[Music]
I love you not what you were expecting
right but I mean it as I say it I love
you not you the audience I mean you and
you and you each of you individually I
love you you are beautiful you are
remarkable you are of immense worth of
course I love you by now there’s a
chance I’m making you little
uncomfortable those are words you’re
used to hearing from a spouse or from
your family perhaps from a close friend
but certainly not from a stranger much
less a buttoned-up 30-something former
tax attorney from Georgia
But Here I am in the flesh saying it
again to you I love you in a sense it’s
my job to love you I am a professional
philanthropist and that word
philanthropist comes from two words in
ancient greek philia meaning love and
and throw posts meaning human or
humanity but I don’t love you because
it’s my job I love you because of my
values values that I have inherited from
a man who I know loved me very much this
man this is daddy Rae or at least that’s
what I called him
he was my grandfather others would call
him Rae or mr. Anderson and Rae was the
founder of interface Inc the world’s
largest carpet tile manufacturing
company and in 1994 when Ray was 60
years old he read a book the book was
called the ecology of Commerce
in the book charged business and
industry companies just like raised as
the culprit for the vast majority of
environmental degradation that our
society is witnessing but the book also
said that business and industry is the
only sector large enough well enough
organized well enough capitalized to
lead us out of this mess for a reading
this book was an emotional experience he
went on to call it his spear in the
chest moment when he was convicted as a
plunderer of the earth and he spent the
last 17 years of his life trying to make
his company as environmentally
sustainable as possible now in doing so
he changed the culture at interface and
he had his entire company working with
him to show what would be a new way of
doing business and they proved that when
done right environmental sustainability
can be very good for business
they saved hundreds of millions of
dollars compared to the old way that
they did their business all while
pursuing the goal of having a
manufacturing company with zero waste
powered entirely by renewable energy
with completely benign emissions and a
closed-loop manufacturing process such
that old carpet can be recycled and
turned into new carpet with no waste
lost in the system the company continues
that climb because of the work of my
grandfather but for Ray it wasn’t just
about a better way of doing business for
him environmental sustainability was a
moral imperative it was an act of love
love not just for all of us everyone on
the planet today but really love for the
generations of people who have yet to
come to Planet Earth people who will be
just as dependent upon healthy
functioning natural systems as we are
today this is the legacy I have
inherited and I am so very honored that
I get to do the work of advancing that
legacy right along with my
family at the RACI anderson foundation
it is fulfilling and we are so very
proud of what we have accomplished but
we have more work to do and recently
we’ve been considering what difference
can we make on what we consider the most
pressing challenge facing humanity the
issue of climate change and in learning
all that I possibly can about climate
change over the last couple of years
I’ve noticed a trend and how it is
commonly described in society we see
lots of phrases like these take action
now to fight climate change we can win
the war on warming we are under attack
from climate change how to defeat
climate change solving climate change
will be like mobilizing for war hmm
sounds kind of violent it got me
thinking what other social causes that
we care about that we work on are
similarly described in such militaristic
terms the failed war on drugs join the
battle for net neutrality and the war on
women immunotherapy is the newest weapon
in the fight against cancer
hashtag resist mobilize against malaria
the war on Christmas now to be very
clear I am NOT casting judgment on any
of these causes I would love to see a
cure for cancer developed and women
everywhere deserve to be treated with
respect dignity and fairness always what
I am trying to point out is that this
language has become so very common if
you turn on the news if you follow
social media heck if you just have a
conversation you’ve probably heard this
and if I had to bet you didn’t even
notice we have become numb
to this language which I find
unfortunate certainly conflict violence
that exists in our world but certainly
it is the worst aspect of what it is to
be human our capacity to harm one
another how sad then that this is the
language that we’ve grown comfortable
with we can compare that to the first
three words that I shared with you
remember how unexpected that was how
uncomfortable that felt and I would
argue that our capacity to love is the
best aspect of being human the stories
that I celebrate the most are the ones
that talk of altruism self-sacrifice and
generosity this is what we teach our
children isn’t that what we should be
striving for why then is this the
language that feels uncomfortable
there’s an alternative to fighting for
the causes that we believe in we can
work on them work is fulfilling it is
uplifting it is rewarding in some
cultures work can be holy when we fight
for our causes we encounter enemies if
we work towards them we can encounter
friends working on something invites
others to join in but warring over a
cause draws a line in the sand between
us and others ultimately language
matters whether or not a cause is a
crusade or a collaboration it depends on
the language that we use and I believe
that collaborations create more and
better change in our societies so it is
my hope that after hearing me today you
are sensitive to the language that you
hear out in the world that you’re
sensitive to the language that you use I
hope that phrases like the ones I’ve
just shared with you leave you
feeling uncomfortable and that what does
leave you feeling comfortable are words
like these dedication gentleness
kindness generosity humility caring
honesty peaceful tenderness committed
devotion work decency tolerance
considerate sympathy altruism
collaboration self-sacrifice and I hope
that we can all agree there are any
words that feel good and right and
normal there are these three words I
love you thank you
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
