Advocate for the world

WHEN Feike Sijbesma became the chief executive officer of Dutch company Royal DSM in 2007, he was determined to make the world a better place, while also running a successful company.

He faced his share of detractors, who told him the "two things cannot be combined". For good measure, they went on to add: "You just became CEO. You need to first take care of the shareholders, that's your first priority."

But to Mr Sijbesma, an equally big priority was to contribute to the world. He believed that both objectives could be achieved concurrently, but he knew he had to get the buy-in of the stakeholders. He remarks: "You cannot say, 'I will work on improving the world and forget them'. No, you need to take them with you."