10 Inspiring Social Impact Leadership Examples For You To Love

Social impact leaders are people who have created an inspiring example that have inspired many others to follow. What can we learn from the social impact leaders and how can they inspire us?

Key Takeaways: Social Impact Leadership Examples.

Social impact leaders prioritise positive societal change through strategic thinking, ethical leadership, and deeply held commitment.

They come from diverse backgrounds, whilst sharing traits like resilience, innovation, and unwavering dedication to their causes.

Many social impact leaders challenge the status quo and inspire others to make a difference.

Positive social impact can address a wide range of issues from education to healthcare to environmental conservation.

Even small, everyday actions can contribute to creating positive social change.

How can you take inspiration from these great examples of social impact leadership?

What is Social Impact?

“Social impact is a visible, emergent pattern of enduring change within a social system, sparked by intentional actions. This shift marks a clear departure from past societal norms, affecting the health and wellbeing of the members of the social system.”

J-P Crofton

Social impact refers to how the health and wellbeing of people, community or a society are effected by it’s participants and actors. It is emergent in that it results from the multiple interactions and relationships within society. Therefore social impact is about creating the conditions for change.

Examples of Social Impact

There are two types of social impact: positive and negative. Positive social impact refers to actions that led to the improvement of the health and wellbeing of people within society. Whereas negative refers to the declines in people’s health and wellbeing.

Examples of Positive Social Impact.

1. University of Northampton’s Impact: The University of Northampton has demonstrated how it creates positive social impact through its programs and initiatives. Their efforts include areas such as education, community engagement, and sustainability. Demonstrating how social impact is not one thing. It can be multifaceted.
2. Gamification for Social Good: Gamification, when applied thoughtfully, can create positive social impact. By incorporating game elements into educational programs or health campaigns, organisations can engage and motivate people to take positive actions. We have long seen how gambling disrupts society, encouraging people into unhealthy behaviours. This is about turning that force into good.
3. Audley Group’s Social Value: The Audley Group focuses on creating social value. Their initiatives include providing access to clean drinking water, building schools, and offering job training to people who are unemployed. Countering inequalities that are often magnified by a lack of access to resources.

Examples of Negative Social Impact.

1. Long-Term Refugees: Prolonged displacement of refugees due to conflicts or natural disasters can have severe social and economic impacts. It disrupts communities, strains resources, and affects mental well-being. As well creating problems that are passed on between generations.
2. Social Isolation Due to Mental Illness: Mental health conditions often lead to social isolation. Stigma, lack of understanding, and limited support networks can exacerbate the negative impact on individuals and their communities. This is exasperated by stigma and a relative lack of investment in mental health despites it’s significant effect on society.
3. Paying Workers Less Than a Living Wage: Exploitative labour practices harm workers and perpetuate inequality. When companies prioritise profits over fair wages, it negatively affects families and communities, Exasperating poverty, health and happy gaps across society.

What Does Social Impact Leadership Mean?

Social impact leadership entails guiding organisations, teams, or movements in a way that prioritises and achieves significant positive changes in society. It combines strategic thinking, ethical leadership, and a deep commitment to making a difference in the lives of others.

Great Social Impact Leadership Examples

Here are 10 social impact leadership examples. I’ve found the example they set inspiring and helping me to think and act differently. These are specific examples of individuals known for their contributions to social impact across a range of fields:

1. Muhammad Yunus

Now Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus founded Grameen Bank and pioneered the microfinance model, Yunus has empowered millions of people, especially women in developing countries, by providing them with small loans to start their own businesses, thereby lifting them out of poverty. The Grameen Foundation has lent out $6.5 billon to the poorest of the poor.

Why Muhammad is a Great Example of Social Impact Leadership:

Empowering people to do it themselves and not getting in the way. He priorised social impact over profits. His work empowered neglected communities giving them the financial tools and confidence they need to improve their lives.

2. Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani education activist who became globally recognised after surviving an assassination attempt by the Taliban for her courageous advocacy of girls’ education. Her work, includes the founding of the Malala Fund. Malala is the youngest person to earn the Nobel Peace Prize, has galvanized worldwide efforts to ensure that every girl has the opportunity to learn and thrive.

