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Paul Polman Biography

Paulus Gerardus Josephus Maria Polman KBE (born 11 July 1956) is a Dutch businessman. After a long-term tenure with Procter & Gamble, he joined the board of Nestlé in 2006. Since 2009, he has been the chief executive officer (CEO) of the British-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever. Polman has received several awards for business leadership related to sustainable development.

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Paul Polman Quotes

Many companies are disappointing the citizens of this world by manipulating labor rates, putting horse meat instead of beef out there, or thinking it's totally acceptable to make a T-shirt from a collapsing factory. Increasingly, people don't want to work for these companies, and consumers don't want to buy from them.

Collapsing, Disappointing, Horse, People, Thinking

I don't think our fiduciary duty is to put shareholders first. I say the opposite. What we firmly believe is that if we focus our company on improving the lives of the world's citizens and come up with genuine sustainable solutions, we are more in synch with consumers and society and ultimately this will result in good shareholder returns.

Believe, Thinking, Opposites, Returns, Consumers

It is unacceptable that more than 1 billion people are hungry every day while another billion are obese.

People, Hungry, Billions, Day, Unacceptable

People at my level [Unilever CEO] shouldn't be motivated by salary. If you paid me double, I'm not going to work twice as much, because I'm already probably maximizing my time available. And would it change the way I do things? Not really. So, yes, I am fortunate, and I am ashamed about the amount of money I earn.

Double, Fortunate, Level, Levels, People, Salary

What is success? I think the most important thing is to achieve what you set out to achieve. Just being a CEO in itself is not success. I would not relate success to a title or a position. My career has had a level of serendipity all along. I've never planned anything out more than a few years.

Achieve, Careers, Set, Thinking, Years

Leadership is not just about giving energy. . . it's unleashing other people's energy.

People, Giving, Energy, Leadership, Unleashing

The world we want is an enormous responsibility.

Enormous, Responsibility, Want, World

If you work at an insurance company that sells premiums you wouldn't even sell to your mother, how happy would you feel to work there? It's going to eat you up. It might last a few years, but it doesn't attract the best people, and it certainly doesn't create the energy and engagement you need to be a long-term performing company.

Attract, Company, Insurance, Long, Mother, Years

Unless we change direction, models show that the profit of the entire consumer goods sector could be wiped out by 2050

Profit, Goods, Shows, Direction, Models

My fear is a fear of being obsolete. This is a world that changes very fast, and one of the main human desires is to belong to, to be part of something. It's probably one of our greatest needs next to oxygen.

Desire, Desires, Greatest, Human, Needs, Oxygen

Imagine all the food mankind has produced over the past 8,000 years. Now consider that we need to produce that same amount again — but in just the next 40 years if we are to feed our growing and hungry world.

Past, Years, Needs, World, Produce, Same

I don't have any frustrations. It sounds a little silly, but life is too short for me. I don't worry about all the things that happen, I just think about what to do with them. I work a lot with blind people in my spare time and I count my blessings every day.

Happen, Life, Life Is Too Short, Silly, Spare, Thinking

If we achieve our sustainability targets and no one else follows, we will have failed.

Business, Failure, Achievement, Follows, Targets, Sustainability

When I interview people, I look at their values. I always say that the best chance of success is if the individual's values are aligned with the corporate values.

Corporate, Interviews, Looks, People, Success, Values

We put a gender lens on our whole value chain.

Economic, Inspiring, Lens, Lenses, Value, Whole