Mid-Course Correction--Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: the Interface Model

Mid-Course Correction

by Ray C. Anderson. The Peregrin-zilla Press, Atlanta, 1998 (distributed by Chelsea Green Publishing Co.). Paperback, 200 pages, $17.95

EBN

Vol. 5, No. 1). Now that story is available in paperback—fleshed out in more detail—and may well carry Anderson’s message even farther into the mainstream business world.

Like Anderson’s public presentations,

Mid-Course Correction is both personal and universal. The book takes us into Anderson’s past, through his childhood, his youth as a reluctant but successful football player, his first professional career as an engineer with Callaway Mills (later acquired by Deering Milliken). It then describes the founding of his own company, Interface, as a competitor to Milliken in the production of modular carpet tiles. But the book’s main subject begins with Anderson’s realization of our bleak environmental situation and the role his own company plays in plundering the earth. And, of course, it describes the frameworks and solutions Interface is now using to transform itself into a sustainable company.

Anderson does a good job of summarizing the principles of The Natural Step, which Interface has adopted as a compass on its journey. He also presents many of the ideas he has learned from Daniel Quinn, Paul Hawken, Bill McDonough, Donella Meadows, Amory Lovins, and others.

As sincere as Anderson is in his environmental message, he is very clear that the financial success of Interface will not be jeopardized in the process of pursuing sustainability. He describes three avenues by which the company benefits from “Doing Well by Doing Good”:

•Direct savings—nearly $80 million in avoided costs through waste reduction measures since 1995.

•Customer goodwill—Anderson believes that Interface’s business will grow as people learn of the company’s progress towards sustainability and choose to support that mission with their purchases.

•Positioning—the day is coming when greenhouse gas emissions will have to be curtailed. By reducing dependence on non-renewable fuels and raw materials, Interface will be in an advantageous position when that day arrives.

In a series of diagrams,

Mid-Course Correction illustrates the projected evolution of Interface from a typical 20th-century company to a sustainable company of the 21st century. One example of the many changes is a decoupling from the minerals and fossil fuels of the earth’s lithosphere, and their replacement with renewable resources from the biosphere, recycled materials, and solar energy.

Anderson acknowledges the areas in which Interface is already behind in meeting the goals that were set in 1995. In recognition of the daunting nature of the task at hand, he concludes with inspiring stories about the ability of a motivated few to move mountains. And in keeping with his pledge to share with other companies the lessons Interface has learned, he provides an appendix containing a detailed checklist of Interface’s “PLETSUS: Practices LEading Toward SUStainability.”

As Anderson himself notes in the dedication, the ideas in this book are not particularly original. But coming from the leader of a billion-dollar company, they are radical and exciting. Anderson’s voice lends legitimacy to ideas that many individuals endorse but are rarely mentioned in business circles. In speaking these words, he does us all a great favor.