Why Malala is a Great Example of Social Impact Leadership:

Malala Yousafzai exemplifies social impact leadership through her unwavering commitment to girls’ education and women’s rights. Even in the face of life threatening adversity she carried on. Her ability to mobilise global support, influence policy changes, and inspire communities demonstrates how one individual’s courage show how one person can defeat the odds and can inspire transformation and social change.

3. Wangari Maathai

Environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, which focuses on tree planting, environmental conservation, and women’s rights. Her work has contributed to the planting of over 51 million trees and a campaign that has resulted in the planting of 11 billion trees worldwide.

Why Wangari is a Great Example of Social Impact Leadership:

Wangari Maathai is a great example of social impact leadership because she mobilised grassroots communities to address environmental degradation while simultaneously empowering women and advocating for social justice. By founding the Green Belt Movement, she not only initiated large scale reforestation projects that improved ecosystems and local livelihoods but also demonstrated how communities themselves can create transformative change on both a local and global scale.

4. Kailash Satyarthi

Kailash Satyarthi is an Indian children’s rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate renowned for his relentless efforts to end child labour and exploitation. As the founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, have led to the rescue of over 83,000 children from child labour, slavery, and trafficking and continues to advocate for global reforms to ensure every child’s right to education and a safe childhood.

Why Kailash is a Great Example of Social Impact Leadership:

Kailash Satyarthi exemplifies social impact leadership through his proactive, hands-on approach in rescuing children and mobilising communities, using strategic alliances and persistent advocacy to bring about policy reforms. His leadership is marked by a unique blend of grassroots activism and international collaboration, which has transformed child labour laws and galvanized a global movement for children’s rights.

5. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a Liberian stateswoman and economist who made history as Africa’s first elected female head of state, serving as President from 2006 to 2018. She is celebrated for her transformative leadership in rebuilding Liberia after civil war, instituting democratic reforms, and championing women’s rights, which ultimately earned her the Nobel Peace Prize

Why Ellen is a Great Example of Social Impact Leadership:

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a great example of social impact leadership because despite surviving rejection and exile and charges of treason she changed long embedded cultural stereotypes. She led Liberia’s recovery from civil war with a focus on rebuilding democratic institutions, promoting transparency, and fostering national reconciliation. Her transformative leadership not only revitalised Liberia’s economy and governance structures, but also paved the way for greater women’s participation in politics, across Africa and beyond, setting a powerful precedent for female leadership in a post conflict society.

6. Paul Farmer

Co-founder of Partners In Health, Paul Farmer dedicated his life to improving healthcare for the world’s poorest populations, emphasising the importance of a preferential option for the poor in healthcare. He pioneered community based treatment strategies in the most impoverished places. Paul Farmer focused not just the diseases patients had, but treating the systems environments that patients existed in. It is a lesson that healthcare is not just about disease, but results as a product of our environment.

 “The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world,”

Paul Farmer

Why Paul is a Great Example of Social Impact Leadership:

Social impact leadership example: Challenging assumptions seeing the bigger picture and flipping beliefs on their head. Overcoming ideas of it can’t be done.

Paul Farmer is a great example of social impact leadership because he challenged assumptions, saw the bigger picture and flipped people’s beliefs on their head. He not only brought advanced medical care to underserved communities in Haiti and Rwanda but also developed innovative, community-based models of healthcare delivery that integrated social, economic, and cultural dimensions of health. By actively engaging with local populations, training community health workers, and influencing global health policies, he transformed the way poverty stricken communities access and benefit from quality healthcare, setting a new standard for equitable and sustainable health interventions worldwide.

7. Van Jones

Van Jones is an American activist, author, and news commentator who has dedicated his career to promoting social and environmental justice. Through initiatives like Green for All and Dream Corps (Now Dream.org), Van has worked to bridge the gap between environmental sustainability and economic opportunity, creating pathways for marginalised communities to access green jobs and reforming criminal justice practices.

