The Meaning of “Net Positive”

Andrew Winston, co-author of Net Positive

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On March 14, 2022, we spoke with Andrew Winston, co-author of Net Positive, to explore “Net Positive Advocacy: Co-creating Policies that Enable Better Outcomes for All”.

Amidst increasingly apparent systemic threats–from climate change to inequality to social instability--business leaders are being confronted with head-spinning dual realities: On the one hand, they engaged in intensive, sometimes overwhelming efforts to improve their firm’s sustainability and responsiveness to stakeholders. And, on the other, they are consistently challenged that their efforts do not add up to the scale or speed that is needed. How can this be... and what can be done?

With their recent book, “Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More than They Take”, Andrew Winston and Paul Polman suggest that when leaders take a broader view of their impacts, they will recognize the need for Net Positive Advocacy to co-design systems that enable firms, stakeholders and society to win–de-risking both sustainability and political influence.

In this module, we explore:

• What do you mean by “Net Positive”? How is this different from the increasingly mainstream approaches to sustainability and stakeholders?

• How is it that no company is yet Net Positive?

The Corporate Political Responsibility Taskforce (CPRT)’s Expert Dialogues are in-depth, recorded conversations with academic experts, stakeholder advocates and business practitioners to provide our members and other CPR champions with the expertise and context they need to develop principled, proactive CPR strategies. We invite those interested in a constructive, non-partisan, principles-based discussion.

KEYWORDS: "#CorporatePoliticalResponsibility #ESG #CPR_Responsibility #Injustice #Inequality #NetPositive