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Net Positive

How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More than They Take

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Net Positive

By: Paul Polman, Andrew Winston
Narrated by: Tom Parks, Paul Polman, Andrew Winston
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About this listen

Runaway climate change and gross inequality are ravaging the world. Who can help lead us to a better future? Business.

These and other massive challenges threaten our very existence on the planet. Yet division and discord risk undermining our response, just when we need to come together.

At this critical time in history, the imperative to reimagine our economies and companies could not be more urgent. Fortunately, many in the business community are helping to solve our most profound challenges, deploying long-term, purpose-led business models that put people and planet first. The key question has flipped from "Why would you do sustainability?" to "Why wouldn't you?"

In this paradigm-shifting book, former Unilever CEO Paul Polman and sustainable business guru Andrew Winston provide a model to help leaders build companies that contribute more to the world than they use or take - that is, net positive companies.

Net Positive outlines the principles and practices for surviving and thriving based on the experience of one world-leading company, Unilever, and other groundbreaking global organizations. This essential book is for leaders, executives, managers, and professionals who want to succeed, but know that winning requires caring deeply about serving the world.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Paul Polman and Andrew S. Winston (P)2021 Ascent Audio
Business Development Environmental Economics Forecasting & Strategic Planning Business Solar System
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What listeners say about Net Positive

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Putting stakeholders not shareholders first

Interesting deep dive into Unilever and it’s Sustainable Living Program . Learnt a great deal. Will probably buy the paperback now.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Eye and mind opening heartfelt way for doing business

Imposible to be inmune to this way of doing business. Will look to the way companies make money very differently going forward

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    3 out of 5 stars
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An enthusiastic but bumpy ride.

i found the narrator good and energizing, but found the rhythm of his speech bizarre, with accents on small words like "and". This made the whole book a really bumpy ride.

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Brave, real and credible path to our net positive future

A great real world story of how Unilever lead by Paul Polman became a corporate force of nature to bend the business rulebook and make the company a net positive influence on the world. Doubled revenues and halved environmental impact for starters is an impressive feat. I am a net positive leader and these stories and insights are the beginning of what we can make possible in the future. Let’s do this.

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Required reading for business leaders

Could only have been better if the authors had read the whole book, rather than having a third narrator do most of it. Outstanding stuff though.

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Insightful, inspiring and practical

A really intelligent, thought provoking and practical view of how businesses can thrive while protecting our future, really enjoyed it.

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A timely well-written book for our times

Well researched and well written - this book makes a compelling case for net positive business models that create more value than they take from the world, covering all the necessary parts of the puzzle. The audible version is easy to listen to too.

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An inspiring and hopeful vision of the future

I loved this book! The authors convincingly and unreservedly share their model for net positive companies — businesses that by virtue of existing and thriving do more good than harm — continuously citing examples from their own work at Unilever and the work of other, hugely successful companies throughout the world. It's a timely and urgently needed book that all current and future business and government leaders should read.

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Too polarised & cliche-ridden

Some interesting examples, especially about Unilever, but then goes too far beyond reasonable business, economic & behavioural practice.

Lots of tired clichés such as the “finite planet” trope, which overlooks energy (& therefore GDP or any other economic measure) courtesy of the Sun & gravitation, not to mention almost endless potential from nuclear power & other sources.

Yes, mathematically growth cannot be “infinite” but if it’s sustainable for a billion years until the Sun goes nova, we have other things to worry about.

The section on externalities also seems to consider it a unique issue for capitalism, when it obviously applies to *all* economic systems and even personal actions. There are externalities *everywhere* (some of them positive) and unless you try to calculate them ubiquitously, the argument seems to sound uniquely anti-capitalist rather than pro-environmental.

There is also insufficient attention to technology as a way to fix or solve problems - whether that’s with carbon capture or AI for energy efficiency.

Lastly, it seems to bundle too much together. E, S and G (& additional concerns) should be considered individually and separately, as attitudes & opinions vary over time and place, as does appetite for risk.

Worth listening to, but sadly this made me want to push back against the rhetoric far more than it made we want to push forward the ideas into businesses I advise.

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