Paul Polman, former CEO, Unilever [Part 1]

[Archive Interview Feb 18, 2021]

“COVID has been a rude awakening for most of us. For the first time we have seen that our current system isn't really working as well as we intended,” says Paul Polman a HOW Institute Board Member and the former CEO of Unilever. Paul spoke with Dov Seidman, Founder of The HOW Institute, in this episode of HOW Conversations about the challenges and the opportunities the pandemic has revealed.  

Paul told Dov that a greener, more inclusive future is within reach but it will take moral leadership and courage from individuals plus strong public and private partnerships, “Business cannot succeed in societies that fail nor can business be a bystander in a system that gives them life in the first place.”  The two also discussed the shortage of moral leaders (and why they still have hope for a turnaround), making long-term moral decisions and goals, and implementing strong company morals. 

In 2019 Paul co-founded Imagine, an organization dedicated to helping CEOs and businesses be sustainable, equitable and inclusive.  Watch part one of Paul's HOW Conversations to hear some of his solutions for a better, healthier post-pandemic world.

READY TO START YOUR MORAL LEADERSHIP JOURNEY? Moral leadership is more imperative today than ever before. The HOW Institute for Society was founded on the belief that those in positions of formal authority should also have moral authority.  We are creating the tools leaders need to make principled, ethical and values-based decisions.  We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a world rooted in deep human values and trust in our social fabric. The Institute channels philosophical reasoning to address modern problems. Today, HOW we do what we do matters more than ever and in ways it never has before.  

Learn more at https://thehowinstitute.org/