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Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take Hardcover – October 5, 2021
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Runaway climate change and rampant inequality are ravaging the world and costing a fortune. Who will help lead us to a better future? Business.
These massive dual challenges—and other profound shifts, such as pandemics, resource pressures, and shrinking biodiversity—threaten our very existence. Other megatrends, such as the push for a clean economy and the unprecedented focus on diversity and inclusion, offer exciting new opportunities to heal the world, and prosper by doing so. Government cannot do this alone. Business must step up.
In this seminal book, former Unilever CEO Paul Polman and sustainable business guru Andrew Winston explode fifty years of corporate dogma. They reveal, for the first time, key lessons from Unilever and other pioneering companies around the world about how you can profit by fixing the world's problems instead of creating them. To thrive today and tomorrow, they argue, companies must become "net positive"—giving more to the world than they take. A net positive company:
- Improves the lives of everyone it touches, from customers and suppliers to employees and communities, greatly increasing long-term shareholder returns in the process.
- Takes ownership of all the social and environmental impacts its business model creates. This in turn provides opportunities for innovation, savings, and building a more humane, connected, and purpose-driven culture.
- Partners with competitors, civil society, and governments to drive transformative change that no single group or enterprise could deliver alone.
This is no utopian fantasy. Courageous leaders are already making it real—and the stakes couldn't be higher. With bold vision and compelling stories, Net Positive sets out the principles and practices that will deliver the scale of change and transformation the world so desperately needs.
Join the movement now at netpositive.world
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarvard Business Review Press
- Publication dateOctober 5, 2021
- Dimensions6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-101647821304
- ISBN-13978-1647821302
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From the Publisher
Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take
Editorial Reviews
Review
"The bottom line is that Net Positive clearly lays out the case that businesses should be able to do well by doing good. Drawing on the important example of Unilever during Polman's tenure, it's also a high-level guide for organizations to more aggressively contribute to combating climate change and inequality." — Charter
"It makes a more optimistic case for courageous progressive companies and their leaders, who can offer practical, positive ways of tackling environment, social and governance issues." — Financial Times
Advance Praise for Net Positive:
"A wonderful rallying call to business leaders all over the world to step up to the greatest opportunity, and responsibility, of our time." — Sir Richard Branson, founder, Virgin Group
"Net Positive will be pure heresy to all those who still subscribe to the failed dogma of shareholder primacy—which is exactly why we need it." — Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO, Thrive Global
"A compelling and inspiring case that businesses can—and should—boost their bottom lines by contributing to their communities and protecting the environment." — Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States; Nobel Peace Prize winner; Chairman, Generation Investment Management
"Carefully considered and deeply rooted in the real world of management." — Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft
"Don't call it a 'business book.' Net Positive fundamentally rethinks the way human beings—CEOs, politicians, and activists—can together reset our planet's trajectory." — Paul Hawken, author, Drawdown and Regeneration
"Polman knows that when leading CEOs stand up for a more equitable world, governments are much more likely to do the same." — Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization; Finance Minister of Nigeria, 2003–2006 and 2011–2015
"Net Positive turns courage and principled action into an electrifying strategy for business success. It's powerful, persuasive, and unlike any other book you've read." — Ken Frazier, Executive Chairman, Merck
About the Author
Paul Polman works to accelerate action by business to achieve the UN Global Goals, which he helped develop. He was the CEO of Unilever from 2009 to 2019, the first from outside the company in its century-plus history, and has been described by the Financial Times as "a standout CEO of the past decade." He created a new framework for decision-making in the organization to focus the business on multiple stakeholders and long-term value creation, committing the company to doubling its sales while keeping its footprint flat, to touching one billion people, and to greatly improving the lives of suppliers around the world. Peers and experts have ranked Unilever as the most sustainable company—above long-standing, privately run leaders like Patagonia and IKEA—for eight years. Today, Polman is cofounder and Chair of IMAGINE, a for-benefit organization and foundation that mobilizes businesses around the UN Global Goals.
Andrew Winston is one of the world's most widely read writers and leading thinkers on sustainable business. His books on sustainability strategy, including Green to Gold and The Big Pivot, have sold more than 150,000 copies in seven languages. Winston has also written cover stories for Harvard Business Review and published hundreds of articles in HBR, MIT Sloan Management Review, and other top publications. He was recently selected for the Thinkers50 Radar 2020, a list of "30 thinkers to watch out for in the coming year." His views on strategy have been sought after by many of the world's leading companies, including 3M, DuPont, HP, Ingersoll Rand, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly-Clark, Marriott, PepsiCo, PwC, and Unilever.
You can find more about Paul Polman at:
imagine.one
twitter.com/paulpolman
linkedin.com/in/paulpolman
You can find more about Andrew Winston at:
andrewwinston.com
twitter.com/AndrewWinston
linkedin.com/in/andrewwinston
Product details
- Publisher : Harvard Business Review Press (October 5, 2021)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1647821304
- ISBN-13 : 978-1647821302
- Item Weight : 1.35 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #13,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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Customer reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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However, we both agree on quite a few issues when it comes to how employees are the MOST important asset in any company and how important it is to treat them like the diamonds they are! We also agree in the importance of leadership, sustainability and many other leadership issues which all who are in these roles need to keep as top priorities in a company. He perhaps leans more of government intervention than my perspective as they are way to slow to act, and most often their actions reflect the particular party in power, versus the good of ALL the people regardless of political party!
