Business Lessons from a Radical Industrialist: How a CEO Doubled Earnings , Inspired Employees and Created Innovation from One Simple Idea

Ray C. Anderson, Robin White

St. Martin's Publishing Group, Mar 29, 2011 - Business & Economics - 336 pages

In 1994, Interface founder and chairman Ray Anderson set an audacious goal for his commercial carpet company: to take nothing from the earth that can't be replaced by the earth. Now, Anderson leads the way forward and challenges all of industry to share that goal, with Business Lessons from a Radical Industrialist.

The Interface story is a compelling one: in 1994, making carpets was a toxic, petroleum-based process, releasing immense amounts of air and water pollution and creating tons of waste. Fifteen years after Anderson's call for change, Interface has:

—cut greenhouse gas emissions by 82%
—cut fossil fuel consumption by 60%
—cut waste by 66%
—cut water use by 75%
—invented and patented new machines, materials, and manufacturing processes
—increased sales by 66%, doubled earnings, and raised profit margins

With practical ideas and measurable outcomes that every business can use, Anderson shows that profit and sustainability are not mutually exclusive; businesses can improve their bottom lines and do right by the earth.

Ray Anderson is featured in the film, So Right, So Smart, which takes a behind-the-scenes look at how his leadership transformed Interface into a company with a sustainable business practices that made it more profitable than it was before.

Contents

• Mission Zero: 1
• The Power of One Good Question: 7
• One Small Digression and Six Lessons: 20
• Mountain Climbing: 29
• The First Face of Mount Sustainability: 44
• Smokestacks and Other Relics: 62
• Plugging into the Sun: 86
• Round and Round They Go: 110
• Getting Out of the Breakdown Lane: 128
• The Circle of Influence or Love on the Factory Floor: 151
• The Final Ascent: 174
• On Leadership Programs and Policies: 191
• Science and Skeptics: 215
• Awakening the Mind and Spirit: 225
• The Next Ascent: 244
• Every Reason for Hope: 261
• LCA Comparison of Two Carpet Tile Backing Types: 285

About the author

Ray Anderson was named one of Time magazine's Heroes of the Environment and one of MSNBC.com's Top 15 Green Business Leaders in 2007. He and Interface have been featured in three documentary films, including The Corporation and So Right So Smart. He cochaired the President's Council on Sustainable Development and the Presidential Climate Action Project. He and Interface have been featured in The New York Times, Fortune, Fast Company, and many other publications.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Business Lessons from a Radical Industrialist: How a CEO Doubled Earnings , Inspired Employees and Created Innovation from One Simple Idea
• Authors: Ray C. Anderson, Robin White
• Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2011
• ISBN: 1429997168, 9781429997164
• Length: 336 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Environmental Economics; Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection