Unilever announced in 2010 that, by 2020, it intended to double the size of its business while halving its environmental impact. This became known as the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP). Ambitious growth coupled with a significant constraint would challenge all the paths on which it had become dependent.
Pier Luigi Sigismondi was Unilever's chief supply chain officer in 2010, and he would bear much responsibility for the execution of this transformational strategy. At the time, he confessed both to rational doubts as much as emotional excitement around the company's ability to deliver the goods.
In Adam Morgan and Tony...