00:00:01
hello I'm Katherine kleene I'm delighted
00:00:03
to be speaking at knowledge of Orton
00:00:05
today with yosin solheim CEO of Ben and
00:00:08
Jerry's the iconic delicious ice cream
00:00:11
company and we're really here to talk
00:00:13
about not only your ice cream we must
00:00:15
talk a little about your ice cream but
00:00:16
really the social mission of the company
00:00:19
uh and how you have maintained that
00:00:21
social Mission even as Ben and Jerry's
00:00:23
has become part of Unilever uh and has
00:00:26
continued for many years well yeah I
00:00:29
know great to be here thank you for I uh
00:00:32
you know I think it's like all companies
00:00:35
with a long history Ben Jers is now 36
00:00:37
years as a mission Le company I think
00:00:40
the the key thing in the whole
00:00:41
transition to one shareholder from
00:00:43
multiple shareholders was the Govern
00:00:46
structure that was put in place and I
00:00:47
think Unity was very Visionary in
00:00:49
recognizing that you know it says Ben
00:00:51
and Jerry on the packaging yes if Ben
00:00:53
and Jerry go out and say well this is
00:00:55
all you know it's not really true
00:00:56
anymore this is not a mission Le company
00:00:59
anymore that would really undermine the
00:01:01
value of that acquisition so unever
00:01:03
acquired uh Benes in
00:01:05
2000 and uh this was a company that
00:01:08
where the brand where the social mission
00:01:10
was part of was baked into the brand
00:01:13
it's an integral part of how we do
00:01:15
business and and Unilever saw that and
00:01:17
its investors saw this from the
00:01:19
beginning and saw value and and even at
00:01:21
that time saw value in this so that's
00:01:23
why they set up and together with the
00:01:25
then sitting board agreed to set up an
00:01:27
independent board of directors and that
00:01:30
act basically like our benefit uh
00:01:32
Corporation director they are
00:01:35
responsible for the social mission for
00:01:37
the Integrity of the Ben andary's brand
00:01:39
our policies they even get involved in
00:01:41
basic things like wage setting in the
00:01:43
factories where we have a livable wage
00:01:45
policy uh that is overseen by by the
00:01:48
board of governor of directors and and
00:01:50
the directors are self- selecting so un
00:01:53
has two seats of 11 board members
00:01:56
fascinating and so so unusual very and
00:02:00
had a career in ice cream at unever
00:02:02
before coming on five years ago as CEO
00:02:05
of Ben jer's how how was that transition
00:02:09
to go from the larger entity of unever
00:02:11
to
00:02:13
this interesting different uh Mission
00:02:16
driven company yeah I don't know whether
00:02:18
that transition was tougher for them or
00:02:20
for me uh but no I I you know unver as a
00:02:24
company is very aligned in its values it
00:02:27
actually has a lot of diversity in it in
00:02:30
terms of management styles personalities
00:02:33
it has a history of quite a lot of
00:02:35
autonomy in its in its senior leaders so
00:02:38
it wasn't like a a super stark contrast
00:02:41
you know I worked in Italy I worked in
00:02:43
Sweden the culture of Ben and Jerry's is
00:02:46
actually similar right to uh to typical
00:02:50
Scandinavian company it's a flat non-h
00:02:52
hierarchical sort of approach to
00:02:54
business so uh no so the biggest thing
00:02:57
for me was I felt a big sense of
00:02:59
responsibility sure uh and uh but with a
00:03:02
really exciting group of people to work
00:03:05
with and have stayed involved in some in
00:03:08
yeah you know they're they're not they
00:03:09
are involved uh but they do more of
00:03:12
their own things they have the best jobs
00:03:14
in the world their job is to be Ben and
00:03:16
to be Jerry and they basically just have
00:03:18
to deliver on that uh so day today is
00:03:20
really the management team and the board
00:03:22
of directors interesting so Ben jer's
00:03:25
describes itself as a as a values-driven
00:03:27
company um you celebrate the your social
00:03:31
environmental governance uh values on
00:03:33
the website can you talk with us about
00:03:37
how that plays out in action you know
00:03:39
how how do we move from words to to
00:03:42
deeds and actions well I think that's
00:03:44
the key point a lot of companies would
00:03:47
say they're consumer Le yes you know
00:03:49
whether that's in product development or
00:03:51
in ad Mission similarly when companies
00:03:54
that come to the world of CSR or
00:03:56
whatever they look at what do people
00:03:57
really care about and then how can we be
00:04:00
part of that as Ben and J we come out it
00:04:02
the other way we actually start with
00:04:03
what do we truly believe in us and then
00:04:07
we execute really well because we truly
00:04:09
believe in it and hence convince others
00:04:11
to join us so that's what we really mean
00:04:13
by values that it starts with our values
00:04:15
and then we apply it enjoying movements
