Ideas change everything

Profit’s not always the point

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Harish Manwani |

TED@BCG Singapore

• October 2013

You might not expect the chief operating officer of a major global corporation to look too far beyond either the balance sheet or the bottom line. But Harish Manwani, COO of Unilever, makes a passionate argument that doing so to include value, purpose and sustainability in top-level decision-making is not just savvy, it's the only way to run a 21st century business responsibly.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

You might not expect the chief operating officer of a major global corporation to look too far beyond either the balance sheet or the bottom line. But Harish Manwani, COO of Unilever, makes a passionate argument that doing so to include value, purpose and sustainability in top-level decision-making is not just savvy, it's the only way to run a 21st century business responsibly.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Sign up for updates from Unilever's Project Sunlight, a movement to provide half a million meals to hungry families.

About the speaker

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Harish Manwani joined Unilever as a management trainee in 1976; he is now the company's chief operating officer.

About TED Institute

Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas. The culmination is an event produced, recorded, and hosted by TED, generating a growing library of valuable TED Talks that can spur innovation and transform organizations.

Read more about the TED Institute

Sign up for updates from Unilever's Project Sunlight, a movement to provide half a million meals to hungry families.