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Article

14 Feb 2012

Author:
Matthew Gitsham, Ashridge Centre for Business and Sustainability in Harvard Business Review [USA]

The Changing Role of Global Leaders

In November 2010…Chief executive Paul Polman [of Unilever]…articulated a new strategy…doubling the proportion of Unilever's portfolio that meets the highest nutritional standards, and halving the water associated with...consumer use...It is indicative of a new generation of leadership emerging at the top of many of the world’s largest organizations…We see billions of people around the world striving to improve their quality of life...Unilever’s strategy for 2020 is formulated in direct response to that quest for improved quality of life in a much more resource-constrained context…Across the board we see the top executives of some of the world’s largest organizations talking about, taking action on, and defining their success in terms of things that have conventionally been the realm of political leaders and NGO activists…Ashridge Business School and the International Business Leader’s Forum…have been exploring this emerging new approach to leadership…engaging with executives…[Refers to Coca Cola, Diageo, Coca Cola Enterprises, BP, Shell, Anglo American, IMC Pan Asia Alliance Group, Accenture, GSK, IBM, Wal-mart, GE, Petrobras, HSBC, Ernst & Young, British Sky Broadcasting, InterfaceFLOR and Lend Lease]