Making Dough & Making Change 01 - Jostein Solheim

We're going to pick a stage way, Justin. We're going to give you five minutes. You're going to present your big idea. If it's longer than that, I will come and cut your legs off, and then I'm going to grill you on both sides. So, wonderful, you've got five minutes. I have worked with Joe before, so I am not messing. So now you all know who to pitch your stuff to with your more money. It's that side of the table.

going to grill you on both sides so uh wonderful you've got five minutes I have worked with Joe before so I is not messing so now you all know who to pitch your stuff to with your more money it's

Hi everybody, welcome. I'm going to take five minutes to tell you about one aspect of our business. But before I do, every presentation Ben and Jerry's starts with this slide. So even though that's not a slide of 100%, you have to start with this slide, and you have to recognize that what we're talking about today and the list that Andy just read out of all the people, all the organizations that are involved in these movements now and the passion and the energy we got was not there in the 80s. It was not there when these guys, Ben and Jerry, their board in 1988 wrote that three-part mission and coined this linked prosperity. And that is still exactly as it was then, and it is as relevant now and creates as much energy and inspiration at the company today as it did in 1988. So it's actually a little humbling when it comes to Ben & Jerry's and you're thinking, am I sort of just a custodian of a legacy, or are we here to do something for the future? But what we have at Ben & Jerry's is so special and what they've built is so unique that we as a management team are very firmly committed not to be custodians of the past but part of the future.

slide of 100% you have to start with this slide and you have to recognize that what we're talking about today and the list that Andy just read out of all the people all the organizations that are involved in these movements now and

It's a constraint model. You have to look at your product, your economics, and your social all at the same time in every single decision. A lot of people say, how do you trade this stuff off? You don't trade it off. You look at all three in parallel. But that's not our business model. That's how we make decisions. The business model is called this concept of linked prosperity, and that's what I'm going to talk to you about for two minutes.

as relevant now and creates as much energy and inspiration at the company today as it did in 1988 so it's actually a little humbling when it come to Ben jerus and you're thinking am I sort of just a custodian

So linked prosperity: a normal business tries to basically buy cheap and sell expensive, and the difference is profits. We relooked at the value trade and we said, all right, what is our role in all of this? Our role is to link the communities with which we work and create prosperity in each community. So what does that mean? It means we need to work with our farming community, which is the biggest business community in the world, the biggest set of entrepreneurs in the world, and the biggest way we're going to get out of poverty in the world. So we want to work with our farmers to create prosperity in their communities, and we want to connect them with our community where we live and work so that we are ready to receive and interact with them. We have to take exactly the same responsibility where we are as we take for them. So we have to ensure that our people have a fair wage, a livable wage, have the right things and the right interaction in their community. And then we want to engage the people to whom we sell, the communities in which we are selling our products. We recognize our product is outrageously expensive, and it's sold primarily in the big cities. So we don't want just these people to feel that, okay, I buy a Ben & Jerry's and I'm helping a vanilla farmer in Africa. No, we want to engage in the issues and the topics that are relevant in their community.

committed not to be custodians of the past but part of the future it's a constraint model you have to look at your product your economics and your social all at the same time in every single decision a lot of people say how

So what is it that makes this whole thing work? Is it all that excruciating detailed supply chain work that we do, or all the measurements that we carry out, or all the impact stuff we do? It's not. The thing that we add to this whole picture is emotional connection. I really firmly believe we know everything we need to know today to solve every single problem that we have in the world. So the reason why it's not happening is because we're not emotionally engaging people to connect and to make a difference. So that's our gig.

going to talk to you about two minutes so linked Prosperity a normal business tries to basically buy cheap and sell expensive and the differences in profits we relooked at the value trade and we said all right what is our

