Net Positive Quotes

“Creating positive returns for stakeholders does not mean satisfying all of them at the same time, or focusing equal attention and resources on each. You can't prioritize everyone at once.”
― Paul Polman, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

“People with purpose thrive, brands with purpose grow, and companies with purpose last.”
― Paul Polman, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

“Anyone who things that you can have infinite growth in a finite environment is either a madman or an economist.”
― Paul Polman, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

“infinite growth on a finite planet is simply not possible. And anything we can’t do forever is by definition unsustainable. Ultimately, we will reach a point where systems will collapse—”
― Andrew S. Winston, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

“All businesses now face a profound choice: continue pursuing the shareholder-first model that forces shortsighted decisions, hurts business, and endangers our collective well-being … or build businesses that grow and prosper over the long haul by serving the world—that is, by giving more than they take.”
― Andrew S. Winston, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

“A single company working alone on a big issue like human rights or decarbonization may be able to solve 30 or 40 percent of the problem in its own operations. But getting to a 100 percent solution requires changing the underlying system”
― Paul Polman, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

“While you might outsource your supply chain, your logistics, or your investments, you do not outsource your responsibility for them. It's getting harder every day to externalize environmental and social costs that your business imposes on society”
― Paul Polman, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

“Five core principles that center on responsibility will take company performance to a new level. They help corporate leaders expand their horizons, rethink their jobs, and reshape the role of their business in society. These attributes, fully embraced, separate the net positive companies from the merely well-run and well-meaning businesses:
- Ownership of all impacts ans consequences, intended or not
- Operating for the long-term benefit of business and society
- Creating positive returns for all stakeholders
- Driving shareholder values as a result, not a goal
- Partnering to drive systemic change”
― Paul Polman, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

“Achieving the Global Goals would create a world that is socially fair, environmentally secure, economically prosperous, global inclusive and more predictable and resilient”
― Paul Polman, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

“Our current economic system has two fundamental weaknesses: it’s based on unlimited growth on a finite planet, and it benefits a small number of people, not everyone.”
― Paul Polman, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

“In practice, it’s about innovating and offering new products and services that improve lives and heal the planet. Or about helping employees find their purpose and improve their health and well-being, while building a diverse, inclusive company. Or helping suppliers make their businesses more efficient and sustainable, which builds tighter relationships and spurs joint innovation. Or helping communities thrive, going beyond the old argument that companies do enough by providing jobs and paying taxes (global communities may need much more than that, including support for local schools or building water and energy infrastructure).”
― Paul Polman, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

“Are you producing energy or manufacturing something cheaply with fossil fuels? Then, you’re more profitable because you’ve avoided the costs that carbon and air pollution impose on society, from reduced health downwind to global climate change. Do you make a food product that’s profitable? Its high margins could depend on slave labor and deforestation in the supply chain.”
― Paul Polman, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

“In this new world, you own the impacts of your business from deep in the supply chain to the end of a product’s life, and stakeholders will make sure you know it.”
― Paul Polman, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take