A biography for Paul Polmanhasn’t been written yet.
“There is still too much pressure on short-termism in terms of the drivers of success.”
“Companies are the first to see the costs of climate change.”
“For Unilever, investing in women is an imperative. The business and social cases for doing so are inextricably linked.”
“You can put yourself to the purpose of others, and in doing so, you can be better off.”
“When women are provided with training and entrepreneurial opportunities in distribution networks, they become role models in their communities, showing it is possible to challenge limiting norms and stereotypes, and to succeed.”
“To achieve policy stability and certainty, we need to establish a meaningful price on carbon and cut the billions of dollars spent each year on fossil-fuel subsidies, along with well-structured financial tools and rules.”
“Leadership is not a contest of likeability. Leadership often boils down to making the tougher choices. You are not in a popularity contest.”
“Climate change is sometimes misunderstood as being about changes in the weather. In reality it is about changes in our very way of life.”
“There are some basic human needs that are the same. Everybody wants to succeed.”
“Unilever brings together the resources and experience of a multinational company alongside our deep local roots, which enables us to grow a genuinely African consumer goods business.”
“We need new, dynamic models for growth through the sharing economy, using big data to unlock new insights and adopting closed-loop cycles.”
“When the climate hurts, people and businesses also feel the pain.”
“Africa is a vibrant, varied continent with a growing consumer base.”
“Left unchecked, climate change risks not only making the poorest poorer, but pulling the emerging middle classes back into poverty, too.”
“Forest nations willing to do more than their fair share to solve the climate crisis should be rewarded through results-based payments.”
“System-wide changes rely on a critical mass of interested parties, all willing to enter into deep partnerships and collaborations, founded on new levels of trust and a commitment to action, not debate.”
“I say to a lot of people you have to measure success in terms of progress, not in terms of end state.”
“Too many companies are running their business into the ground, I would argue, by being myopically short-term focused on the shareholder.”
“Consumers in both emerging and developed markets want it all - high-performing products, the right price, and a purpose that they can connect with.”
“I've always been bothered by systems that don't work for everybody. It doesn't mean we're all equal. I am not naive about that. But we should have a more inclusive society.”