The Lonely Quest of Unilever's CEO Paul Polman - by Jeroen Smit (Paperback)

About the Book

The Great Battle or The Lonely Quest of Unilever's CEO Paul Polman describes the origins of Unilever and the role former CEO Paul Polman (2009-2019) played in Unilever's quest for acting responsibly in a world that is being threatened by climate change, lack of biodiversity, pollution and growing tensions between rich and poor. In The Lonely Quest of Unilever's CEO Paul Polman Smit reconstructs the lessons we can learn from a courageous pioneer who was also ahead of his time.

Book Synopsis

The Great Battle or The Lonely Quest of Unilever's CEO Paul Polman describes the origins of Unilever and the role former CEO Paul Polman (2009-2019) played in Unilever's quest for acting responsibly in a world that is being threatened by climate change, lack of biodiversity, pollution and growing tensions between rich and poor. In The Lonely Quest of Unilever's CEO Paul Polman Smit reconstructs the lessons we can learn from a courageous pioneer who was also ahead of his time.

Review Quotes

"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

"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

"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'

"In a thriller-like style, investigative journalist Jeroen Smit describes how Unilever boss Paul Polman gets stuck." - NRC Handelsblad (the Dutch quality-newspaper)

About the Author

After finishing his MBA Jeroen Smit (1963) worked as a strategy consultant before starting a 30-year- career in business journalism. He wrote books about the rise and fall of the CEOS' of Ahold, ABN Amro, and most recently Unilever. What makes leaders come to believe in their own truth? Turning their companies into victims of groupthink and tunnel vision! With his investigative approach, Smit shows the inner workings of these companies to the general public.