Now, the bit that we add to this is we basically want to talk to the aspiring activist inside everyone. And we all know that everyone in the world wants to make a contribution. You feel biologically good if you have a purpose and you make a contribution. So if we can tap into that emotional energy, and the way that we do that is through fun. So we step back from very serious issues and we add a big smile to that. That's how we break down the barrier. That's how we create the emotional connectivity. So when you know, if you're out there starting your business thinking about what you can do in the world, think about this not as a finger-wagging exercise that we're doing things better than everyone else. Think of this as how do I emotionally engage others to participate in solving the social issue I'm trying to address. That's my big idea. Thank you.

world the biggest set of entrepreneurs in the world and the biggest way we're going to get out of poverty in the world so we want to work with our Farmers to create prosperity in their communities and we want to connect them

Stay there in principle. Yes, it's about love, peace, and it's about connections. Have a beautiful picture here. So that's great in principle, but the vast majority of businesses don't think like that. They think short-term. They think profit. They think it's only about shareholders. They have no connection. They have value chains that stretch around the world that are far too complex. They're not bothered about it. How, you know, how are we going to get it? It's not enough. Even Paul Polman, the CEO of Unilever, your parent company, says if I'm successful in driving change, it's irrelevant because actually we need everybody to drive it. How are we going to get that stage?

a livable wage have right things and the right interaction in their community and then we want to engage the people in which to which we sell to the communities in which we are selling our products we recognize our product is

No, I, Joe, a really easy question. Warm up. That was my easy question. Just wait. You know, I really think if you're looking at the 80s, 90s, 2000s, where we are today, the acceleration of the social change that we're seeing, the acceleration of the challenge, the mobile devices that are not a marketing opportunity but it's a democratization of information. So you very quickly see none of these winners would work for a bad company. None of these winners would work for those companies. They want to work for companies with a purpose. They want to work for companies that are going to do good. So their pressure is going to grow. And as people, consumers start voting, and now with the transparency, you can't hide anymore behind the two-dimensional brand. A two-dimensional brand has a price and a benefit, but with a mobile world and the amount of information that people have and can digest, I really believe the pressure is just going to go. There's going to be no choice. Companies are even going to have to adapt and get in and get on or get out of the way.

are relevant in their community so what is it that makes this whole thing work is it all that excruciating detailed supply chain work that we do or all the measurements that we carry out or all the impact stuff we do it's

And how do you drive those values? I mean, obviously you're very lucky because, as you said, you've got a legacy with Ben that created it on that basis. But there are a lot of companies where even if they want to drive those values back into the business, it's incredibly hard because actually, you know, business has been set up in such a way that actually those things have been, say, you know, leave that at your front door when you come to work. Don't bring it into work. How can we actually drive those changes into business? And because I imagine even within Ben & Jerry's, not everyone wants to have a big smile on their face every day. We have some weird grumpy people as well. You know, put a smile on your face.

because we're not emotionally engaging people to connect and to make a difference so that's our gig now the bit that we add to this is we basically want to talk to the aspiring activist inside everyone and we all know that everyone

In the end, I think it's, I'm looking at Unilever, which has 165,000 people operating in 180 countries, and the way Paul is driving change there is very much in a staged approach where basically everybody gets a target, and everybody in big businesses works to target the KPI. So he's using exactly the same business model to get to sustainability. So you have a carbon reduction target by business unit, and if you don't make it, you don't get your pay, just like if you don't sell, you don't get your pay. So the variable pay. So he is incentivizing the organization very much in phase one using a traditional, you know, this is what you got to deliver. And then as you're getting into stage two, of course, you really want to transition this from a top-down, you know, you must do this to a bottom-up revolution where we can just achieve so much more and really release all the individual pockets of leadership.

