Business Sustainability Leadership

Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take (Summary)

by Paul Polman and Andrew Winston

Unilever's Lifebuoy soap brand was struggling in India until they stopped trying to sell soap and started trying to save lives. By launching a massive hand-washing education program to combat deadly childhood diarrhea, they didn't just prevent millions of illnesses—they created a generation of loyal customers. Lifebuoy became one of the company’s fastest-growing brands, proving that the world’s biggest problems are not costs to be avoided, but the greatest business opportunities in history.

Your Problems are Your Opportunities

The old model of business views societal and environmental problems as external costs. A net positive company sees them as market opportunities, designing products and services that solve these challenges, creating immense value in the process.

Unilever developed a detergent that requires much less water to rinse, specifically for consumers in water-scarce regions like parts of Africa and India. This not only helped families save a precious resource but also opened up a massive new market that competitors had overlooked.

Take Full Ownership of Your Impact

A company's responsibility doesn't end at its factory gates. Net positive leaders take ownership of their entire value chain's impact—from the raw materials they source to how customers use and dispose of their products.

Unilever calculated that 68% of its products' greenhouse gas footprint came from consumers using hot water. In response, they launched campaigns to encourage shorter showers and cold-water washing, taking responsibility for an impact they didn't directly control but could influence.

The Trade-Off Between Profit and Planet is a Myth

The belief that you must choose between shareholder value and sustainability is outdated. Pursuing bold sustainability goals builds trust, attracts top talent, de-risks supply chains, and drives innovation, ultimately leading to superior long-term financial performance.

When Paul Polman announced he was ending quarterly earnings guidance at Unilever to focus on long-term value, short-term investors fled and the stock dropped 8%. But within a few years, Unilever's stock had outperformed its competitors and the market, attracting long-term investors who believed in its sustainable growth model.

Unleash the Power of Partnership

Systemic challenges like climate change and inequality are too big for any single company to solve. Net positive companies actively partner with NGOs, governments, and even direct competitors to drive industry-wide change.

To fight deforestation, Polman co-founded the Consumer Goods Forum, bringing together CEOs from rival companies like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and NestlĂŠ. They collectively committed to achieving zero net deforestation in their supply chains, an unprecedented act of pre-competitive collaboration.

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