How Nonprofits Can Navigate Uncertainty

This month, we’ve been highlighting some of the best conversations from the 2025 HBR Leadership Summit held in April.

In today’s episode, Janti Soeripto, CEO of Save the Children US, shares how the organization navigates overlapping global crises—from pandemics to war—while staying focused on its core mission: ensuring children survive and thrive. With 24,000 staff members working across 115 countries, Save the Children provides health, education, protection, emergency response, and advocacy services.

In this conversation with HBR editor at large Adi Ignatius, Soeripto draws on her experience in both the private and nonprofit sectors. She offers hard-won lessons on leading with clarity, measuring impact in volatile environments, and remaining agile while never losing sight of mission—and why optimism and data must coexist. Despite significant cuts in government funding, Soeripto expresses confidence in private donors and emphasizes the importance of long-term investment in simple, life-saving solutions like fortified peanut butter to combat child malnutrition.

Whether you’re in philanthropy, business, or leadership of any kind, this episode will leave you thinking differently about what it takes to lead with both urgency and hope.

Key episode topics include: managing uncertainty, social and global issues, agile project management, nonprofit organizations, operations and supply chain management, leadership styles, developing countries

• Learn more about the HBR Leadership Summit (April 2025)
• Find more Harvard Business Review live events
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org