In 1885, children were dying from widespread health epidemics caused by rampant poverty. Two men had a simple idea. Soap. Their thesis: if soap could be produced easily and cheaply and then made widely available to everyone, epidemics could be stopped and lives could be saved. They were right, and today, we know that idea as the massive, global company called Unilever.
With $58 billion in sales and over 400 brands of products ranging from Dove soap to Hellman’s mayonnaise and Popsicles, the Unilever of today touches 2.5 billion people (a third of the world!). But, what has long fascinated me about this company is the perspective of its CEO, Paul Polman. Convinced that “the real purpose of business has always been to come up with solutions that are relevant to society, to make society better,” he embedded an aggressive slate of social commitments into the very fabric of the company.
From the environment and climate change, to global hand washing campaigns, to worker pay to community engagement, Polman believes the company has a responsibility not just to sell products, but to do so in a way that leaves the world a better place. I love that he didn’t buy into the Wall Street narrative of growth at any cost. And I love that he is a living example that CEO’s can and should take moral responsibility for their company’s impact.
So I read with fascination today’s Fortune CEO Daily by Alan Murray, titled “Doing Well by Doing Good Can Be Hard — Ask Unilever” and the more detailed profile piece Unilever CEO Paul Polman’s Plan to Save the World.
In them, Wall Street analysts show their true motivations by hand wringing over Polman’s “missionary zeal” while lamenting that the company only produced $5.7 BILLION in net profit.
More than 160 million children in the world are stunted from malnutrition. Eight million people die prematurely each year from pollution.
This shows exactly what has gone wrong in our society and, I believe, why there is so much political turmoil and backlash happening today. Wall Street is driving the decision making — pressuring boards to cut people like Polman so they can extract more growth, more profits, and higher share prices — and greed outweighs everything else. Wages. Jobs. Benefits. Workforce training. The environment. Everything takes a back seat to a growth-at-any-cost strategy.
You know why I love Paul Polman? When asked about his “lackluster” earnings ($5.7 billion!!) his answer was priceless…
“More than 160 million children in the world are stunted from malnutrition. Eight million people die prematurely each year from pollution. The world’s richest 1 billion people consume 75% of its natural resources. We’re wasting 30% to 40% of the food in this world, whilst millions of people go to bed hungry. Why do we not have the moral courage to attack that?”
Global corporations are phenomenally positioned to tackle these challenges.
Financial returns are important, but they cannot be the singular measure of success for corporations. And CEO’s, Boards and Shareholders need to grasp the responsibility and leadership roles their firms could play in solving the challenges of the communities in which they operate.
More importantly, every day people, like William and James Lever, need to see the problems in front of them and start tackling them. One bar of soap at a time…together we can change the world.