I love you not what you were expecting
right but I mean it as I say it I love
you not you the audience I mean you and
you and you each of you individually I
love you you are beautiful you are
remarkable you are of immense worth of
course I love you by now there’s a
chance I’m making you little
uncomfortable those are words you’re
used to hearing from a spouse or from
your family perhaps from a close friend
but certainly not from a stranger much
less a buttoned-up 30-something former
tax attorney from Georgia
But Here I am in the flesh saying it
again to you I love you in a sense it’s
my job to love you I am a professional
philanthropist and that word
philanthropist comes from two words in
ancient greek philia meaning love and
and throw posts meaning human or
humanity but I don’t love you because
it’s my job I love you because of my
values values that I have inherited from
a man who I know loved me very much this
man this is daddy Rae or at least that’s
what I called him
he was my grandfather others would call
him Rae or mr. Anderson and Rae was the
founder of interface Inc the world’s
largest carpet tile manufacturing
company and in 1994 when Ray was 60
years old he read a book the book was
called the ecology of Commerce
in the book charged business and
industry companies just like raised as
the culprit for the vast majority of
environmental degradation that our
society is witnessing but the book also
said that business and industry is the
only sector large enough well enough
organized well enough capitalized to
lead us out of this mess for a reading
this book was an emotional experience he
went on to call it his spear in the
chest moment when he was convicted as a
plunderer of the earth and he spent the
last 17 years of his life trying to make
his company as environmentally
sustainable as possible now in doing so
he changed the culture at interface and
he had his entire company working with
him to show what would be a new way of
doing business and they proved that when
done right environmental sustainability
can be very good for business
they saved hundreds of millions of
dollars compared to the old way that
they did their business all while
pursuing the goal of having a
manufacturing company with zero waste
powered entirely by renewable energy
with completely benign emissions and a
closed-loop manufacturing process such
that old carpet can be recycled and
turned into new carpet with no waste
lost in the system the company continues
that climb because of the work of my
grandfather but for Ray it wasn’t just
about a better way of doing business for
him environmental sustainability was a
moral imperative it was an act of love
love not just for all of us everyone on
the planet today but really love for the
generations of people who have yet to
come to Planet Earth people who will be
just as dependent upon healthy
functioning natural systems as we are
today this is the legacy I have
inherited and I am so very honored that
I get to do the work of advancing that
legacy right along with my
family at the RACI anderson foundation
it is fulfilling and we are so very
proud of what we have accomplished but
we have more work to do and recently
we’ve been considering what difference
can we make on what we consider the most
pressing challenge facing humanity the
issue of climate change and in learning
all that I possibly can about climate
change over the last couple of years
I’ve noticed a trend and how it is
commonly described in society we see
lots of phrases like these take action
now to fight climate change we can win
the war on warming we are under attack
from climate change how to defeat
climate change solving climate change
will be like mobilizing for war hmm
sounds kind of violent it got me
thinking what other social causes that
we care about that we work on are
similarly described in such militaristic
terms the failed war on drugs join the
battle for net neutrality and the war on
women immunotherapy is the newest weapon
in the fight against cancer
hashtag resist mobilize against malaria
the war on Christmas now to be very
clear I am NOT casting judgment on any
of these causes I would love to see a
cure for cancer developed and women
everywhere deserve to be treated with
respect dignity and fairness always what
I am trying to point out is that this
language has become so very common if
you turn on the news if you follow
social media heck if you just have a
conversation you’ve probably heard this
and if I had to bet you didn’t even
notice we have become numb
to this language which I find
unfortunate certainly conflict violence
that exists in our world but certainly
it is the worst aspect of what it is to
be human our capacity to harm one
another how sad then that this is the
language that we’ve grown comfortable
with we can compare that to the first
three words that I shared with you
remember how unexpected that was how
uncomfortable that felt and I would
argue that our capacity to love is the
best aspect of being human the stories
that I celebrate the most are the ones
that talk of altruism self-sacrifice and
generosity this is what we teach our
children isn’t that what we should be
striving for why then is this the
language that feels uncomfortable
there’s an alternative to fighting for
the causes that we believe in we can
work on them work is fulfilling it is
uplifting it is rewarding in some
cultures work can be holy when we fight
for our causes we encounter enemies if
we work towards them we can encounter
friends working on something invites
others to join in but warring over a
cause draws a line in the sand between
us and others ultimately language
matters whether or not a cause is a
crusade or a collaboration it depends on
the language that we use and I believe
that collaborations create more and
better change in our societies so it is
my hope that after hearing me today you
are sensitive to the language that you
hear out in the world that you’re
sensitive to the language that you use I
hope that phrases like the ones I’ve
just shared with you leave you
feeling uncomfortable and that what does
leave you feeling comfortable are words
like these dedication gentleness
kindness generosity humility caring
honesty peaceful tenderness committed
devotion work decency tolerance
considerate sympathy altruism
collaboration self-sacrifice and I hope
that we can all agree there are any
words that feel good and right and
normal there are these three words I
love you thank you
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
Please follow and like us: