天美传媒

Paul Polman began his recent talk at 天美传媒 by referencing Charles Dickens鈥� famous line about living through the best and the worst of times.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 where we are,鈥� said Polman, who for 10 years led Unilever before stepping down in January. On the one hand, 217,000 people are lifted out of poverty each day; economies, by historical measures, are booming across the globe; and technology has brought previously unimaginable access to information.

On the other hand, 鈥渢he way we鈥檝e lifted people out of poverty is not sustainable,鈥� Polman said, and is tied to the past decade鈥檚 general sense of crisis 脴 first financial, then economic and now political. The culprits include overconsumption, a reliance on debt and a system that leaves far too many people behind, resulting in untenable income inequality.

鈥淭here鈥檚 something wrong,鈥� Polman said during his talk titled What Does it Mean to Lead a Multi-Stakeholder Company? The Case of Unilever.

鈥淭he traditional idea of the fruits of globalization trickling down simply hasn鈥檛 happened,鈥� said Denise Kingsmill, a lawyer and member of the advisory board at聽Inditex, during a later panel on geopolitics and the CEO. Also on the panel were Stanley Motta of Motta Internacional,聽Ibukun Awosika of First Bank of Nigeria, Kerry Holdings鈥� George Yeo and 天美传媒鈥檚 Eric Weber.

Members of 天美传媒鈥檚 International Advisory Board (IAB) were on the Barcelona campus for their annual meeting, holding talks with alumni and students.聽The IAB, which is comprised of prominent global business and public sector leaders, also welcomed its newest member: Juvencio Maeztu, Global CFO of IKEA Group and a 天美传媒 MBA.

鈥淏usinesses cannot be bystanders鈥�

Polman argued that current governmental disarray compels business leaders to practice better social responsibility. 鈥淚t鈥檚 during an enormous political vacuum like today鈥檚 where the private sector steps in,鈥� he said. 鈥淏usinesses cannot be bystanders to the social systems that give them life in the first place.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e in a position to act, you have to act. If not, you become guilty of the crime.鈥�

Moderator Jordi Canals in introducing Polman called him one of the most significant CEOs of our time, and 鈥渁 source for good.鈥� Unilever under his leadership became an admired example of how to start the process of transformation (as analyzed in a recent 天美传媒 cast study) to corporate purposefulness from more conventional, profit-driven business missions.

Polman thinks executives can become active participants in bettering society by dismantling the 鈥渦nderlying boundaries鈥� that give short shrift to social and natural capital. (The sustainability-minded businessman spoke at length about the cataclysmic perils of climate change, calling it 鈥渢he greatest intergenerational crime we鈥檝e ever committed.鈥�)

As an example, Unilever early into Polman鈥檚 tenure as chief implemented a radical Sustainable Living Plan, whose goals included helping 1 billion people improve their health and hygiene, doubling the proportion of the Unilever portfolio meeting the highest nutritional standards and halving greenhouse gas impact and water consumption.

Crucially, the plan integrated these ambitions into company鈥檚 everyday business practices 脴 and made the consumer goods behemoth a multi-stakeholder company.

Purpose and profits both

What鈥檚 really needed, Polman said, is the 鈥渃reation of a circular or regenerative rather than linear economy.鈥� He prefaced his next statement by saying many didn鈥檛 believe it.

鈥淚n 10 years I never looked at [Unilever鈥檚] share price,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was made aware of it by other people. But it didn鈥檛 interest me. And if it did, I think I鈥檇 have made the wrong decisions.鈥�

Still, purpose-driven business doesn鈥檛, and indeed can鈥檛, preclude success by more traditional business measures.

鈥淓xecutives need to be driven by moral value and purpose, but they also need to make sure they get results,鈥� Polman said. 鈥淚f the business performs, fewer people have their guns out.鈥�

We are living through an era of tumult and technology-driven polarization. Yet Polman鈥檚 basic premise remains that despite certain contemporary appearances to the contrary 鈥渢here aren鈥檛 bad people in the world. We have a few rotten apples. But the collective essence is good. And we must achieve these results collectively.鈥