fun so we step back from very serious issues and we add a big SM to that's how we break down the barrier that's how we create the emotional connectivity so when you know if you're out there starting your business

thinking about what you can do in the world think about this not as a finger waging exercise that we're doing things better than everyone else think of this as how do I emotionally engage others to to participate in solving the social

issue I'm trying to address that's my big idea thank you stay there in principle yes it's about love peace and it's about Connections have a beautiful picture here while so so that's great in principle but the vast majority of

businesses don't think like that they think shortterm they think profit they think it's only about shareholders they have no connection they have value chains that stretch around the world that far too complex they're not bothered about it how you know how are

we going to get it's not enough of you know even Paul pman the the CEO of un your parent company says if I'm successful in driving change it's irrelevant because actually we need everybody to drive it how are we going

to get that stage know I Jo a really easy question warm up that was my easy question just wait you know I I really think if you're looking at 80s 90s 2000 where we are today the acceleration of the social

change that we're seeing the acceleration of the challenge the mobile uh devices that are not a marketing opportunity but it's a democratization of information so you very quickly see none of these winners would work for a Bad Company n of these winers would work

for those companies they want to work for companies with a purpose they want to work for companies that's going to do good so their pressure is going to grow and as people consumers start voting and know and the transparency and you can't

hide anymore behind the two-dimensional brand a two-dimensional brand has a price and a benefit but with a mobile world and and and the amount of information that people have can digest I really believe the pressure is just going to go there's going to be no

choice companies are even going to have to adapt and get in and get on or get out of the way and how do you drive those values I mean obviously you're very lucky because you as you said you've got a legacy with with Ben that

created it on that basis but there a lot of companies where even if they want to drive those values back into the business it's incredibly hard because actually you know business has been set up in such a way that actually those

things have been say you know leave that your front door when you come to work don't bring it into to work how how can we actually drive those changes into business and because I imagine even within Ben JY not everyone wants to have

a big smile on their face every day we have some weird grumped people as well you know put a smile on the face in the end I think it's it's I'm looking at un which has 165,000 people operate in

180 countries and and the way Paul is driving change there is very much in a staged approach where basically everybody gets a Target and everybody in big businesses work to Target the kpi so so he's using exactly the same business

model to get to sustainability so you have a carbon reduction Target by business unit and if you don't make it you don't get your pay just like if you don't sell you don't get your pay so the variable payp so he is incentivizing the

organization very much in Phase One using a traditional you know this is what you got to deliver and then as you're getting into stage two of course you really want to transition this from a top down uh you

know you must do this to a bottom Up Revolution where we can just achieve so much more and really release all the individual pockets of leadership that are out there so but I'm seeing the change happening quicker than you think

in a large company like un Leever the stock market is a little slow and I'm looking forward to some of our more financially ay uh CU you can see the push back from shareholders particularly now as we're going into another crunch

in the western world you're seeing a lot of big shareholders pushing back on big companies that taking the first sort of fledging steps here so we have to be very protective of this in this next phase just finally so your big ideas

about emotional connection but I mean do you really believe that that is possible to become a defining part of business because actually when you look at business now that's you know that's been squashed out of business you know what

what what so so my question particularly though is what is the fear within business of having an emotional connection what what what what what is it going to mean for people you know because things happen for a reason so

the fact that business squeezed connections out as part of this globalization there was a purpose behind that and people felt obviously comfortable in some way to that so so what's the fear of it coming back well you know when you see what a mob

Revolution can do to a country to a dictator to a whole system I think there is a lot of fear in big Corporate America if that Force turns on your company because you got a big secret that's that's a big fair and the

power of that we've seen how quickly that power can be harnessed and driven in so you know often I say I don't really care why you're changing in for good if you're changing because you're playing defense and you're really scared well

we'll scare the heck out of you but you really get the benefit when you engage all the people in the company you know you know to engage with it because that's when you get the exceptional performance you know our product is a

bloody nightmare to make it is a pain to make that's why nobody else is making it going to get all these weird wonderful inclusions into this product sources everything is coming at you but our people make that product really well

because they're really committed I think they're more committed than any other ice cre in world because they're part of that purpose so I I think that people will rapidly see you're going to be a better performing a more profitable

business but how you get there you can either use the Fear Factor or you can have some fun getting on with it okay Justin thank you very very much thank you over