Ray Anderson - Mid-Course Correction Revisited: The Story and Legacy of a Radical Industrialist and his Quest for Authentic Change

PRAISE FOR
MID-COURSE CORRECTION REVISITED

Unlike most business leaders for whom the business case for sustainability is all that really matters, Ray Anderson unapologetically advanced a moral case as well, constantly focused on our duty to future generations. This is more important today than ever before, as we come to recognize that an incremental, softly-softly approach to corporate sustainability is pretty much a busted flushweve simply run out of time. The Interface story is as inspirational today as ever, but it needs to be read for its deeper, radical reckoning: If not now, when? If not you, who?

JONATHON PORRITT , founder and director, Forum for the Future; author of The World We Made

Im so glad Ray Andersons story is getting another tellingfew sagas are more inspiring or more timely. We desperately need more and more people following in his footsteps with the same blend of humility and determination!

BILL MCKIBBEN , author of Falter

Twenty years after its first edition, there is still so much for us to harvest and learn from Mid-Course Correction . When it came to the precariousness of our shared future, Ray Anderson was both impatient and relentless in fighting for a world of beauty, abundance, justice, and fairness. When Ray asked me to join the Interface board, his exact words were, Come help me change the world! Those words stayed with me throughout my seventeen years working with him. This twenty-year update provides the perfect guide for others to join in climbing Mt. Sustainability, the most critical mission of our time.

DIANNE DILLON-RIDGLEY , CEO, Womens Network for a Sustainable Future

So far, Ray C. Anderson is the twenty-first centurys undisputed master of making business a potent force for saving people and the planet. As his winning carpet and textile firm, Interface, now wrings out the last few percent of its fossil-fuel use, his bold strategytake nothing, waste nothing, do no harm, do very well by doing goodinspires visionary leaders everywhere. This valuable update, with additions from his grandson, John Lanier, maps out necessary next steps.

AMORY B. LOVINS , cofounder and chief scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute; author of Reinventing Fire

Twenty-one years ago my friend Ray Anderson brought an engineers insight, a businessmans rigor, a grandfathers love, and a poets heart to what he called the creative act of business. He challenged his company to first to attain sustainability and then to become restorative, reminding all who would listen that if your sustainability program is costing you money, youre doing it wrong. And in this book and in his countless speecheswith a vision as clear as any since, to our peril and shame, and with a roadmap still validhe challenged us all to do the same.

GIL FRIEND , CEO, Natural Logic, Inc.; founder, Critical Path Capital

Ray Anderson was one of the most extraordinary business leaders I ever metand I have met and worked with scores. He was extraordinary in his early embrace of the sustainability agenda, years before most of his peers were even aware of the term. And he was extraordinary in his willingness to admit he had got parts of his response wrong, which is the remarkable tale brought bang up to date in Mid-Course Correction Revisited . Highly recommended for anyone wanting leadership in these challenging times.

JOHN ELKINGTON , founder and chief pollinator, Volans; originator of the Triple Bottom Line

When I began my personal journey from a traditional business career to this world of sustainability, Ray Andersons Mid-Course Correction was the first book I read. I felt the same spear in the chest that Ray described, and so I followed his intellectual path of discovery. I am indebted to Rays legacy, and I know it is long past time to revisit his work. The global challenges we face are more daunting than ever, so the imperative Ray described has only gotten more urgent. We must convert business as usual from an obsession with short-term profits to a relentless focus on using business to build a thriving world. Ray saw it clearly years before almost everyone, and its a critical time to bring his vision to a new generation of business leaders.

ANDREW WINSTON , founder, Winston Eco-Strategies; author of The Big Pivot and coauthor of Green to Gold

Mid-Course Correction

REVISITED

The Story and Legacy of a Radical Industrialist and His Quest for Authentic Change

Ray C. Anderson

and John A. Lanier

Foreword by Paul Hawken

Chelsea Green Publishing

White River Junction, Vermont

London, UK

Copyright 2019 by the Ray C. Anderson Foundation.

All rights reserved.

This book is an expansion of the original Mid-Course Correction , published in 1998 by its author, Ray C. Anderson.

No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

Mid-Course Correction Revisited was published in collaboration with the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, which works to advance Ray Andersons legacy and vision of business and industry helping to create a sustainable world for future generations.

Editor: Joni Praded

Project Manager: Patricia Stone

Copy Editor: Laura Jorstad

Proofreader: Angela Boyle

Indexer: Shana Milkie

Designer: Melissa Jacobson

Printed in Canada.

First printing April 2019.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 119 20 21 22 23

Our Commitment to Green Publishing

Chelsea Green sees publishing as a tool for cultural change and ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book manufacturing practices with our editorial mission and to reduce the impact of our business enterprise in the environment. We print our books and catalogs on chlorine-free recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks whenever possible. This book may cost slightly more because it was printed on paper that contains recycled fiber, and we hope youll agree that its worth it. Chelsea Green is a member of the Green Press Initiative (www.greenpressinitiative.org), a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the worlds endangered forests and conserve natural resources. Mid-Course Correction Revisited was printed on paper supplied by Marquis that contains 100% postconsumer recycled fiber.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Anderson, Ray C., author. | Lanier, John A., author.

Title: Mid-course correction revisited : the story and legacy of a radical industrialist and his quest for authentic change / Ray C. Anderson and John A. Lanier ; foreword by Paul Hawken.

Other titles: Mid-course correction

Description: White River Junction, Vermont : Chelsea Green Publishing, 2019. | Revised edition, includes new foreword by Paul Hawken and several new chapters by John A. Lanier. | Includes

bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018059113| ISBN 9781603588898 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781603588904 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Interface, Inc. | Sustainable developmentUnited StatesCase studies. | Social responsibility of businessUnited StatesCase studies. | Industrial managementEnvironmental aspectsUnited Statescase studies.

Classification: LCC HC110.E5 A6616 2019 | DDC 658.4/08dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018059113

Chelsea Green Publishing

85 North Main Street, Suite 120

White River Junction, VT 05001

(802) 295-6300

www.chelseagreen.com

To environmentalists everywhere, from the giants of the environmental movement to the ordinary folks who got it long before I did, I dedicate this little book. Thank you all for the inspiration. Would that I could, in the time I have left as a visitor to this beautiful blue planet, the third from a star called Sol in a galaxy called Milky Way, do justice to your lives and examples with my own.