Investors are a particularly tough set of customers. It's easy to chase their needs and find you're dancing to many different tunes, not all in sync. Some investors want quick returns; some demand share buybacks or special dividends; some want you to buy, build, and grow brands, while others ask you to sell businesses to play a numbers game; and index funds want you to perform better than the market. None of those goals are focused on the employees, communities, customers, or any other group that has a stake in the company's fortunes.
That's why in 2009, days after becoming CEO of Unilever, I told a meeting of major banks and institutional investors that anyone who wanted the company to stay focused on short-term profits would be better off putting their money elsewhere. Unilever would no longer provide quarterly earnings guidance, but would instead become a net positive company--one that profits and thrives by improving the lives of everyone it impacts--acting in the long-term interests of people and the planet, serving consumers, employees, and communities.
What does that look like in practice? In local communities, Unilever has worked to improve livelihoods and eliminate human rights abuses. The company has built factories in rural areas of China and Africa to create jobs and build long-term relationships with communities in those markets. The company has also run massively successful programs to improve public health, such as its Lifebuoy soap hand-washing programs that have reached a billion people, teaching them how to avoid deadly diseases.