Ishmael by Daniel Quinn Inspires Ray C. Anderson to Make Multi-Billion Dollar
Interface, Inc. Sustainable
Ray C. Anderson is a great example of what can be done when Daniel Quinn's groundbreaking work, Ishmael, falls into the
hands of someone with the ability to do a great deal. In an era when business
and heroes seem mutually exclusive, he gives us hope. Anderson is the CEO of
Interface, Inc., the second leading carpet textile manufacturer in the
United States, and a multi-billion dollar company. After reading Ishmael by
Daniel Quinn and The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken, Anderson set out to
turn his corporation into a sustainable and environmentally-friendly company,
focused on recycling and diminished waste.
Anderson explains, "For the first twenty-one years of Interface’s existence, I
never gave one thought to what we took from or did to the Earth, except to be
sure we obeyed all laws and regulations. That is, until August of 1994. At that
time, our research division organized a task force with representatives from
all our worldwide businesses to review Interface’s environmental position and
asked to give the group an environmental vision. Frankly, I didn’t have a
vision, except "comply, comply, comply." I had heard statesmen advocate
"sustainable development," but I had no idea what it meant; I sweated for three
weeks over what to say to that group." First, Anderson got his hands on
Hawken's book and, "Later, someone sent me a copy of Daniel Quinn’s book,
Ishmael. I’ve now read it six times and I’m here to tell you that Hawken and
Quinn together, will not only change your life, but make you understand why it
should change. They did both for me."
Anderson's work to make Interface an environmentally sustainable company has
led him to author his own book, Mid Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable
Enterprise: The Interface Model. In 1997, Anderson was named co-chairman of
President Clinton's Sustainable Development Council. In 1996, he received the
Inaugural Millennium Award from Global Green, presented by Mikhail Gorbachev,
and won recognition from Forbes Magazine and Ernst & Young, which named him
Entrepreneur of the Year. Anderson recently received honorary doctorates from
two respected universities, and in January 2001, he took home the George and
Cynthia Mitchell International Prize for Sustainable Development.
Read more about
The Interface Model and
Anderson's receipt of the $100,000 George and Cynthia Mitchell International
Prize for Sustainable Development. Read a
dialogue in which Daniel Quinn discusses the model that Ray Anderson
offers for those who ask "What do we do now?"
Learn More About Ishmael By Daniel Quinn
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