Join the Next Social Change Career Podcast Episode Livestream
Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad — and How Great Companies Stay Great

Success alone won't protect what matters most.

That's the urgent message at the heart of Incorruptible, the bold new book from bestselling author and Lean Startup creator Eric Ries. Drawing on two decades of work with founders, CEOs, and investors, Eric exposes the forces that make companies vulnerable to short-term thinking — and offers the blueprint for organizations that can grow, prosper, and endure without losing their soul.

Incorruptible publishes May 26 in the US and May 28 worldwide. Ahead of that launch, Eric joins the PCDN Social Change Career Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on what it really takes to protect what you build.

About the Book

For decades, we've explained corporate corruption as a problem of bad actors, moral weakness, or isolated scandals. But that story doesn't match reality. Again and again, companies founded with strong ideals drift toward short-term thinking, extractive behavior, and mission abandonment — often despite the best intentions of the people inside them.

Incorruptible argues this failure is not primarily ethical. It is structural. As organizations grow, the systems that govern them — ownership, incentives, charters, accountability, and decision-making — quietly reshape behavior. When those systems are poorly designed, even principled leaders are pushed toward outcomes they never wanted. Success itself becomes a form of financial gravity, bending companies away from their original purpose.

Eric reframes corporate governance not as bureaucracy or compliance, but as a creative and strategic act at the heart of building enduring, mission-controlled companies. Whether you're a founder, executive, investor, or citizen, Incorruptible will fundamentally change how you think about building organizations.

Eric joins us for the upcoming livestream of the Social Change Career Podcast. Join us in this conversation which we will discuss:

• Why corporate corruption is a structural failure, not a moral one — and what Incorruptible offers as the fix
• The concept of "financial gravity" and why governance is "always too early until it's too late"
• How LTSE became a real-world experiment in mission-locked governance
• What Answer.AI, his AI R&D lab, looks like when responsibility is built in from day one
• How to become an incorruptible force for good — in your organization and beyond
• Get a deep preview of Incorruptible before its May 26 US launch
• Learn the structural tools that keep mission-driven organizations on course as they scale
• See how the ideas behind The Lean Startup evolved into a new blueprint for protecting what you build
• Understand why, at a moment when trust in business is eroding, this conversation has never mattered more

Come ready with your questions — and join us live.

When
April 20, 2026 | 11:00 – 11:50 AM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)

How to Join
Live on LinkedIn & YouTube — with time for audience questions and comments.

Can't attend live?
The episode will be available shortly after, alongside 200+ past conversations on impact careers and social change at pcdn.global/listen or any major podcasting platform.

Bio

Eric Ries is the creator of the Lean Startup method and author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup, The Leader's Guide, and The Startup Way. His new book, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad…and How Great Companies Stay Great, publishes May 26, 2026 — a clear-eyed diagnosis and practical blueprint for building companies that prosper and endure without losing their soul.

As a founder, Eric has put his own ideas into practice through the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), Answer.AI (an AI R&D lab), Lean Startup Co, Virgil, and IMVU. He hosts The Eric Ries Show podcast, speaking with world-class technologists, thought leaders, and executives building profitable companies for the long-term benefit of society. He has served as entrepreneur-in-residence at Harvard Business School and IDEO, and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Pre-order Incorruptible | incorruptible.co
Newsletter: The Lean Startup
Podcast: The Eric Ries Show | YouTube
LinkedIn | X/Twitter | Instagram | TikTok

PCDN News

Make your inbox amazing with our new Career Digest subscription option for less than the cost a cup of coffee per month.

• Delivered 5–6 days a week, you’ll get over 200 human curated opportunities every month—including jobs, fellowships, funding options, impact news, socent opps trainings, remote roles and more.
• Whether you're just starting or looking to advance, this digest provides the world’s best human-curated impact opportunities to fuel your career.
• Interested in subscribing for a group or organization. Get in contact.

Other Terrific PCDN Resources.

Social Change Career Podcast: Access over 200 episodes featuring changemakers worldwide. Available at https://pcdn.global/listen or any major podcast platform.

Sign up for our Free AI for Impact Newsletter - Get amazing AI for Impact jobs, funding, consultancies, tools, tips and ethical insights.