What was it about the charity sector that first appealed to you?
What excites you right now in the sector and wider social impact world? Do you see important innovations emerging and new ways of creating impact?
What does ‘purpose-driven work’ mean to you and why is it important?
Purpose-driven work is important because it carries the dual benefit of making a direct difference to the community you are focussed on, whilst also providing food for the soul.
Jeff Gould
What has been your biggest career highlight?
I’ve been very lucky to do many cool things in my mission to create meaningful change, however, during my time as Head of Innovation at the RNLI, my Future Lifesaving team ran an amazing project called Design Out Drowning, which I reference in much more detail in my course.
The aim of the project was to look at the serious drowning problem in Cornwall and Devon through a new lens to try and discover the root causes. We challenged the creative community to come up with sustainable solutions to a long-term problem. The project embodied many of the things I love: challenging convention and opening the doors to innovation.
One of the selected interventions, sand signage by David Revell of Imagemakers, not only won a Design Week Award in 2020, but we were also contacted by lifeguards all over the country who wanted to implement the idea themselves. It proves that when you have a great idea, adoption is not a problem.
The aim of the project was to look at the serious drowning problem in Cornwall and Devon through a new lens to try and discover the root causes. We challenged the creative community to come up with sustainable solutions to a long-term problem. The project embodied many of the things I love: challenging convention and opening the doors to innovation.
One of the selected interventions, sand signage by David Revell of Imagemakers, not only won a Design Week Award in 2020, but we were also contacted by lifeguards all over the country who wanted to implement the idea themselves. It proves that when you have a great idea, adoption is not a problem.

And your greatest learning?
Cause before organisation
Define your constraints
Demonstrate that it will work
I love...challenging convention and opening the doors to innovation.
Jeff Gould
What was important to you in developing an online course and how did you find the process?
I wanted my course to be honest, practical and hopeful: being honest about my mistakes, my learning and that organisations aren’t perfect, but hopeful that there are simple things that people can do to change that. Key to that was offering the tools to try and make that happen.
I also wanted to write a course that I would actually want to do myself. I have been through lots of courses in my work life, from expansive leadership programmes to mandatory online courses, and I still remember the few that actually engaged me. I want it to be genuinely useful in people’s lives.
How did I find the process? Well, it took a lot longer to write than I first anticipated. This was partly down to having to look after a two-year-old during lockdown but mostly because I wanted to put myself under pressure to offer as much value as I could. This definitely received a lot more attention than my university dissertation did 20 years ago!
How can online learning best help support to accelerate and amplify positive social change?
Featured Course
Innovation with purpose
Jeff leads a course on Utopy called 'Innovation with Purpose.' Go beyond theory and learn the practice of innovation. Jeff shares his hard-learnt lessons and helps fast-track you to success.