WEBVTT

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I have a confession to make:

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most of my adult life

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I have been working because of money
and because of prestige.

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It was not about high moral standards
or creating social value.

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It was about money
and it was about prestige.

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The more money, the better.
The more prestige, the better.

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It's a bit sad, but that's the truth.

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But I want so much more
than money and prestige.

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I want to make a difference.

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Think about it.
We are born as human beings.

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We are born, we grow up,
we live our lives, and we die.

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The same cycle
you could apply to companies.

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They are created,
they start, they develop,

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and eventually, many of them die.

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So what is the meaning about all of this?
What is the meaning about our work life?

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And what is the meaning
about the companies,

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more than just giving a profit?

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Some of you here have
not even started your working life,

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and some of you have, just like me,
been working for decades.

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And what's the purpose of that,

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and how's that actually link
to creating social value?

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What is also the purpose of the companies?

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I think, so far, we have talked
about creating social value

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as something nonprofit
organizations are doing.

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I think we need to change that model.
We need to think in a different way.

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And I think this is important and leads
to some very interesting questions.

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Think about it, we are working
more than we have ever done before.

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For what purpose?

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And the markets are flooded
with services and products.

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For what purpose?

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How can you build a company that can last?

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I think one of the answers here

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is that we are more clear
about our purpose.

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It's all about for us -
as individuals and also the companies -

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creating economic and social value.

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And if you think about it,
creating economic value

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is probably, you know,
it's pretty obvious for us.

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As individuals, we need to survive,
we need to pay our mortgages,

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have a vacation
once in a while, and so on.

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And the companies all also need profit.

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They need to invest in employees,
they need to invest in products,

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and also give something
back to the owners.

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Well, we need to create a new model,
and I see that because of two reasons:

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first of all is reason number one,

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and that is we are facing
some major challenges in the world.

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According to the
World Health Organization,

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2.1 billion people lack access
to safe, reliable water every day.

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Think about it: 2.1 billion people.

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4.5 billion people lack access
to safely managed sanitation.

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So when Greta Thunberg,
the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist,

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says to the World Economic Forum,

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"I don't want your hope,
I want you to act,"

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I see that as a proof
that our model has to change,

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it has to transition.

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The reason number two
is divided between two things:

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one thing is the individual part
and the other thing is the company part.

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What you see here on the screen,
you know, that is proven for us,

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that is things that
are actually given to us

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when we are helping and giving to others.

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We know from studies
that it activates parts of the brain

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that are associated with pressure
when we are helping and giving.

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We know when we give back,
we are more likely,

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and when we give something,
we are more likely to get it back.

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We know also

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when we do social value creation,
we build stronger social connection,

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and that's one of the things that's proven
to give us a happy and long life,

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more than anything else.

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So that's, you know,

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from an individual perspective,
why we should do this.

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If you look from a company perspective,
the business case is very, very good.

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We need here - a company needs a mission.

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Why are we here?

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And that needs to go beyond profit.

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And we need that mission
to spark a purpose,

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and that purpose, as I said before,
is so important because the purpose,

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that's where employees
and customers will buy into.

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And also talent.

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Young people today
don't want money and prestige only.

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They also want to make
a difference in the world.

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That purpose will create
engagement in your workforce.

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That engagement
will give more productivity.

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More productivity is equal to profit.

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So it's a very good business case
in creating social value.

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And the Edelman Trust Barometer,
they confirm that.

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They say that 73% of us believe

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that we would rather be in a company

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that creates both social
and economic value.

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Before I get too carried away about this,

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I just want to give
everybody here a word of warning.

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If you were to hear a TED Talk
about social value creation,

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or you think this is the new Black
and you want to do this as a leader

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and you're not really engaged,

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you will fail.

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In order to do so, you need to be sincere,
you need to be honest,

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and this needs to be delivered
with integrity;

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otherwise, both your employees
and your customers will see you're a fake.

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I would like to give you an example
that we have tried in real life.

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It's Xylem Watermark.

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I come from a company
where we have 17,000 people.

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We are dedicated to solve
the world's water challenges.

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We do that by producing solutions

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to transport, to treat, to analyze,
and to data [manage] water -

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so where we can get
what we call "smart water" moving

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to solve the challenges we have.

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In 2008, we started
a program called Watermark,

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and so far, we have supported
3.5 million people in 55 countries.

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So what we do here 
is that we go to countries.

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We make water towers to make sure
that people have access to clean water.

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When we had the situation
in Thailand with the cave,

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where the 12 boys
were there with their coach,

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we were one of the companies

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that supported the team there
to get the boys out.

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But we also do things
on a smaller scale,

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so in the office where I am, you know,

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we bake cakes and we sell them,
and the money we donate to Watermark.

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We wash the cars of the neighbors,

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and the money for that,
we donate to Watermark.

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Or we do a football tournament,

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and we take 10 euros
from each person participating,

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and we donate these monies to Watermark.

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All of this is small stuff.
Let's try to see how it works.

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(Video)

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Narrator: Because this
same spirit of respect,

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responsibility, integrity, and creativity

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that makes us invaluable to our customers

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is even more valuable
to communities in need around the world

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and knows where we live
and work every day.

