A timely and seminal work by Paul Polman and Andrew Winston. Paul Polman is Co-Founder and Chair of Imagine, Chair of the B Team, and Saiid Business School, a leading proponent that business should be a force for good. The Financial Times described Paul as “a standout CEO of the past decade”. In his 10 years as CEO of Unilever, he proved that a long-term multistakeholder model (ending quarterly reports!) can bring superior financial performance.

I will copy here the first part of the excellent “Exclusive Excerpt” of this book that Paul shared in his newsletter on Linkedin

Exclusive Excerpt

What is Net Positive?

Our vision of net positive is a business that improves well-being for everyone it impacts and at all scales—every product, every operation, every region and country, and for every stakeholder, including employees, suppliers, communities, customers, and even future generations and the planet itself.

This is a North Star. No company can achieve all these aims at once, but it’s where we should be heading if we want a viable economy and planet. To exist as a relevant business today is to enrich the world. The ultimate question is this: Is the world better off because your business is in it?

What it looks like

The net positive company will operate differently from what’s normal today. It will, for example, eliminate more carbon than it produces; use only renewable energy and renewably sourced materials; It will, for example, eliminate more carbon than it produces; us create no waste and build everything for full circularity, and replenish and make cleaner all the water it draws. This excerpt can be read in its entirety by going to the Linkedin link above.