrom Stakeholder Trade-Offs to Transformation
In addition to shareholder expectations, companies today are facing pressure from “clicktivists,” socially conscious consumers, and a new generation of investors focused on environmental and social integrity. But how can companies cope when the interests of the shareholder and those of stakeholders such as communities, workers, consumers, suppliers, and the environment conflict irreconcilably...
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Change Management
Build Back BetterRedesigning Business for the Future
The past few years have demonstrated that there is an urgent need for business reform: from the rallying cry for better work conditions and ethical products, to the potential disruptions of climate change and a heightened understanding of inequality. Today, those issues are magnified ten-fold, making it clear that transformation can’t wait a moment longer. In this fascinating business keynote...
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