I am glad I read the book and found a lot in good takeaways from a leadership perspective and think anyone running a company in today's environment, regardless of political parties, would find this book an excellent read! I know I did.
Put aside the political issues and focus on the heart of the two men that wrote this book and their overall viewpoint that we need to GIVE more than take! An excellent perspective in any leadership role. I just wished politicians had that same mindset and this would be an even GREAT country vs one party against another!
The exponential disruptions caused by both climate change and social forces are just becoming evident to many people; the authors of Net Positive have been preparing for these disruptions for decades. Andrew wrote about them in his first book, the bestselling "Green to Gold," and Paul lived them as CEO of Unilever. Their combined perspectives on what's next should be mandatory reading in every business school and for every executive.
The book includes wonderful inside stories about how and why Paul transformed Unilever into one of the world's most respected sustainability-focused companies, current sustainability trends (from both the business and advocacy perspectives), and strategic insights and perspectives that will redefine what a successful business strategy requires and what successful businesses will look like moving forward.
If you care about business, people, or the planet that they share, read this book.
By Scot on October 23, 2021
The exponential disruptions caused by both climate change and social forces are just becoming evident to many people; the authors of Net Positive have been preparing for these disruptions for decades. Andrew wrote about them in his first book, the bestselling "Green to Gold," and Paul lived them as CEO of Unilever. Their combined perspectives on what's next should be mandatory reading in every business school and for every executive.
The book includes wonderful inside stories about how and why Paul transformed Unilever into one of the world's most respected sustainability-focused companies, current sustainability trends (from both the business and advocacy perspectives), and strategic insights and perspectives that will redefine what a successful business strategy requires and what successful businesses will look like moving forward.
If you care about business, people, or the planet that they share, read this book.
Top reviews from other countries
Read this book if you are interested in how business can play a more positive role in the world or if you want to find ways to make a difference in your work. Read this book if you are interested in business and leadership and how challenging they can be for those who want to shape a different future. It's a cracker.
I ordered this, partly because I thought it looked interesting but mainly out of loyalty to Paul Polman, who is a man who remains a top leadership inspiration to me and so many others.
From reading the pre-blurb, I confess I wondered a little if it might be slightly dry or overtly preachy in style - but when the book arrived, I picked it up and couldn’t put it down.
The book tackles head-on-the complexity of thought process that so many leaders in business are going through, with stories and frameworks that really help.
I like the focus of its approach:
‘We did not want to debate capitalism here, but instead, in a practical way, to argue for the changing role that business must play to continue to earn its license to operate.’
It’s an eminently practical focus on some HOW ideas for those who already know WHY it’s time for change - and it’s a read which I think will (in the hopes of co-author Andrew Winston) ‘inspire the business community to step up, accelerate and help lead towards a thriving world.’
It’s also full of fascinating stories about the courage and complexity in the fight for Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan - the real challenges faced and what really happened.
It’s always so useful to understand the stories from inside a business and there’s a lot in here to help everyone appreciate that it’s not easy to step up to the responsibility (and the opportunities) business has to move to positive action.
And this book is not only for those who want to understand how business can play a more positive role to help the world more, but a reminder that they need to do that in order to thrive in a changing world:
'A net positive approach not only prepares you to be competitive today, but more important, positions you well to be among the winning companies and industries of the future.'
An interesting read. An inspirational book. A critically important topic. One of the best things I've read all year and probably one of the most important - highly recommended.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 16, 2021
Read this book if you are interested in how business can play a more positive role in the world or if you want to find ways to make a difference in your work. Read this book if you are interested in business and leadership and how challenging they can be for those who want to shape a different future. It's a cracker.
I ordered this, partly because I thought it looked interesting but mainly out of loyalty to Paul Polman, who is a man who remains a top leadership inspiration to me and so many others.
From reading the pre-blurb, I confess I wondered a little if it might be slightly dry or overtly preachy in style - but when the book arrived, I picked it up and couldn’t put it down.
The book tackles head-on-the complexity of thought process that so many leaders in business are going through, with stories and frameworks that really help.
I like the focus of its approach:
‘We did not want to debate capitalism here, but instead, in a practical way, to argue for the changing role that business must play to continue to earn its license to operate.’
It’s an eminently practical focus on some HOW ideas for those who already know WHY it’s time for change - and it’s a read which I think will (in the hopes of co-author Andrew Winston) ‘inspire the business community to step up, accelerate and help lead towards a thriving world.’
It’s also full of fascinating stories about the courage and complexity in the fight for Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan - the real challenges faced and what really happened.
It’s always so useful to understand the stories from inside a business and there’s a lot in here to help everyone appreciate that it’s not easy to step up to the responsibility (and the opportunities) business has to move to positive action.
And this book is not only for those who want to understand how business can play a more positive role to help the world more, but a reminder that they need to do that in order to thrive in a changing world:
'A net positive approach not only prepares you to be competitive today, but more important, positions you well to be among the winning companies and industries of the future.'
An interesting read. An inspirational book. A critically important topic. One of the best things I've read all year and probably one of the most important - highly recommended.
Giving more than what we take doing business can be, has to be a reality.
This book is a brilliant demonstration that a profitable business should not be at odds with sustainability, on the contrary. It shows that it is not wishful thinking but is happening, in real business life, and importantly at scale, thanks to visionary and courageous leaders like Paul Polman.
Great book with its many examples to inspire other leaders and create a net positive movement, but also business students who need to embrace this new way to do business.











