The New CEO Playbook: Soon Hagerty Of Boundless Futures Foundation On Balancing Purpose, Profit, and Personal Brand
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Purpose, profit and personal branding are so aligned from my perspective. Who you are drives what you do on a daily basis.
The most successful modern CEOs are rewriting the rules of leadership. They’re not only building profitable companies but building purposeful brands with personal voices behind them. These leaders understand that in today’s world, people invest in people. Their stories, values, and visibility fuel loyalty, attract opportunities, and drive business growth far beyond traditional metrics. In this interview series, we’re sitting down with leaders who’ve learned to balance purpose, profit, and personal brand — and who are using their influence to shape the future of business leadership.
As part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Soon Hagerty.
Soon Hagerty is a brand strategist, female founder and advocate for businesses that focus on growth and good. She has more than 20 years of experience working with global brands and businesses that use purpose to break through the clutter. Her recently launched nonprofit Boundless Futures Foundation supports female founders who create business that help solve some of society’s biggest issues.
Thank you so much for joining us in this series. Before we begin, our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you share your backstory and what led you to become the leader you are today?
When I think about what type of leader I am today, it’s hard not to reflect on my early childhood and the massive impact of being an immigrant from Vietnam. I was one of the boat people from the late 70s who were refugees fleeing from communist Vietnam. My dad fought alongside the Americans in the South Vietnamese army. After the fall of Saigon, we emigrated to the U.S. with seven kids and $300 in our pocket.
After many years of hard work at remedial jobs my parents started their own produce distribution business which changed the trajectory of our lives.
This taught me a lot about resilience, hard work and the power of entrepreneurship in defining your own destiny. Ironically, I didn’t recognize this impact until I started my first business when I turned 30.
What’s the “why” that drives your work? How has your personal sense of purpose evolved as your business has grown?
The power of business to change lives made an early impact on me after my parents became entrepreneurs. Over time I would have entrepreneurs as my clients through my public relations work. I gravitated towards businesses that thought bigger than just profits and those that expanded their focus on how they could use their business to help others.
Let’s now move to the core of our discussion. This series is about balancing purpose, profit, and personal branding. Can you help explain why each of those three matters, and why they can sometimes pull against each other? If possible, share a real example from your experience.
Purpose, profit and personal branding are so aligned from my perspective. Who you are drives what you do on a daily basis. It drives what innovation you create, the impact you want to provide and the service you bring to the world.
In June of 2018 I launched The Good Bowl, a mission driven Vietnamese restaurant that donates $1 per bowl to charity. I started this restaurant to thank the U.S. for taking my family in as immigrants. It truly embodies who I am; a foodie, an advocate for business to make an impact in the world and a believer that who you are in the world can be authentically embedded into your business.
You have to be thoughtful of making good decisions that ensure your business is profitable for the long term while recognizing that giving away some of the profits is intrinsically what makes it special.
Many CEOs focus heavily on strategy and profitability but hesitate to invest in their personal brand. What do you think about that? What have you seen work best?
I think with today’s societal focus on authenticity to break through the clutter CEOs need to consider what type of leader they want to embody. For that to happen they have to consider their personal brand. The reality is that there has always been a personal brand for CEOs since the first business that was ever invented, we just didn’t frame it that way.
Your personal brand as a CEO exists whether you cultivate it or not. I think it’s instrumental to be proactive about it with how fast moves online. A simple misunderstanding or comment can unravel a person’s reputation in hours sometimes even minutes. Being clear of who you are will help prepare you to react and respond effectively.
What are some misconceptions you’ve encountered about personal branding in the C-suite, and how do you challenge those narratives?
Some CEOs are afraid to speak up on various issues that they feel might be polarizing. I completely understand that concern but coming from a communications background I believe in the power of being clear on what your values are and putting it down on paper even if you don’t need to advertise it daily. It’s in those moments that you can draw upon those values when you need to speak up or are asked to take a stand.
