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How Ray Anderson Became America’s Greenest CEO


in the 1990s after increasing pressure
from his customers interface carpets
founder ray anderson decided he needed
to undertake greener business policies
for his company hi I’m Rebecca Brayton
and welcome to watchmojo.com and today
we’re speaking with Anderson about how
he became America’s greenest CEO your
book Confessions of a radical
industrialist it’s kind of an account of
what they’re calling your epiphany to go
green what led up to this my company
interface makes carpet tiles modular it
was a startup company from absolute
scratch in 1973 from just an idea to
produce modular carpet in America for
the emerging office of the future but we
still have startup but there was a day
in August of 1974 when there was not a
single order it branded my brain for a
lifetime with the ruthless fact that
you’re in business you’re one order away
from being out of business and the
source of the order is the customer well
21 years later we are beginning to hear
a question from our customers that we
had never heard before what do you sure
come you’re doing for the environment
and we really had no answers so a group
and I company said let’s get us a task
force together let’s get people from our
businesses around the world and let’s
see what we are doing let’s get some
answers so they came to me with that
idea and I said sure go for they said
well we think you ought to launch this
new task force give it a kick off speech
with your environmental vision I did
have an environmental vision I did not
want to make that speech and then by
pure serendipity a book lands on my desk
it’s Paul Hawkins book the ecology of
Commerce I don’t collude Paul Hawken is
never heard of it but I picked the book
up and I began to summit on page 19 I
come to a chapter heading the death of
birth the death of birth I began to read
that quickly line this is species
extinction this is species disappearing
into extinction never again to
experience the miracle of birth well it
was like the point of a spear and as I
read on the spear went deeper and when I
came to Hulk and central point the spear
went all the way in living systems of
the earth
fear is in decline and the biggest
culprit in this decline is the
industrial system is the way we make
stuff digging up the earth raw materials
converted to products they end up very
quickly in landfills and incinerators so
you’re converting the earth to waste he
says there’s only one institution on
earth it is really large enough and
powerful and I’ve been pervasive enough
and wealthy enough to really change that
and it’s the same institution that’s
doing the damage the institution of
business and industry well that gave me
almost more vision than I could handle
you know and I made that speech of that
whole group of people 16 17 people and
challenge them to lead our company to
sustainability and beyond
mmm
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