When Paul Polman became the CEO of the multinational Unilever in 2009, he set out on a quest to convince his colleagues, his board, and the outside world that companies do not have the right to exist if their only purpose is making money. More importantly, he set out to prove that a company could in fact be both profitable and sustainable. The Great Battle or The Lonely Quest of Unilever''s CEO Paul Polman investigates how Polman navigated between making money and doing the right thing. Smit convincingly argues that Polman was too far ahead of his time, but that his ideas about responsible capitalism are the very thing we need to turn the tide.

On 9 October 2007, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) celebrated its leading role in the biggest deal in banking history, a record 71 billion euros for Dutch bank ABN Amro. Searching for an immediate profit, the victors dismantled ABN Amro - and Holland''s number one bank ceased to exist. Shareholders and management enjoyed the spoils and the Netherlands lost the bank that had been at the heart of their economy for 183 years. But the profits were an illusion - they simply weren''t there. One year later, RBS had been forced into the largest rights issue in British corporate history, underwritten by the Government. So why was ABN Amro so toxic? On the basis of more than 120 conversations with the most important individuals involved, Jeroen Smit reconstructs the downfall of a Dutch institution - a bank whose rotten core was so disguised by paper profits of billions every year. In little more than a decade, one of Europe''s largest, longest established banks went from powerful predator to the perfect prey.

When Paul Polman became the CEO of the multinational Unilever in 2009, he set out on a quest to convince his colleagues, his board, and the outside world that companies do not have the right to exist if their only purpose is making money. More importantly, he set out to prove that a company could in fact be both profitable and sustainable. The Great Battle or The Lonely Quest of Unilever''s CEO Paul Polman investigates how Polman navigated between making money and doing the right thing. Smit convincingly argues that Polman was too far ahead of his time, but that his ideas about responsible capitalism are the very thing we need to turn the tide.

On 9 October 2007, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) celebrated its leading role in the biggest deal in banking history, a record 71 billion euros for Dutch bank ABN Amro. Searching for an immediate profit, the victors dismantled ABN Amro - and Holland''s number one bank ceased to exist. Shareholders and management enjoyed the spoils and the Netherlands lost the bank that had been at the heart of their economy for 183 years. But the profits were an illusion - they simply weren''t there. One year later, RBS had been forced into the largest rights issue in British corporate history, underwritten by the Government. So why was ABN Amro so toxic? On the basis of more than 120 conversations with the most important individuals involved, Jeroen Smit reconstructs the downfall of a Dutch institution - a bank whose rotten core was so disguised by paper profits of billions every year. In little more than a decade, one of Europe''s largest, longest established banks went from powerful predator to the perfect prey.