Image: www.interfaceinc.com
A pioneer and leader, Ray transformed his successful carpet and floor covering company Interface into one of the most sustainable corporations in existence. He continues to lead the way and inspire the business community.
Green Living Editor, Shelagh McNally, spoke with Ray Anderson about his journey up what he has dubbed “Mount Sustainability.”
So, has anyone called you a revolutionary?
Well radical. I freely admit to being a radical industrialist.
How do you think we are doing? Are moving fast enough or lagging behind?
Well we are moving ahead but at a glacier pace.
How do we get industry and business to move faster?
There are two ways. We can hold up the really good examples that clearly demonstrate you don’t have to choose between the economy and the environment. It’s a win-win -- if approached intelligently. We can actually help the environment and find a better way to make a bigger profit. The other way is probably through the regulatory/legislative process creating the incentives that will inspire business to move more quickly.
Business seems to hang onto the idea that you lose money going green. You’re a good example of someone who did go green and increased profits.
Well it’s going to take more than one example to convince them. You actually do have other examples that have been at this maybe even longer than we have. Gary Hirschberg from Stoneyfield farms is doing remarkably important work. Patagonia, the outdoor wear in California has set a wonderful example for years. Tom’s of Maine -- these are generally small companies. We haven’t a whole lot from the Fortune 1,000. At least not visibly -- and I think that’s important to say -- not visibly.
So there is a lot going on behind the scenes?
I do believe there is a lot going beneath the surface. For example, Wal-Mart’s commitment has sent shock ways through the industrial world. Wal-Mart has 60,000 suppliers, so you have 60,000 thousand CEOs who are going “What did Lee Scott say?” (President of Wal-Mart) And then asking their people “What does this mean to us?” General Electric has taken a very high profile, public position. It has increased R & D for clean technology and it expects to double its revenue from clean technology. Those are really big numbers. You also have CEOs coming away from the economic summits agreeing we have to tackle climate change. I think this is on the agenda in some form or another in every boardroom.
When was your turning point when you decided you had to act?
In 1994, our customers began asking: What’s Interface doing for the environment? We had no answers so we set out to find some. We convened a task force of our people from around the world to figure out what we were doing so we could get some answers. For me personally the moment came when I was asked to launch the task force with my environmental vision. I didn’t have an environmental vision -- that was a speech I didn’t want to make and when I finally agreed I started sweating. About that time a book landed on my desk – pure serendipity – it was Paul Hawken’s book the Ecology of Commerce. At page 19, I came to the chapter heading, The Death of Birth, within ten pages it was a spear in the chest, it was an epiphanial experience. He made the central point of his book in three parts: the living system, the life support systems on Earth and decline. The biggest culprit is the industrial system with its take-make-waste system. The real telling point was that there is only one institute on Earth that is large enough, powerful enough, wealthy enough and pervasive enough to lead human kind out of this mess but it’s also the one doing the greatest damage – the institute of business. I took that very personally. I took it to heart and I made that speech to our assembled task force. I used Hawken’s material and challenged our little group to lead our company to sustainability and beyond. To make Interface a restorative company. To put back more than we take. To do good for the Earth not just no harm. We’ve been on this journey now for 13 years.
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