Connecting with Jacqueline Novogratz

Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and CEO of Acumen , a global?nonprofit impact investment fund. She is a member of The B Team and serves on the boards of KawiSafi Ventures and Species Unite .?She has been named one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy , one of Business Insider 's?Climate Action 30 leaders, one of the world's 100 Greatest Living Business Minds by Forbes , and was honored with the Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship. Jacqueline, who is beloved and admired by hundreds of thousands worldwide, is also the best-selling author of The Blue Sweater ?and Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World .?

How have relationships influenced your professional development and leadership style?

?I’ve learned throughout my life that no one does anything of real consequence alone. From my earliest years, relationships have influenced the choices I’ve made and how I’ve tried to lead. In Rwanda, Bilge Ogun, a Turkish woman who led 联合国儿童基金会 in Rwanda at the time, believed in my dream to start the first microfinance bank. She gave me a desk in the office, supported me with consultancies, and cheered me on as I learned what was needed to build an institution. I learned the power of investing in young doers from Bilge.

Later, at The Rockefeller Foundation , I met another mentor, Peter C. Goldmark, Jr. , the president of the foundation. Peter challenged me to ask the big questions about what could be, including envisioning how philanthropy could evolve. More than 30 years later, Peter still serves on Acumen’s global advisory board — and he is one of the youngest people I know.

At every turn, relationships — enabled by sharing the highs and lows, giving and receiving help when needed, showing up, and building trust — have made all the difference.

Today, we are building Acumen with a diverse global community of individuals who are committed to solving problems of poverty. This community has taught me how much better we are together than alone, especially when it comes to solving wicked problems.

Do you have any tips for maintaining and building strong relationships??

Be truthful, not transactional. Show up with vulnerability about what you need and what you can give. Share failures, not just successes. Reach out with interest in the other person, not just with requests for assistance. Pay attention to others’ needs. And treat no one as if they are above you or below you. The truth is, you never know who a person may turn out to be. Finally, commit to relationships for the long term. Thirty years from now, you will cherish those friends whose values you share, who know firsthand the bruises you’ve received, and who appreciate but are not awed by your accolades. For they will be the ones to divide your griefs, double your joys, and help you navigate all that comes at you.

And learn to listen.

Listening is a lifelong process that requires continual practice. Listen not to convince or convert, but to change yourself. Listening is especially important in this time of isolation, loneliness, and mistrust. Everyone yearns to belong, to be cared for — human beings thrive when we believe someone cares about us. Listening conveys that care and nurtures relationships.

When we succeed at listening with all our mind and all our heart, we have a chance to set others and ourselves free.

How have you intentionally built inclusiveness into your circles??

From the very beginning, we at Acumen recognized that if we wanted to solve the problems of poverty, we needed to bring in a broad array of voices, particularly those often overlooked or counted out. That means listening closely to the people we aim to serve: low-income, vulnerable communities across the globe. What we need is moral imagination, which takes putting yourself in another’s shoes and understanding their perspective. It’s not just about inviting people to the table but creating an environment where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued. We need inclusiveness in every sense, because solving our biggest problems will take all of us.

What community or communities are you proud to be a part of?

I’m proud to be part of a global community of social entrepreneurs — including the 1,600 Acumen Academy alumni and countless others I’ve met over my career — who refuse to give in to cynicism and choose to do what’s hard, not what’s easy. They recognize our interconnectedness, expand circles of compassion, and see our problems as solvable. These are people who don’t just dream of a better world — they build it. I’m in awe of their grit and resilience, even in the face of failure. They call on us to shift our ways of thinking to connection rather than consumerism, to sustainability rather than selfishness, and to purpose rather than profit.

Who’s a Connector that's made a difference in your life?

John Gardner was driven by the belief that humans thrive in relationship to each other. He was a man of walking integrity. I was lucky to have him as a professor in business school, long after he had served as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under Lyndon Johnson. After leaving the cabinet, he founded the grassroots citizens' organization Common Cause and created other initiatives like the National Civic League to encourage citizen participation.

John believed deeply in the power of community. He would talk to me regularly about the need to build wholeness in ways that held diversity. I once saw him speaking to a former Secretary of State on campus and tried to walk by without disturbing him. He called me over, put his arm around me, and introduced me to the man as if I were important. I only said hello, but I never forgot that generous act of conveying that I mattered.

John was driven by a definition of success grounded in releasing human energies and drawing forth the power of the collective. He invested in young leaders and cultivated both belonging and accountability. He taught me to be curious, to be more interested in people than interesting, and to never stop learning. We never stopped talking until his death in 2002; and I’m still in relationship with him. I often ask myself, What would John do?, and feel so lucky for his guidance.

And I see him as an example of what real legacy is. Names etched on walls can be later erased. But ideas and relationships continue to live for generations. His words are literally written on the walls of Acumen, and there are thousands whose work, inspired by his wisdom, his care, and his relationships, keep his spirit and his values alive in a world that is so much better because he lived.

It's an honor to feature inspiring change-makers across industries who share their stories and words of wisdom about how to build meaningful relationships. Catch up on #CONNECTED with our previous guests, including Baratunde Thurston , ALIZA LICHT , Erin Gallagher and more!

Susan McPherson is a serial connector, seasoned communicator and founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies , a communications consultancy focused on the intersection of brands and social impact. She is the author of The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Relationships.

Follow Susan on LinkedIn , Twitter and Instagram and order her new book, The Lost Art of Connecting , also available on Kindle and Audiobook.