Unilever’s Flying Dutchman is a mountaineer. And he has reached The Grocer’s pinnacle by challenging the status quo - whether that’s an internal reluctance within Unilever to embrace change, or the City’s obsession with short-termism.
A former P&G man, Polman arrived at Unilever in 2009 via a three-year spell as CFO of Nestlé, and he immediately set about shaking things up. He attracted immediate attention by telling shareholders they were not important enough to be the driving force behind strategy - especially one powerful enough to shape not just investors’ fortunes but those of the planet, he argued.
And the Unilever boss has managed to distance himself from the money men and please them in equal measure thus far into his reign, with Unilever’s share price increasing by some 130% since his arrival.
But it’s Polman’s work behind the scenes that has counted most. Described as “a giant dynamo” within the organisation by one leading management consultant, Polman’s target was to double the size of the business to €80bn sales by 2020, and with Unilever’s turnover soaring by over 10% in 2012, it crashed through the €50bn mark. While most expect that rate of growth to slow significantly this year, with trading in the
Eurozone poor, and dismal weather hitting ice cream sales, Unilever has nonetheless proved resilient in the face of economic headwinds, and outpaced the growth of many big rivals, notably in the household and personal care categories.
Strong growth in the developing world has been a key factor and its ambition for more was highlighted by its €5.4bn plans, announced earlier this month, to ramp up its investment in Unilever Hindustan.
Polman has also been widely praised for introducing a 10-year Sustainable Living Plan, which since 2010 has set the industry’s response to the green agenda. Whether Polman is around to oversee the results in 2020 remains to be seen. A talisman for long-termism he may be, but there is already speculation about just how long it will be before he goes off to conquer another global challenge - another Bill Gates in the making, perhaps? “Polman is a guy who wants to change the world and Unilever, to a certain extent, has given him the platform,” says one close follower of the company’s fortunes.
But most expect him to be around for a while yet - and whether or not he sells the food division, as some advocate post 3G/Heinz, Polman has stamped his authority on the company like none of his rivals.
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