“Net Positive is a must-read for business leaders. Paul’s wisdom comes from years of authentic delivery of net positive and hugely successful businesses. Packed with practical and visionary stories, it will spark a movement of courageous action toward a better way of doing business for people and the planet. 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. Paul Polman and Andrew Winston weave together the most profound corporate lessons of our time to give us a vastly more ambitious, and more hopeful, vision for the place of business in our shared future.”
—ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, founder and CEO, Thrive Global
“Net Positive makes 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; and Chairman, Generation Investment Management
“Polman and Winston have written a book for leaders that is carefully considered and deeply rooted in the real world of management. The authors are as obsessed as my company is with helping the world get better by transforming every business and every community. The financial success of an enterprise is both dependent upon and helps to advance connections to employees, communities, business partners, and the public sector.”
—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. The authors understand that we have the technology and science we need—it’s the mindset revolution that now matters most.”
—PAUL HAWKEN, author, Drawdown and Regeneration
“Paul knows that when leading CEOs stand up for a more equitable world, governments are much more likely to do the same. Corporate courage unlocks political ambition and Net Positive shows us how.”
—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
“It is in companies’ own self-interest to bring their ingenuity and resources to a system that helps everyone succeed. Net Positive offers a new frame of mind, seeing not just the long-term benefits but also the immediate wins of getting profit and purpose to work for one another.”
—AJAY BANGA, Executive Chairman, Mastercard
“Net Positive is an unassailable argument for embracing stakeholder capitalism. Every business leader should read this book.”
—MARC BENIOFF, Chair and CEO, Salesforce
“Net Positive should be embedded across every business school curriculum. Its lessons bridge business, environmental, and social disciplines, using real and recent case studies to inspire the next generation of leaders. The clear message is: the net positive transformation can be done, and soon it will be our turn.”
—CELIA BRAVARD, MBA/MS candidate, Erb Institute, University of Michigan
“This is an important book about the challenges facing business and the actions needed to transition to a net positive future. It is refreshingly direct in pointing out the courage needed as well as the respect for what it takes.”
—JESPER BRODIN, CEO, IKEA, Ingka Group
“More than a CEO handbook, Net Positive plots a path to a new, more resilient social contract between C-suites and their employees. Paul and Andrew deliver the most compelling explanation yet of how to build a flourishing business by valuing your people and respecting our planet.”
—SHARAN BURROW, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation
“Net positive companies are mission-critical in driving stable, inclusive, climate-protecting markets. This is as much a financial transformation story as a business how-to.”
—MARK CARNEY, Governor of the Bank of England 2013–2020; United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance
“Net Positive is a must-read for anyone trying to build a successful company in growth markets. The principles explored in this book need to be built into the very foundations of the private sector, especially in this era of rapid change. Really, this is the future of business.”
—N. CHANDRASEKARAN, Chairman, Tata Sons
“The tasty story of how mayo beat ketchup evolves into a master class on how CEOs and other leaders can lead the shift from degenerative to regenerative business models. A must-read.”
—JOHN ELKINGTON, founder and Chief Pollinator, Volans; author, Green Swans
“Polman and Winston don’t shrink from the scale of our planetary challenges, and yet they leave you with much more hope than fear. The net positive train is leaving the station, and the bravest, smartest leaders are already on board.”
—CHRISTIANA FIGUERES, cofounder, Global Optimism; Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change 2010–2016; and coauthor, The Future We Choose
“Net Positive doesn’t just puncture—it totally annihilates—the myth that profitable business and a thriving society need somehow to be at odds. More than that, it sets out a compelling and hopeful vision, matched with a practical guide, on how business can unlock the keys to a fairer, more sustainable future. Paul’s bias for impact and lessons from the front line of change at Unilever ring loudly.”
—ALAN JOPE, CEO, Unilever
“For every business leader who understands that making a positive impact on the world is the only viable long-term strategy but doesn’t know how to do it, here’s your guide. No one is suggesting that going net positive is easy, but it is worth fighting for it. This is where our future lies.”
—ISABELLE KOCHER, CEO of ENGIE Group, 2016–2020
“Investors are waking up to the fact that business can and should be profitable by serving societies, but many still don’t know how to engage with companies in this direction. Net Positive hands these investors the insights they need to shape boardroom discussions and hold C-suites to account.”
—HIRO MIZUNO, UN Special Envoy on Innovative Finance and Sustainable Investments; Chief Investment Officer, Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan, 2015–2020
“The beauty of Net Positive is its scale. Overhaul companies, shift industries, transform markets, put capitalism in greater service of the world.”
—JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ, founder and CEO, Acumen
“Paul Polman has been the world’s most powerful business voice for the idea that business can thrive by paying attention to building societies that thrive. I was proud to serve alongside him on the UN panel that wrote the first draft of the Sustainable Development Goals. Now he has come forward with Net Positive, a radically different vision for the relationship between business, civil society, and government, replacing short-term self-interest with enlightened long-term partnership for our common goals. Business leaders would do well to listen to his bold and innovative ideas for the net positive advocacy that our societies desperately need.”
—JOHN PODESTA, Chair, Center for American Progress; White House Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton and counselor to President Barack Obama
“This book detonates the idea that net zero takes us far enough. It will be extremely uncomfortable reading for corporate laggards and the vested interests that support them.”
—MARY ROBINSON, President of Ireland, 1990–1997; UN High Commissioner for Human Rights 1997–2002; Chair, The Elders
“The world faces a deep and interwoven set of global challenges, spanning health, growth, inequality, climate change, and biodiversity. They demand new and urgent collaborations from public authorities and the private sector. Polman and Winston both demonstrate the scale and urgency of these challenges and show business precisely how it must transform to embrace this new era of partnership and become a powerful force for economic and social renewal. It is an immensely important contribution.”
—NICK STERN, Professor of Economics and Government and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics
“We don’t just need net positive companies, we need a net positive movement. This book can start it.”
—PROFESSOR MUHAMMAD YUNUS, Nobel Peace Prize winner; founder, Grameen Bank