The HOW Institute for Society and The Rockefeller Foundation
Partner to Scale Moral Leadership in the Social Sector

  • Launch community of practice, actionable research, and new Moral Leadership Lab to bolster social impact leaders working on the world’s most significant challenges 
  • Appoint Executive Director, Danielle Zapotoczny, to lead the partnership
The HOW Institute for Society and The Rockefeller Foundation Partnership for Moral Leadership in the Social Sector launched a new Moral Leadership Lab as one avenue for bringing together a community of social impact leaders committed to the idea of putting humanity, shared values, and principled decision making at the core of how we lead, shape culture, govern and relate to each other and to society. The social sector takes on the world’s most significant challenges — from working to solve hunger and poverty to climate change and public health. The Partnership is grounded in the idea that forward progress on systemic issues will only be achieved by building bridges that bring people together, establishing deep levels of trust, rethinking established systems of operating, and imagining new ones grounded in human connection and collaboration. Danielle Zapotoczny has been appointed Executive Director to lead the effort and work alongside this community to research what makes the most effective social impact leaders and institutions work, help create models to scale their successes, and help leaders frame the path ahead as a journey and find comfort in a community on that same journey. Embracing HOW’s frameworks and experimenting with new approaches, these organizations will work to strengthen their cultures and improve their ability to navigate evolving crises, unexpected events, and countless pain points in the modern workplace that can impede progress. The aim is that by embracing moral leadership, these leaders will become more effective themselves and help increase the impact of their organizations, while also serving as an inspiration and catalyst for others to also adopt moral leadership as central to how they lead.
At this moment of profound social, economic, and technological disruption, principled decision-making and values- based behavior is more important than ever. In response, The HOW Institute and The Rockefeller Foundation collaboration centers on the need for a deep examination and reimagination of current moral leadership models, culture, and governance. With machines quickly gaining the ability to out-“think”, out-process, and out-perform us, it is critical that organizations are built on strong human foundations, at every level of an organization. The need for character, creativity, compassion, humility – the things that come from the heart – are all uniquely human and uniquely valuable and cannot be automated or commoditized – is high. It is one thing to proclaim the primacy of human values and moral decision making, it is yet another to make them central to an organization’s day- to-day culture. That is the work that urgently remains to be done. The crux of the Partnership for Moral Leadership in the Social Sector is to build the platforms and practices to make moral leadership an integral component of any organization, recentering our institutions on what is truly human.

The HOW Institute’s Moral Leadership Framework

Over the last decade, The HOW institute has codified a rigorous methodology and framework alongside a robust and engaging curriculum to bring the practices of moral leadership across the world, with a particular focus on the private sector. Their programs have gained traction across leading global organizations, and they have built a board of esteemed leaders committed to utilizing the practices across their teams and organizations. Recognizing the value of this asset in the world today, Rockefeller Foundation, steeped in a global network and knowledge of social sector leaders, ignited a partnership with The HOW Institute to bring these practices to the social sector.
“We at The HOW Institute believe that the single greatest leadership challenge of the 21st century is to nurture and develop leaders who lead with moral authority and ensure that these leaders occupy positions of formal authority at every level and sector of society,” said Dov Seidman, founder and Chairman of The HOW Institute for Society. “It is affirming that The Rockefeller Foundation – an organization that has built a global reputation for identifying opportunities for transformative change – also recognizes the urgent need for moral leadership and has chosen to support our mission to scale it in the world. We look forward to working together to bring more partners onto this journey.”

Addressing Global Challenges Through Moral Leadership

The Partnership for Moral Leadership in the Social Sector will be emphasizing practical frameworks and approaches that can be used in day-to-day work. The approach will focus on answering three fundamental questions facing social sector leaders and institutions today:
  1. How can we scale moral leadership in the social sector?
  2. How can we rethink the design of institutions in the social sector based on moral leadership principles so that they have even greater impact?
  3. How can we apply moral leadership as a force for specific systems change efforts?
The Partnership will help these social leaders adopt new moral leadership frameworks, models, precepts, ideas through curated learning experiences, convenings, and the development of original research and thought leadership that examines and explores the leadership and organizational models most effective in the social sector.
“The Rockefeller Foundation has been making big bets with partners to drive transformational impact for over a hundred years. We’ve always pushed new frontiers for how this work can be done to reflect new realities and to incorporate the latest techniques. We see Moral Leadership as a new frontier to accelerate social innovation and systems change in a changing world where traditional leadership models are floundering,” said Zia Khan, Senior Vice President of Innovation at The Rockefeller Foundation. “We look forward to partnering with The HOW Institute and leaders committed to furthering social impact to scale moral leadership practices and to inspire not only motivating workplace cultures but also exceptional performance and results.”

The HOW Institute for Society and The Rockefeller Foundation Appoint New Executive Director Danielle Zapotoczny

Danielle Zapotoczny spent 14 years at the United Nations Foundation building partnerships and mobilizing communities around issues ranging from climate change and gender to education and food systems. She has been exploring moral leadership through her work at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy where she teaches a seminar on innovating for social impact and co-hosts a Leading with Purpose undergraduate learning experience.
“The stakes have never been higher to get leadership at all levels right,” said Ms. Zapotoczny. “We live in a time where trust is so often lacking; common ground has become elusive; and organizations are facing internal and external pressures that undermine their ability to deliver on the mission. It is a privilege to be part of this powerful partnership that will bolster a community of leaders who are the bedrock on which organizations committed to social impact stand. We look forward to working with these leaders to provide oxygen; concrete tools for the hard work of building moral muscle; and a community of support that can lead to strengthened organizations and stronger collaboration on critical issues.”
About The HOW Institute for Society
The HOW Institute for Society seeks to build and nurture a culture of moral leadership, principled decision-making and values-based behavior that enables individuals and institutions to meet the profound social, economic, and technological changes of the 21st Century. Leading the strategy for The HOW Institute is Founder Dov Seidman, a successful entrepreneur and CEO, best-selling author, and a teacher, who has devoted his life and professional career to making philosophy and philosophical frameworks practical in the business arena and across all sectors of society. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.thehowinstitute.org/e-news-signup/ and follow us on X @TheHOWInstitute and LI @TheHOWInstituteforSociety.
About The Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity. Today, we are focused on advancing human opportunity and reversing the climate crisis by transforming systems in food, health, energy, and finance. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe  and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn and LI @the-rockefeller-foundation.
About Moral Leadership
At its core, moral leadership is a framework for and approach to how one leads, earns moral authority and wields influence – with or without formal authority. Moral leaders bring others on a shared journey of significance grounded in truth, meaning, and hope. Moral leaders inspire and elevate others; infuse a culture with trust, passion and loyalty to the mission; and seek significance as the measure of success. They live their values and act on their principles, even when uncomfortable, difficult or inconvenient. They have the courage to ask difficult questions, wrestle with nuance and build coalitions across multiple perspectives. They see the humanity in others and their leadership – replicated across an organization – can start a wave that leads to increased risk-taking, innovating and, ultimately, progress. While formal authority can be seized, won or bestowed, moral authority must be earned by who you are and how you lead.