Why Van is a Great Example of Social Impact Leadership:

Van Jones is a great example of social impact leadership because he has implemented direct, tangible programs that connect environmental sustainability with economic empowerment for marginalised communities. For instance, through his Green for All initiative, he has developed job training and placement programs that have successfully integrated underserved populations into the green economy, demonstrating how targeted policies and community engagement can drive systemic change in both environmental and social spheres.

8. Nadia Murad

Nadia Murad is a Yazidi human rights activist and survivor of ISIS atrocities. Murad survived genocide and sexual slavery by ISIS in Iraq and has since been a leading voice in advocating for the rights of survivors of sexual violence and the Yazidi community. Through her courageous efforts to raise awareness and push for accountability, she has helped bring international attention to the plight of the Yazidi community and other marginalised groups facing similar injustices.

Why Nadia is a Great Example of Social Impact Leadership:

Nadia Murad is a great example of social impact leadership because she transformed her personal tragedy as a survivor of genocide and sexual violence into a powerful global movement for human rights. By courageously testifying at international forums, advocating for legal reforms, and raising awareness about the plight of marginalised communities, she has influenced international policies and inspired countless others to stand against systemic injustice.

9. Nemonte Nenquimo

Nemonte Nenquimo is an indigenous leader from the Ecuadorian Amazon. As a representative of the Waorani people, she led a groundbreaking legal case that halted oil extraction on ancestral lands, protecting both the environment and indigenous rights, and setting a powerful precedent for grassroots activism and community-led conservation efforts.

Why Nemonte is a Great Example of Social Impact Leadership:

Nemonte Nenquimo is a great example of social impact leadership because she mobilised the Waorani community to file a groundbreaking lawsuit in Ecuador’s Constitutional Court, resulting in a historic ruling that protected over 500,000 acres of ancestral land from oil extraction. By combining traditional indigenous knowledge with modern legal strategies, she not only secured vital environmental protections, but also empowered her community and set a transformative precedent for indigenous rights and conservation efforts worldwide.

10. Mindy Scheier

Mindy Scheier is the founder of the Runway of Dreams Foundation, an organisation that uses fashion to empower children with disabilities by providing them with unique, confidence-boosting experiences on the runway. With over 20 years of experience in the fashion industry, including roles as a key member of the INC collection design team and as a stylist for Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City,she has leveraged her industry expertise and passion for inclusion to create transformative programs that celebrate diversity and challenge traditional beauty standards.

Why Mindy is a Great Example of Social Impact Leadership:

Mindy Scheier is a great example of social impact leadership because she has uniquely leveraged her experience in high fashion to turn away from traditional norms of profit focused fashion industry. Driving inclusivity and empowerment for children with disabilities. She has transformed her insider knowledge, into a platform that not only gives children with disabilities a memorable runway experience but also challenges conventional beauty standards and sparks meaningful conversations about diversity and acceptance in the fashion industry.

What Can We Learn From These Social Impact Leadership Examples

The individuals, despite their diverse fields, share a common approach and attitude towards creating impactful change. They embody the spirit of resilience, innovation, and unwavering commitment to their causes, much like a lighthouse guiding ships through treacherous waters. Their stories offer a rich tapestry of lessons on how to effect social change, each thread representing a unique strategy or insight.

Social impact leaders frequently set the example to us by acting as role models and sources of inspiration. They typically challenge and overcome ‘common sense’ thinking and the status quo. They adapt and change the world around them. Acting as a guiding light helping others change the world.

Great Examples of Social Impact Leaders Don’t Have to Be Famous.

However, these are famous examples, all around us are organisations like charities non-profits, social enterprises, and even sociably minded businesses adopting corporate social responsibility practices full of people you have never heard, but nonetheless changing the world and setting an inspiring every day example for others in creating a positive social impact. At the end of the day we set the best examples for one another.

Learn The Knowledge And Skills To Become a Better Social Impact Leader

I’ve created a helpful guide covering everything from strategy to measurement showing how social impact leaders can motivate their teams. With helpful tips and insights i have from years of experience and insights from complexity science, ecology, psychology.

Please visit my guide to learn more.

Now it’s Your Turn to Inspire Others

Now You Have Been Inspired learn how we can make a difference and inspire the people around us. Visit my complete guide to creating a social impact project. I also offer free help and advice through my consultancy service.