Paul Polman On Courageous CEOs And How Purpose Is The Growth Story Of The Century (Part 1)
by Afdhel Aziz
When Unilever CEO Paul Polman (and now chair of global business collective Imagine) turned up for a business dinner at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai in 2008, little could he predict that it would turn into what he calls ‘a crucible moment’ in his life. Terrorists attacked the hotel and he and his team were trapped there for hours, told to lie flat on the floor to avoid inhaling the smoke that was filling the room, until they were rescued by the police in the early hours of the morning. In total, 172 people died in attacks across the city, a night of dread and loss that left many scars.
Polman reflected on that moment. “During your life, you have these ’crucible’ moments that form you, it could be a death in the family or a tragedy around you. You find yourself in the Taj Mahal on that night. Thank God my wife had stayed home with our children–it was actually Thanksgiving (she is American, so we celebrate it), but I was there. And then you discover after you come out, not only how lucky you were, and that's obviously an important part of it, but you discover above all the goodness of people. I met many people that expressed the right qualities in humanity that night.”
Months later, Polman and the other Unilever board members who had been trapped went back to thank the staff of the hotel for saving them. They held a dinner, scheduled for 9:36pm (the time of the attack), but it wasn’t a regular dinner. “The board did something unusual,” Polman told Vanity Fair.“We served the staff. We needed closure, and we did not have it until that night. We made so many friends with one another and with the Taj staff. And we lived.”
The experience made Polman realize the profound link between poverty and violence. “What you then realize is that a lot of the violence in the world is driven by poverty and by exclusion, which religious fanatics seize upon and create these extreme forms of violence, which we should never give into. And that helped me when we did the Unilever Sustainable Living plan. So many companies with purpose are on the side of the environment which was very narrowly defined as trees and water and conservation. But it runs much deeper. We need to fight for addressing these issues of exclusion and poverty, which are at the roots of this violence. And so if you don't understand that human dimension, and that the crisis we face is one of humanity more so than anything else, you can’t really properly solve it.”
Of all the companies that embody purpose, alongside Patagonia, Unilever is one of the best examples, with iconic brands like Ben and Jerry’s, Dove and many more. Under Polman’s stewardship as CEO for 10 years, the company implemented its ambitious Sustainable Living Plan which aimed to double its growth, halve its environmental impact and triple its social impact. The plan succeeded, with Unilever’s annual sales rising from $38 billion to more than $60 billion, and the company becoming a beacon for those who wanted their work to matter.
Indeed, the achievement is all the more remarkable because unlike Patagonia, Unilever is a publicly traded company with shareholders–though in true Polman fashion, on his first day as a CEO he announced he would no longer be issuing quarterly share guidance and reports, to break free of the tyranny of short-termism (also somewhat cheekily reasoning that the board couldn’t fire him on his very first day). Either way, the gamble paid off: Unilever delivered a total shareholder return of 290% over his tenure.
Polman spoke on the importance of attracting people who are purpose-driven and attracted to the mission of the company. “If you want to have a purpose driven business, it's very important that you have people who are purpose-driven. And to be a good leader, driven by purpose, you first and foremost have to be a good human being, and understand yourself as well. What we were looking for was people that I call ‘whole people’ instead of ‘half people’.”
He continued, “The long term success depends a little bit on what you're good at, your passion or your purpose and then what the world needs. And if you can manage to achieve all three of them, you are in your sweet spot. That's what we found in Unilever where despite the pressures of this industry, engagement was very high and we became a recruiting brand. I think part of that was really the secret sauce perhaps of how we recruited - 75% of the people that came in, came in because of the Unilever Sustainable Living plan. So purpose is also driven by a strong desire to serve.”
Click here for Part Two of this interview, where Polman talks about the need for courage amongst CEOS and how purpose is ‘the growth story of the century’.