After a stomach-churning takeoff from a 550-meter runway at Long Banga airstrip on the Malaysian side of the island of Borneo, the 19-seat plane soars over a green tropical wilderness. This is one of the world’s last remaining virgin rain forests.  About 30 minutes into the flight to the bustling oil town of Miri, the lush landscape changes, and neatly terraced fields of oil palms take the place of jungle.

Unilever’s Paul Polman, who helped build Nestlé SA and Procter & Gamble Co. with acquisitions, is taking a page from his old playbooks in his new job.  The first outsider to become Unilever’s chief executive officer, Polman broke a nine-year streak of avoiding major takeovers to pursue the €1.28-billion ($1.88 billion) purchase of Sara Lee Corp.’s shower-gel and European detergents business last week.

Imagine ruling the highway with a car that revs like a medieval beast unleashed from hell, pulls 400 miles on a full tank, with the air-conditioner on full blast. Alas, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV is nothing like that.  Quite the opposite. The electric car is so quiet, it’s almost sedate. Without an engine, you don’t get that shuddering growl when you turn the ignition key or any rumble when you step on the accelerator to overtake rivals. Thank goodness for less noise, the civic-minded among us might say.