What’s one specific way your visibility as a leader, through interviews, speaking, or social media, has directly impacted your organization’s success? Walk us through what happened. How did you know it worked, what changed in measurable terms?
I mentioned earlier that I didn’t appreciate the impact being an immigrant had on me until I started doing interviews about entrepreneurship after starting my first business. Once I recognized how much that identity formed who I am I was able to be more vulnerable and open about my origin story.
The more I spoke about it the more I was able to better connect with people. It felt like such clarity in describing who I am today.
Balancing profit and purpose are easier said than done. What practices or principles guide your decision-making when those two goals seem to conflict?
First and foremost, to create impact in the business world you have to ensure you have a solid business first. That being said, it’s vital to embed your giving or impact strategy into your business model vs. hoping that you will have some profit in the end to give away.
Starting small in terms of an impact strategy will create a better foundation for both your business long-term and your impact work. It’s easier to add than to take away your giving should your business hit a rough patch or your business changes.
Can you share a story about how aligning your personal values with your company’s mission created a breakthrough in performance or growth?
Launching The Good Bowl with a mission focused model helped to break through the clutter of our small town in Northern Michigan that is known for having several good restaurants. It made our guests feel good about their experience and became a large tenet for why our employees loved working for us.
In your view, what separates a leader who simply “runs a company” from one who builds a movement around their message?
Running a company is incredibly hard work so I never want to negate the passion that many owners put into their business or CEOs. But creating a movement provides such an incredible sense of pride that you can be a force for both growth and good. I’m a big believer in an AND world not an either/or concept.
How do you integrate storytelling into your leadership, both internally with your team and externally with your audience or clients?
I use storytelling to connect with how the audience is viewing themselves. Are you speaking to fellow entrepreneurs, other leaders or aspiring female executives? Sharing an obstacle you’ve experienced that aligns with their world view can create an incredibly strong bond.
Can you share a time when taking a public stand or sharing your story authentically strengthened your credibility or influence?
I do a weekly Boundless Mind Mondays social post that shares my insights as a leader, mom, female founder and brand strategist. Through this platform I’ve shared vulnerable imperfect moments. This has been liberating but is also inspiring when someone sends me a message how much an insight has helped them.
What are your “Top 5 principles for balancing purpose, profit, and personal visibility?” (Please include a short example for each, plus one action a reader could try this week.)
1. Be clear on what your personal values are prior to ever needing to speak up about them.
This helps ensure you are not put in a position where your values are misunderstood or misaligned with your company.
2. Be proactive about which issues you care about helps insulate you from the pressures of having to comment on every pressing societal issue in your business.
3. For a business to be a force for both growth and good, you must focus on a solid business foundation first to help you leverage that business to help others.
4. Start small with your impact strategy.
This helps to ensure a long term impact and helps others retain what your company stands for.
5. Your personal brand exists whether you are proactive about it or not so learn to harness what makes you effective and lean into that.
A quick but powerful exercise is to list three social topics you are passionate about. Craft 3–4 sentences on how you might support those issues, so you are always ready to leverage your expertise to help others.
Finally, if you could summarize your leadership philosophy in one sentence, what would it be — and why?
Raise the bar high, those who cannot meet it will self-select out.
How can our readers continue to follow you or your company online?
I am on LinkedIn and our impact work can also be found on our website www.boundlessfutures.org
Thank you so much for sharing all of these insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
About The Interviewer: Chad Silverstein is a seasoned entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience as a Founder and CEO. While attending Ohio State University, he launched his first company, Choice Recovery, Inc., a nationally recognized healthcare collection agency — twice ranked the #1 workplace in Ohio. In 2013, he founded [re]start, helping thousands of people find meaningful career opportunities. After selling both companies, Chad shifted his focus to his true passion — leadership. Today, he coaches founders and CEOs at Built to Lead, advises Authority Magazine’s Thought Leader Incubator.
The New CEO Playbook: Soon Hagerty Of Boundless Futures Foundation On Balancing Purpose, Profit… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.