Transcriber: David DeRuwe Reviewer: Peter van de Ven
I have a confession to make:
most of my adult life
I have been working because of money and because of prestige.
It was not about high moral standards or creating social value.
It was about money and it was about prestige.
The more money, the better. The more prestige, the better.
It's a bit sad, but that's the truth.
But I want so much more than money and prestige.
I want to make a difference.
Think about it. We are born as human beings.
We are born, we grow up, we live our lives, and we die.
The same cycle you could apply to companies.
They are created, they start, they develop,
and eventually, many of them die.
So what is the meaning about all of this? What is the meaning about our work life?
And what is the meaning about the companies,
more than just giving a profit?
Some of you here have not even started your working life,
and some of you have, just like me, been working for decades.
And what's the purpose of that,
and how's that actually link to creating social value?
What is also the purpose of the companies?
I think, so far, we have talked about creating social value
as something nonprofit organizations are doing.
I think we need to change that model. We need to think in a different way.
And I think this is important and leads to some very interesting questions.
Think about it, we are working more than we have ever done before.
For what purpose?
And the markets are flooded with services and products.
For what purpose?
How can you build a company that can last?
I think one of the answers here
is that we are more clear about our purpose.
It's all about for us - as individuals and also the companies -
creating economic and social value.
And if you think about it, creating economic value
is probably, you know, it's pretty obvious for us.
As individuals, we need to survive, we need to pay our mortgages,
have a vacation once in a while, and so on.
And the companies all also need profit.
They need to invest in employees, they need to invest in products,
and also give something back to the owners.
Well, we need to create a new model, and I see that because of two reasons:
first of all is reason number one,
and that is we are facing some major challenges in the world.
According to the World Health Organization,
2.1 billion people lack access to safe, reliable water every day.
Think about it: 2.1 billion people.
4.5 billion people lack access to safely managed sanitation.
So when Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist,
says to the World Economic Forum,
"I don't want your hope, I want you to act,"
I see that as a proof that our model has to change,
it has to transition.
The reason number two is divided between two things:
one thing is the individual part and the other thing is the company part.
What you see here on the screen, you know, that is proven for us,
that is things that are actually given to us
when we are helping and giving to others.
We know from studies that it activates parts of the brain
that are associated with pressure when we are helping and giving.
We know when we give back, we are more likely,
and when we give something, we are more likely to get it back.
We know also
when we do social value creation, we build stronger social connection,
and that's one of the things that's proven to give us a happy and long life,
more than anything else.
So that's, you know,
from an individual perspective, why we should do this.
If you look from a company perspective, the business case is very, very good.
We need here - a company needs a mission.
Why are we here?
And that needs to go beyond profit.
And we need that mission to spark a purpose,
and that purpose, as I said before, is so important because the purpose,
that's where employees and customers will buy into.
And also talent.
Young people today don't want money and prestige only.
They also want to make a difference in the world.
That purpose will create engagement in your workforce.
That engagement will give more productivity.
More productivity is equal to profit.
So it's a very good business case in creating social value.
And the Edelman Trust Barometer, they confirm that.
They say that 73% of us believe
that we would rather be in a company
that creates both social and economic value.
Before I get too carried away about this,
I just want to give everybody here a word of warning.
If you were to hear a TED Talk about social value creation,
or you think this is the new Black and you want to do this as a leader
and you're not really engaged,
you will fail.
In order to do so, you need to be sincere, you need to be honest,
and this needs to be delivered with integrity;
otherwise, both your employees and your customers will see you're a fake.
I would like to give you an example that we have tried in real life.
It's Xylem Watermark.
I come from a company where we have 17,000 people.
We are dedicated to solve the world's water challenges.
We do that by producing solutions
to transport, to treat, to analyze, and to data [manage] water -
so where we can get what we call "smart water" moving
to solve the challenges we have.
In 2008, we started a program called Watermark,
and so far, we have supported 3.5 million people in 55 countries.
So what we do here is that we go to countries.
We make water towers to make sure that people have access to clean water.
When we had the situation in Thailand with the cave,
where the 12 boys were there with their coach,
we were one of the companies
that supported the team there to get the boys out.
But we also do things on a smaller scale,
so in the office where I am, you know,
we bake cakes and we sell them, and the money we donate to Watermark.
We wash the cars of the neighbors,
and the money for that, we donate to Watermark.
Or we do a football tournament,
and we take 10 euros from each person participating,
and we donate these monies to Watermark.
All of this is small stuff. Let's try to see how it works.
