Paul Polman

I was one of six children born in the Netherlands. My mother was a teacher and my father had an administrative job in a tyre factory. They taught us that success isn’t about accumulating wealth—it’s about serving others. Having lived through a terrible war that took opportunities away, they simply wanted a better life for their six children. Values like dignity and respect, equity and compassion guided them.

After a bachelors in economics in the Netherlands, I finished my graduate studies MA and MBA in Economics and Business in America at the University of Cincinnati.

I worked for three great companies in the years that followed: Procter & Gamble, Nestle, and Unilever – all built to last. I learnt the power of creating lasting value through business models driven by clear values, and I learnt that serving all your stakeholders – employees, customers, suppliers, local communities, the planet and even future generations – is the best way to also ultimately serve your shareholders and build thriving companies over the long-term.

I was CEO of Unilever between 2009-19. Working with a tremendous team, we showed that responsible business models can go hand-in-hand with strong performance, raising top and bottom line growth, outperforming the industry, and increasing shareholder returns by 290% while the company consistently ranked first in the world for sustainability and one of the best places to work.

Today I work at the intersection of global business, government, and civil society, to accelerate action on our shared global challenges, and none more burning than the need to operate within planetary boundaries and address systemic inequalities. I was honoured to sit on the high-level United Nations panel which originally developed the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. They are a great blueprint for a more inclusive, more resilient, and more prosperous global economy, and they are the business opportunity of a generation.

I co-wrote a book, “Net Positive: how courageous companies thrive by giving more than they take”, to help support a mindset shift in business. We need to reimagine what good looks like. Collectively, we need to think beyond traditional “Corporate Social Responsibility” and making our companies “less bad”, instead embracing business models which repair, restore and regenerate our world, and which build great companies in the process. When business leaders swap timidity for ambition and collaborate with others – their peers, their critics, governments, and civil society – we can fix broken systems and help find solutions to humanity’s biggest problems. We need leadership and courage, and we need to remember the human element in all this. This is why I work closely with organisations like Systemiq who are focused on driving Systems change and why I co-founded IMAGINE, to drive transformative leadership and partnership. Transforming systems always starts with transforming ourselves.

I have a farm in the south of England that we are rewilding. It’s also a place to house the steadily growing number of grandchildren.

Sometimes I’m asked what I would tell young execs who are coming up, based on what I’ve learnt over the years. Simply, my motto is that it’s better to make the dust than eat the dust. Take risks. Be bold. And never give up. Be human and be humble enough to seek out partners and allies in your endeavours. Don’t waste time on things you don’t believe in. In fact, don’t waste time at all.