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To our corporate citizenship initiative,
Xylem Watermark,

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we provide safe water resources

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to remote villages
in the Philippines and India,

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protect water resources 
in the rural areas of China and Brazil,

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educate children from Cambodia
to Columbia about water,

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and work with local nonprofits and NGOs
to help solve local water issues.

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We do all of this so people everywhere

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have a better chance at living
healthy, prosperous and sustainable lives.

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But none of these profound changes
happen on their own.

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First, it requires great partners,
and we have the best,

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but the most vital component
in making a difference

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is the collective action of our people.

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The power and passion

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of more than 16,500 employees
is enough to change the world.

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So when we volunteered to put our hands

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and our feet and our hearts
and our minds into action,

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we helped Haiti, Houston,
and Puerto Rico recover.

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We make rivers in Germany
and North Carolina cleaner

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and our neighbors wiser.

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We give children
a chance at a better future.

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And we come to understand
why it is we do what we do.

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Woman: Thanks to this donation,

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our community is going
to be able to have water.

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Man: It's very difficult to comprehend.

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It's massive for these guys.
It's massive for them.

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Narrator: In 2016,
we made a bold proclamation:

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Xylem colleagues would dedicate
100,000 hours of time

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to water-related volunteer activities
by the end of 2018,

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and we're well on our way
to meeting that goal.

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Xylem. Let's solve water.

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(Video ends)

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(Applause)

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Dan Iversen: Thank you too.

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If you're sitting now and saying,
"How do we start this?"

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you know, when something new starts,
it's always a bit vulnerable,

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and that was also the case
when we started this in the company.

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I was doubting myself.

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I remember some of my colleagues said,

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"Well, this will go over.
It's a virus, you know, it will go away,"

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but it didn't, and like many other things,
it was dependent on leadership.

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In 2014, we had a new CEO,
and he started to change our look at this,

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and he said to us as leaders

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that he looked a bit on Watermark
like a business unit.

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So he gave us individual targets.

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I had to do that many individual hours,

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volunteer hours.

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So, he also did that
for the business unit I was leading,

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and that changed that.

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And more important than everything else,

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he had and he has a really honest desire

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to make a difference in the world
with the company.

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The big difference
for myself came in 2015.

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We, Watermark, had until then been
internal for us as colleagues.

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We now decided to spread
this more around the world,

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so we invited 12 customers to build
four water towers in the Philippines.

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It was an idea. It was a test.

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We didn't know it would work,
but the result was quite amazing.

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I remember, in the evening,
after building the water towers,

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I took my phone,
and I recorded the customers.

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And I asked them this simple question,
"How has the day been for you?"

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And they answered that question,
and they started to cry,

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and then I started to cry -
that's not the goal in itself,

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but it just showed that something here
was truly, truly amazing.

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I think that's one of the formulas here
in creating social value.

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We shouldn't talk so much about it.
We should actually go and do it.

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And remember, this is so rewarding.

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When you see a child that's learning
something new in school

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or you see a child that sees
clean water for the first time

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or the customer crying
in front of you, it's so rewarding.

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It's contagious.

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I've seen some funny stuff on these trips.

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I will show you now a clip
that was done last year in Cambodia.

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I was there with customers from UK
and from France, in Siem Reap Province.

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(Video)

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DI: Hey.

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So now we have put up the tower
here with our customers.

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It took us around a couple hours,
and we're almost ready to fill in water,

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and what we're doing over here

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is that some of the customers
and my colleagues

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are actually training the kids
in how to have a high level of hygiene.

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So we tell them how to wash their hands

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and these things they're doing right now.

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As you can see, they are having
a lot of fun over here,

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so we're almost there
and in, I think, half an hour,

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we'll finalize
and put water in the system.

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I'll be back.

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(Video ends)

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(Applause)

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DI: Thank you very much, and you know,
think about it, this is contagious.

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And why is this contagious?

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I think it's contagious
because it goes away

NOTE Paragraph

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from the rational stats 
about the challenges we have.

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We all know about that.

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Then it goes into the personal reaction
you see when you help people

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and the personal gain we have ourselves
when we are helping others.

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Well, we have to change the model.

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That means, we also, as leaders,
have to change the way we're doing things.

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In 2016, I took a decision as a leader.

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I took the decision,

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a bit tough, but I took the decision:

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You cannot be in my part
of the organization

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if you don't buy into the idea
of social value creation.

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I don't care how talented
you are, how good you are.

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If you don't buy into that idea,

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you must strive, grow,
perform, and be happy

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in another organization, not with me.

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So in the end, I don't think
we really have a choice.

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As individuals and as companies,

00:13:37.821 --> 00:13:41.534
we need to create
both social and economic value.

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It's pretty simple.

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So I'm asking you,

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what will you do to make
a difference in the world?

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What gives you a purpose?

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What gives your life
personal growth and learning?

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And remember, it doesn't have
to be big and fancy and [overt].

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It just has to bring value
to someone and to yourself.

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Good luck in making
a difference in the world.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)