(Video)
Narrator: Because this same spirit of respect,
responsibility, integrity, and creativity
that makes us invaluable to our customers
is even more valuable to communities in need around the world
and knows where we live and work every day.
To our corporate citizenship initiative, Xylem Watermark,
we provide safe water resources
to remote villages in the Philippines and India,
protect water resources in the rural areas of China and Brazil,
educate children from Cambodia to Columbia about water,
and work with local nonprofits and NGOs to help solve local water issues.
We do all of this so people everywhere
have a better chance at living healthy, prosperous and sustainable lives.
But none of these profound changes happen on their own.
First, it requires great partners, and we have the best,
but the most vital component in making a difference
is the collective action of our people.
The power and passion
of more than 16,500 employees is enough to change the world.
So when we volunteered to put our hands
and our feet and our hearts and our minds into action,
we helped Haiti, Houston, and Puerto Rico recover.
We make rivers in Germany and North Carolina cleaner
and our neighbors wiser.
We give children a chance at a better future.
And we come to understand why it is we do what we do.
Woman: Thanks to this donation,
our community is going to be able to have water.
Man: It's very difficult to comprehend.
It's massive for these guys. It's massive for them.
Narrator: In 2016, we made a bold proclamation:
Xylem colleagues would dedicate 100,000 hours of time
to water-related volunteer activities by the end of 2018,
and we're well on our way to meeting that goal.
Xylem. Let's solve water.
(Video ends)
(Applause)
Dan Iversen: Thank you too.
If you're sitting now and saying, "How do we start this?"
you know, when something new starts, it's always a bit vulnerable,
and that was also the case when we started this in the company.
I was doubting myself.
I remember some of my colleagues said,
"Well, this will go over. It's a virus, you know, it will go away,"
but it didn't, and like many other things, it was dependent on leadership.
In 2014, we had a new CEO, and he started to change our look at this,
and he said to us as leaders
that he looked a bit on Watermark like a business unit.
So he gave us individual targets.
I had to do that many individual hours,
volunteer hours.
So, he also did that for the business unit I was leading,
and that changed that.
And more important than everything else,
he had and he has a really honest desire
to make a difference in the world with the company.
The big difference for myself came in 2015.
We, Watermark, had until then been internal for us as colleagues.
We now decided to spread this more around the world,
so we invited 12 customers to build four water towers in the Philippines.
It was an idea. It was a test.
We didn't know it would work, but the result was quite amazing.
I remember, in the evening, after building the water towers,
I took my phone, and I recorded the customers.
And I asked them this simple question, "How has the day been for you?"
And they answered that question, and they started to cry,
and then I started to cry - that's not the goal in itself,
but it just showed that something here was truly, truly amazing.
I think that's one of the formulas here in creating social value.
We shouldn't talk so much about it. We should actually go and do it.
And remember, this is so rewarding.
When you see a child that's learning something new in school
or you see a child that sees clean water for the first time
or the customer crying in front of you, it's so rewarding.
It's contagious.
I've seen some funny stuff on these trips.
I will show you now a clip that was done last year in Cambodia.
I was there with customers from UK and from France, in Siem Reap Province.
(Video)
DI: Hey.
So now we have put up the tower here with our customers.
It took us around a couple hours, and we're almost ready to fill in water,
and what we're doing over here
is that some of the customers and my colleagues
are actually training the kids in how to have a high level of hygiene.
So we tell them how to wash their hands
and these things they're doing right now.
As you can see, they are having a lot of fun over here,
so we're almost there and in, I think, half an hour,
we'll finalize and put water in the system.
I'll be back.
(Video ends)
(Applause)
DI: Thank you very much, and you know, think about it, this is contagious.
And why is this contagious?
I think it's contagious because it goes away
from the rational stats about the challenges we have.
We all know about that.
Then it goes into the personal reaction you see when you help people
and the personal gain we have ourselves when we are helping others.
Well, we have to change the model.
That means, we also, as leaders, have to change the way we're doing things.
In 2016, I took a decision as a leader.
I took the decision,
a bit tough, but I took the decision:
You cannot be in my part of the organization
if you don't buy into the idea of social value creation.
I don't care how talented you are, how good you are.
If you don't buy into that idea,
you must strive, grow, perform, and be happy
in another organization, not with me.
So in the end, I don't think we really have a choice.
As individuals and as companies,
we need to create both social and economic value.
It's pretty simple.
So I'm asking you,
what will you do to make a difference in the world?
What gives you a purpose?
What gives your life personal growth and learning?
And remember, it doesn't have to be big and fancy and [overt].
It just has to bring value to someone and to yourself.
Good luck in making a difference in the world.
Thank you.
(Applause)