00:04:18
and other partners to make change so
00:04:21
talk to us about some of those specific
00:04:22
values and and how they are enacted
00:04:25
through your products through your
00:04:26
Employment Practices and we one yeah
00:04:29
take one with just just one uh let's
00:04:30
take samesex marriage yeah uh so that
00:04:33
came uh on the agenda in the 80s at Ben
00:04:35
and Jerry's Ben and Jerry was one of the
00:04:37
first companies to offer samex Partners
00:04:39
the same rights yeah Health Care Etc so
00:04:42
when that started to come into uh the
00:04:45
public domain and and become a debate
00:04:48
it's very clear for the company we can't
00:04:49
just say well you're okay if you're a
00:04:51
Ben and jerus but if you're not you're
00:04:52
not so it was very natural for the
00:04:55
employees to join in and campaign for
00:04:57
same-sex marriage and then as we grew
00:04:59
bigger and bigger we scale that campaign
00:05:02
up whereby now we have you know we we
00:05:04
finished in the US with a supreme court
00:05:07
uh decision this year but we also won in
00:05:10
Ireland we put it on the map in
00:05:13
Australia in France uh in multiple
00:05:16
countries where this comes up uh it's
00:05:19
something that we believe in we don't do
00:05:20
an assessment if this is popular or
00:05:22
unpopular when we started a same-sex uh
00:05:25
marriage uh campaign in Australia not a
00:05:27
single political party supported samex
00:05:29
marriage and everybody came to us what
00:05:31
are you doing you shouldn't do well
00:05:32
sorry this is something we really
00:05:34
believe in right and as you do that so
00:05:36
you've had employee individual employees
00:05:38
engaged in these campaigns um B Jerry's
00:05:41
as a company as a major uh donor or
00:05:45
leading a campaign yeah no I mean we run
00:05:47
this you know it's it's the amazing
00:05:50
thing is that selling ice cream and uh
00:05:54
running campaigns is the same set of
00:05:56
skills you want to get people's
00:05:57
attention you need social media
00:06:00
H you need events and and the one great
00:06:03
thing that we have of course is ice
00:06:05
cream right it's very hard to be angry
00:06:07
and eat ice cream at the same time it's
00:06:09
very tempting to stop and and sign a
00:06:11
petition if there's free ice cream so
00:06:14
ice cream plays a really important role
00:06:16
in how we connect with our fans but no
00:06:19
we we we we treat those campaigns in
00:06:22
exactly the same way as we would treat a
00:06:24
new product launch and sometimes they
00:06:27
actually appear on the on on your
00:06:28
products right I saw this but I I I do I
00:06:31
do or I I I do I do was the celebration
00:06:36
of of the same sex marriage act right
00:06:39
now we've just launched a product uh
00:06:41
save our swir where which is in support
00:06:44
of a binding climate uh uh agreement in
00:06:47
Paris the cop in five weeks time and we
00:06:49
launched that with uh Tesla out on the
00:06:52
west coast and then we actually launched
00:06:54
the European version in Bon during the
00:06:58
climate negotiation
00:07:00
inside the climate negotiations at the
00:07:03
UN so we had the opportunity to to feed
00:07:06
all those people trying to work this out
00:07:08
for us right and and and you actually
00:07:10
use ice cream as a as a metaphor for
00:07:13
global warming right we show what ice
00:07:15
cream looks like if it's just two
00:07:16
degrees warmer and it's a bit of a mess
00:07:19
it's a bit of a mess yeah it's a
00:07:21
fabulous a fabulous metaphor like this
00:07:23
is what happens to your ice cream cones
00:07:24
in two degrees what happens to the world
00:07:26
if it's warmer in two degrees um are
00:07:29
there instances where you uh as a CEO
00:07:34
you as a company have said yeah we care
00:07:37
about that issue we can't go there that
00:07:39
we're that's too that's too hot that's
00:07:41
too
00:07:43
controversial there are many issues
00:07:45
where we've had to say we can't go there
00:07:47
not necessarily because they're too hot
00:07:49
or too
00:07:50
controversial more because we don't
00:07:53
judge our that we have a real ability to
00:07:56
make an impact or that we are really
00:07:59
prepared pred you know we really believe
00:08:01
we got to walk the talk not just talk so
00:08:04
we want to really align our internal
00:08:06
programs with the external campaigning
00:08:09
so there are issues that come up that
00:08:10
are important and legitimate issues and
00:08:13
we we haven't you know built an internal
00:08:15
program and we'll start that and then
00:08:16
join in uh but controversy is not
00:08:20
something that that scares us maybe it
00:08:22
should but it doesn't you know we we
00:08:24
were the only Corporation to support
00:08:26
Occupy Wall Street uh at sone Park which
00:08:31
was a surprise to them yeah as well and
00:08:34
uh you know and as I say nothing bad
00:08:35
really happened to our business as a
