The Lonely Quest of Unilever's CEO Paul Polman
Jeroen Smit author Jenny Watson translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Anthem Press
Published:25th Jul '23
£24.95
Supplier delay - available to order, but may take longer than usual.
Courageous business leaders profoundly understand: that companies that do not contribute to a better world do not have the right to exist: A thought-provoking book that helps us take the first step towards sustainable companies, a necessity in today’s world.
When Paul Polman became the CEO of the multinational Unilever in 2009, he set out on a quest to convince his colleagues, his board, and the outside world that companies do not have the right to exist if their only purpose is making money. More importantly, he set out to prove that a company could in fact be both profitable and sustainable. The Great Battle or The Lonely Quest of Unilever's CEO Paul Polman investigates how Polman navigated between making money and doing the right thing. Smit convincingly argues that Polman was too far ahead of his time, but that his ideas about responsible capitalism are the very thing we need to turn the tide.
“This book is a great read about leadership as well as opportunities and new challenges to future-proof an organisation.” — Jan Zijderveld, Former Unilever President Europa / CEO of Avon, Supervisory Board-Member of (a.o) Ahold Delhaize
“The Lonely Quest of Unilever’s CEO Paul Polman portrays the struggle of CEO Paul Polman to turn Unilever into a more sustainable company. He was ahead of his time, able to withstand headwinds of shareholders and yet not succeeding at the end. The book is a page-turner, written with swung, depicting what responsible leadership is all about.” — Professor Dr. (Emeritus) Leen Paape, Corporate Governance, Nyenrode Business University
“In a thriller-like style, investigative journalist Jeroen Smit describes how Unilever boss Paul Polman gets stuck.” – NRC Handelsblad (the Dutch quality-newspaper)
“Every sentence is spot-on. Jeroen Smit is perhaps the best economic journalist in the Netherlands.” – Shortlisted in ‘best journalism book / MJ Brusse prijs 2020’
ISBN: 9781839988929
Dimensions: 216mm x 140mm x 26mm
Weight: 454g
452 pages