Peter Brabeck – Elevating brand management to an art form

Brabeck-Letmathe airs his views on how public companies can assume corporate social responsibility and simultaneously create value for all their stakeholders. In the case of Nestlé, the company he has directed and shaped over the past 40 years, practically the entire globe is a stakeholder in one way or another. In 1968, Brabeck-Letmathe started working for the food and beverage company that presently employs over 280,000 people, and, at 66, he discharges his duties as company chairman. Brabeck-Letmathe was instrumental in the company’s development into the world’s largest food conglomerate whose brands are available in every corner of the globe. Nestlé is represented in “nearly every country” Brabeck tells the American public at the think tank in New York.

His accented English and occasionally surprising opinions do not bother the audience in the least; if anything, they bestow yet more authenticity on the tall, distinguished Austrian. This is a knowledgeable man who has travelled the globe, speaks several languages, is a mountain climber with a number of notable mountain peaks under his belt, and, as a pilot, has flown over remote regions of the world. In excellent physical condition, the seasoned globetrotter can afford to give voice to opinions that are not always popular, and he backs these to the hilt.

Critics and anti-globalization activists charge the frontman of one of the largest water-selling companies in the world with being a hardened cynic. Naturally, if water were to become more expensive, his company would have a larger turnover; but poorer people in developed countries might find themselves unable to pay their water bills, and, in less-developed regions, water conflicts would surely ensue. An expert communicator, however, Brabeck astutely points out his opinion on that.

If we continue at our present rate, we could run out of clean water even before we run out of oil. To achieve disciplined water management globally, he argues, humanity must to be made aware of how valuable water is. Dealing with the water problem is just one of the issues defended passionately by the captain of an imperium that commands a budget larger than most countries have at their disposal. Peter Brabeck knows that his vehement convictions sometimes come across forcefully, but he never oversteps the mark. His good friend and founder of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Klaus Schwab, characterizes Brabeck as a “fact-driven, authentic entrepreneurial statesman.” In the latest biography about Brabeck-Letmathe, Schwab describes how these frank exchanges have sometimes led to a few “unpleasant” moments. However, he goes on to add, the charismatic Austrian’s directness ultimately inspires trust. “I have met many great personalities of this day and age. Peter Brabeck is in the top ten of those who have impressed me most,” Schwab writes. The man who, in a mere 17 years , first conquered Latin America for Nestlé and then took on the rest of the world ends his talk at the Council on Foreign Relations by expertly fielding questions from the audience. Child labor on plantations in South America? Nestlé has instituted schooling programs, and for every child enrolled, parents working for the company receive a raise. Future global eating habits? The “global Austrian,” as his good friend Ernesto Zedillo, the former Mexican president, affectionately calls him knows the answer.

Mighty and influential a businessman as he is – the man also sits on the board of Credit Suisse and Texas oil giant Exxon Mobile – although you can take the man out of the mountains, you cannot take the mountains out of the man. The Austrian from alpine Carinthia is happiest when he is up in the mountains. Just man and nature. At present, he is looking forward to a skiing tour in Alaska, replies Brabeck-Letmathe when presider Michael J. Elliot asks where he is bound after his visit to New York. For those who want to scale the entrepreneurial peaks he has the following advice.

Following the presentation at the think tank, and after the guests have enjoyed a final Nespresso ristretto and been sent on their way into the cool, New York spring morning, the tireless entrepreneur finds time to answer The Brander’s questions.