00:08:37
result of that yeah so what so what are
00:08:39
the as um you know we like to uh hope in
00:08:43
the social impact space that that one
00:08:45
that companies can actually achieve a
00:08:47
positive Financial return and a social
00:08:50
return uh on investment and on their on
00:08:53
social impact strategies what's your
00:08:55
sense of uh you know how this pays off
00:08:57
or doesn't pay off for for Ben and
00:08:59
Jerry's is there is
00:09:00
there I mean it sounds terribly craft
00:09:03
but is there money to be made through
00:09:04
Corporate social responsibility through
00:09:05
this kind of values driven
00:09:07
company there is there is because people
00:09:11
want to make a difference with all the
00:09:13
things that they can actions and
00:09:15
activities that they can can do so what
00:09:18
you buy and how you buy it is a big part
00:09:21
of your everyday life and
00:09:23
increasingly uh consumers are saying I
00:09:26
don't want to waste my money on on
00:09:27
products I don't try to make a
00:09:29
difference
00:09:30
now there's a lot of greenwash out there
00:09:32
and I would uh you know so people are
00:09:34
are rightly so skeptical and demand you
00:09:37
know real evidence and and and and some
00:09:41
other uh authorities and just what a
00:09:43
company say but uh it's the fastest
00:09:46
growing area of fast moving consumer
00:09:49
goods by far socially responsible
00:09:52
companies are making up 60% of the
00:09:55
growth in fast moving consumer goods in
00:09:58
developed markets and if you look at
00:10:00
like a neelson statistic that just came
00:10:01
out now which was across 14 countries
00:10:04
what you're seeing is the rate of change
00:10:06
is really picking up uh in 2013 50% of
00:10:10
respondents said that they would pay
00:10:11
more for a socially responsible product
00:10:14
today that's already at
00:10:16
66% and accelerating and obviously a Big
00:10:19
Driver of that is our wonderful
00:10:22
Millennials yeah yeah and and do you see
00:10:25
this as something that any company can
00:10:27
do I mean there Ben and Jerry's what
00:10:29
could be criticized on some you know is
00:10:31
this a healthy product I'm thinking of
00:10:33
other products that we may look at and
00:10:34
say that's not a that's not a healthy
00:10:36
product that's not a product that's good
00:10:37
for the environment and yet can any
00:10:39
company um find ways to AB absolutely to
00:10:43
to live this Mission absolutely uh I
00:10:46
think you know not every company will
00:10:50
become a a you know an activist company
00:10:53
or a campaigning company uh like Ben and
00:10:55
jares I wouldn't I wouldn't think that's
00:10:57
that's appropriate for every company but
00:11:00
every company can make uh those
00:11:03
decisions that optimize their social
00:11:06
impact and their business impact in any
00:11:10
industry anywhere that benefits their
00:11:13
employees their
00:11:14
communities the environment um whichever
00:11:18
constituents that they they address so I
00:11:21
don't think this is something unique to
00:11:22
specific companies uh on the on the
00:11:25
healthy or non-healthy products and good
00:11:28
products and bad products again you know
00:11:32
for us it's all about transparency and I
00:11:34
always say you know when you're tucking
00:11:37
into a Ben and& jer's and you're on a
00:11:39
diet you you know you know there's no
00:11:41
hidden calories here they're right there
00:11:44
right for you to enjoy and the world
00:11:45
needs all sorts of different things uh
00:11:47
to function so now I think transparency
00:11:51
is critical MH uh in any offer people
00:11:54
should really understand what they're
00:11:56
getting into and we shouldn't try to
00:11:57
fool people we shouldn't have hidden
00:11:58
sugars and hidden fats Etc it's got to
00:12:01
be transparent and open and open choices
00:12:04
uh and and it goes the same for all
00:12:06
other Industries so again I think it's
00:12:08
very hard to say oh I'm in this business
00:12:11
and this product hence I can't get a
00:12:14
social impact right strategy right
00:12:16
interesting um and as you think about
00:12:19
the social impact that that Ben and
00:12:21
Jerry's has had in the places where
00:12:22
you've tried to make a difference um and
00:12:25
I'm particularly interested in your own
00:12:27
operations whether this is your supply
00:12:29
chain uh your HR practices um can you
00:12:34
talk to us about something that you're
00:12:36
particularly proud of perhaps something
00:12:38
relatively recent and then areas where
00:12:40
you say we haven't cracked this nut we
00:12:43
still have work to do in this area I
00:12:45
think actually we could could be the
00:12:47
same example actually in a sense you
00:12:49
know when when we uh we did a sort of a
00:12:54
assessment around what are the really
00:12:55
big and important issues and what are
00:12:57
the really urgent issues uh that are
00:12:59
