How do you build a company with social impact? Ask StartingBloc

Editor’s note: WRAL TechWire reported about StartingBloc’s move of its headquarters to Raleigh and plans to launch its first event in the Triangle earlier this month. Writer Mindy Hamlin takes a detailed look at the nonprofit organization and its program. Ina related story, meet StartingBloc’s CEO Kristine Sloan, a Raleigh native.

RALEIGH – The workplace is changing, and leaders must adapt. That is the driving force behind StartingBloc, which recently relocated its headquarters from Colorado to downtown Raleigh. Led by CEO and Raleigh native Kristine Sloan, StartingBloc prepares leaders for the ever-changing business landscape.

The nonprofit organization focuses on social impact and provides leadership guidance to leaders who have a social mission at the root of what they are doing. Through its fellowship program, the nonprofit organization facilitates intensive leadership training and access to an active community through a cohort-based model.

“You can build a company that has impact, but if no one is addressing leadership and its structure, it will fail because leadership is what matters at the end of the day,” said Sloan.

Values, beliefs

Startingbloc’s programs are based on the following values and beliefs:

All beings have potential that needs to be unearthed.
That the graceful embodiment of power is transformative.
That radical generosity is sacred.
In staying curious.
That going further and deeper requires commitment to presence.
That the liberation of one is bound to the liberation of all.

When Sloan started with the organization in 2015, change was taking place within companies.

“We were looking at the landscape and seeing the line of demarcation between companies with a social mission and those without was starting to blur,” said Sloan.

Leadership and social responsibility

Shannon Prudhomme

For Shannon Prudhomme, director of global fund development at Rise Against Hunger, StartinngBloc offered her an opportunity to join a community that would challenge her and reaffirm her commitment to social impact.

“I felt like I needed a community to challenge me to rise and be my best self and be accountable to my values and professional standards,” said Prudhomme.

One of the most important lessons Prudhomme learned at the institute was about her leadership style.

“I was a person who was very self-aware,” said Prudhomme. “Even when I was in a role to lead, I closed myself off and tried to go it alone. I now see the necessity of having buy in. How do I challenge my own thinking and how do I go through the process of community and organizational change with my collaborators?”

Building a collaborative community

StartingBloc’s five-day Institute is an introduction to what it calls a lifelong community. Over the past 15 years, more than 2,800 leaders in 56 countries have participated in its program.

For fellows like Jen Riedel, a regional manager for community programs at the Raleigh office of Techstars, the StartingBloc community offers is one of the program’s greatest benefits. While building skills in the Institute, Riedel also developed a community, or tribe, of peers and friends that provide support and guidance.

StartingBloc also places an emphasis on soft skills, such as communication and collaboration.

“StartingBloc is conscious of this acceleration and need for skill-building and community. They provide a nurturing environment for testing these skills in real time with fellows, experts, mentors and alumni at the five-day Institute,” said Riedel.

After participating in the organization’s Institute, fellows have access to fellows worldwide, as well as regional chapters and topical affinity groups, special events and Startingbloc’s pro bono coaching program.