In this conversation from the Humanizing Growth Series, Paul Polman sets out his view of the role of business in the world. His starting position is simple: companies exist to help improve the world, and a company with a positive impact is one people will allow to stay around.
Key findings
- He treats purpose as a matter of motivation rather than policy, comparing it to the white blood cells people need to live but do not live for. People are bound by a higher order of motivation, and many want to leave the world better than they found it.
- He quotes Colin Mayer’s definition: purpose is to profitably solve the problems of people and planet, and argues it was always important rather than newly so.
- Harm, in his account, is usually structural rather than intended. Nobody sets out to create child labor or destroy resources, but the systems were designed when there was an abundance.
- Unilever’s sustainability work was made commercial by translation. A taskforce turned the UN Sustainable Development Goals into business language, because 17 goals and 169 targets are hard to act on.
- Four areas alone produced a large opportunity: food and land use, mobility, cities and energy transition, adding up to 12 trillion dollars to 2030 and the chance to create 380 million jobs.
Going back to the founder
Asked whether purposeful companies are returning to their roots, Polman agrees, citing Jim Collins on nurturing the core before stimulating progress. Unilever went back to Lord Lever because some of his business values had been lost under other pressures.
He gives marketing leaders a specific part in that recovery. CMOs are the stewards of brands, of corporate cultures, and of history.
The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan put world problems, as they touched the business, in the middle of everything the company did, and put the people it represents at the table during its discussions.
He names the values he considers non-negotiable: dignity and respect for everybody, equity and equal opportunity, and a certain level of compassion. Without them, in his view, the world does not function.
Turning a large company
Asked how to reorient a large business with a rich heritage that has lost its way, his answer starts with people. Unilever had good people, and he does not think the results would have come without their quality and motivation.
The company was too big and complex for one or two people to set direction. Direction had to be co-created, with enough critical mass to move the organization even if not everyone came along.
He describes the underlying motivations as ordinary. People want to succeed, to be valued, and to know where their efforts lead, and an environment that allows for that unlocks a store of creative energy.
The practical sequence was people first, then growth. Getting the right people into the right jobs, restoring a growth mentality, and bringing the outside world back in. When companies shrink, he notes, people become more self-centered and less effective.
Scope and limitations
The document is an interview layout rather than a complete transcript. The conversation is cut off part way through the section on becoming a multi-stakeholder organization.
Source
This page summarises Humanizing growth series: Paul Polman & Marc de Swaan Arons in conversation, by Paul Polman, Marc de Swaan Arons, 2025-12-10.