important to us I mean we did a lot of
00:13:01
internal discussion and it was very
00:13:03
clear to us that there were two big big
00:13:05
topics that we need to address over the
00:13:07
next 5 to 10 years and that's climate
00:13:09
and climate Justice right and it's
00:13:12
urgent and that's Equity as we're seeing
00:13:15
Equity both racial and income uh the
00:13:18
inequities that we're seeing is creating
00:13:20
such a tension in society it's hard even
00:13:22
to operate businesses neither in that
00:13:23
environment of climate change and the
00:13:25
environment or inequity so we've really
00:13:27
embraced these two topics and what I'm
00:13:29
the most proud of is to just see how our
00:13:32
teams our partners really embrace it and
00:13:35
scale it and and really throw themselves
00:13:38
into making a difference that's probably
00:13:40
what makes me the most proud right uh
00:13:44
what we have in crack is how do you
00:13:47
reduce your carbon footprint by 80% true
00:13:50
when you you know there's a lot of again
00:13:52
noise out there or we going to be carbon
00:13:54
neutral or this or that well the carbon
00:13:56
footprint of a business goes end to end
00:13:58
it starts on a farm and finishes with a
00:14:00
you know the waste product sure and you
00:14:02
need to take responsibility for the
00:14:04
whole thing and we need to reduce that
00:14:05
by 80% 50% of our carbon fopr is in
00:14:08
ingredients wow so so it originates on a
00:14:11
farm and and we really believe that
00:14:14
carbon neutrality is a real opportunity
00:14:16
for Farmers to generate another income
00:14:19
stream in carbon in setting so it's one
00:14:23
of those things we haven't cracked it
00:14:24
because we're not there but what we did
00:14:26
was we put a price on carbon so we said
00:14:28
we put arbitrarily $10 end to end per
00:14:32
ton yeah and then we allocate that money
00:14:35
to a carbon insetting program where we
00:14:38
inherently are investing in Farmers to
00:14:41
inset Carbon on their Farms fascinating
00:14:44
and and on the the inequity inequality
00:14:47
front uh I maybe two questions
00:14:52
um making clear so what what is the I
00:14:55
mean it sometimes intuitively we can see
00:14:57
this but what is the connection you're
00:14:59
between business success and inequality
00:15:01
what is that negative relationship
00:15:02
you're seeing uh and and how might you
00:15:06
take action in this space so you know
00:15:09
that's typically the first question you
00:15:11
get when you're getting involved in in
00:15:13
structural
00:15:14
racism H and and other of these really
00:15:17
Dee rooted social issues and what's in
00:15:19
it for a business if you actually look
00:15:21
at the correlation of success of
00:15:24
economic success and
00:15:26
inequality uh is highly correl ated so
00:15:30
so we have an inherent value and
00:15:33
belief that a society where everybody's
00:15:36
treated justly and equally it's just a
00:15:39
better Community to be in uh but
00:15:42
actually if you look at the econometrics
00:15:44
of it it Maps out very nicely as well in
00:15:48
terms of economic uh opportunity and
00:15:51
success
00:15:52
so it's not a direct correlation it
00:15:55
comes from our human values it comes
00:15:57
from the values we have in our
00:15:59
company uh but we also really see those
00:16:02
communities thriving and doing better
00:16:03
and being better for our business so
00:16:05
that's a that's a sort of a link now
00:16:08
climate Justice is about climate change
00:16:13
but it's also about the fact that it's
00:16:14
the poor people right disadvantaged
00:16:17
people they get hurt first the wealthy
00:16:19
can move the you know and can shift
00:16:21
around the poor cannot so that has an
00:16:24
equity component in it but as we're
00:16:26
moving now into the next phase for us
00:16:29
you know we have to recognize that we're
00:16:31
a terribly white company you know we we
00:16:33
come from Vermont Vermont's 96% white so
00:16:37
we've had to do a lot of work in our
00:16:40
company to really really really
00:16:43
understand it and we've partnered with a
00:16:46
whole host of different amazing Partners
00:16:48
we've had a lot of Nos and activists has
00:16:51
have taken their time and invested in us
00:16:54
right uh to to make it get a better
00:16:56
understanding of this and and I think
00:16:58
2016 will be exciting it's a it's
00:17:00
election year it's a great opportunity
00:17:03
as I like to see to say to rearrange the
00:17:06
lighting to get a
00:17:08
disproportionate impact on certain key
00:17:11
issues like voter rights and and and
00:17:13
minority participation and our democracy
00:17:16
great fabulous talking with with you and
00:17:18
uh you know just a extraordinary impact
00:17:20
through ice cream and starting with ice
00:17:22
cream so thank you much for thank you so
00:17:24
much for being with us thank you C great
00:17:26
thank you
00:17:38
[Music]
