Leaders of large organisations are in the best position to drive global change, having the experience and resources to do so, said Paul Polman, former Unilever chief executive officer and co-founder of the sustainability foundation IMAGINE.
The kind of leaders who can steer us towards the right direction are the ones who think beyond their own needs and interests, and also strive to make as much impact on as many people as possible. These are individuals who “put the common interest above the staff,” which makes them acquire a high degree of commitment.
Giving youth, women a voice
No one group has the monopoly on the best ideas, so it’s also important to give the younger generations—and especially women—a voice and make sure they are involved. Polman cited the younger generations’ awareness of current issues and emphasised the need to invest in them.
“Giving a louder voice to our younger employees is important to their development and to our future success as a company . . . We need more fresh insight from young people to question how we do things,”1 he said.
It’s also important to make room for more women leaders in the boardroom as often they meet leadership requirements to a greater extent than men.2 “There are no excuses to continue holding back women’s access to high professional spheres and to the management positions in the world,” Polman said.
Purpose-driven people make change happen
Leaders are only as good as the people they lead. Change only happens within an organisation when the people in it believe in their leader’s vision, thus the importance of finding the right people.
“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,”3 Polman said.
Many hands on deck
But Polman is also realistic in his belief that leaders cannot make change happen on their own—it comes from collective effort, with all leaders coming together, moving outside their comfort zones, and taking personal risks.
And Polman has put his money where is mouth is. After leaving Unilever in 2019, he co-founded IMAGINE, with Jeff Seabright, Unilever’s former chief sustainability officer. Through IMAGINE, Polman and Seabright hope to bring CEOs together to help them make big strides in implementing sustainability.
He is also working with other companies on sustainability projects, including helping French president Emmanuel Macron and Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault on a fashion-industry deal that aims to cut waste and carbon emissions. By doing this, he hopes to get more fashion brands on board.
1 “Paul Polman celebrates National Apprenticeship Week with Unilever apprentices,” 14 March 2016.
2 A sustainable leader making global changes, Brightline, 23 January 2020.
3 Afdhel Aziz, Paul Polman on Courageous CEOs and How Purpose Is the Growth Story of the Century, Forbes, 25 May 2020.