Long before Ray Anderson, the founder and chairman of Interface, passed away, one year ago this week, I'd been thinking about the above question. For years, speaking at business schools and corporate events, I'd often ask, "Can you name the head of a publicly traded, industrial company who has embedded sustainability into the company's DNA; who has a vision that a company could become not just sustainable, but restorative; and who is out there talking about this widely and forcefully — and not just at sustainability gatherings?”
Typically, several hands would go up, or someone would simply shout out, "Ray Anderson!"
"Great," I'd say. "Now, name another."
Always: silence.
It was, at some level, a rhetorical question. Anderson was one of a kind: a humble, genteel, Southern industrialist who in the mid 1990s experienced an epiphany about his carpet company's environmental impact, then spent the rest of his life transforming that company into an exemplar of sustainable business. He was a brilliant marketer who saw the value of sustainability to sell carpet, but also a visionary who saw the potential to transform commerce. He was an extraordinary man, beautifully eulogized by his friend and mentor, Paul Hawken.
So, no: There will never be another Ray Anderson. He was a unique individual with a unique circumstance at a unique time.
Still, Anderson embodied the truly enlightened business leader who understood the value of sustainability practices — to increase sales, cut costs, foster innovation, delight employees, engage customers, and build an enviable reputation for his company, even one whose products were based on materials as unnatural as nylon and vinyl. He saw the potential to change the voice of business in the sustainability conversation. He was not an incrementalist.
In that light, where are the others — Anderson’s cohorts, disciples, protégés, and evangelists within the C-suites of other large companies? Who today is the enlightened CEO picking up where Anderson left off?
Over the past month, and informally before then, I spoke with several of those who worked with Anderson — as Interface employees, on the “Dream Team” of sustainability advisors he put together in the 1990s, and others. I wanted to know what it means to be a "Ray Anderson," and who else might deserve that moniker.
My quest was, admittedly, quixotic. It is nearly impossible to take the full measure of a man — his character, warts and all — let alone to do so in the relatively short time I spent on the exercise. I, like many others, knew and admired Anderson, but only a piece of him: his public persona, punctuated by a handful of personal encounters. Even those who worked closely with him don't profess to truly "get" the man.
Next page: The six things that made Ray Ray
There are "other" Ray
There are "other" Ray Andersons. In point of fact: Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia lead even Ray Anderson by instilling in Patagonia, and throughout its burgeoning world-wide supply chain, as close to a pure sustainability ethos as any subsequent company has ever instituted. Chouinard's book, "Let My People Go Surfing" is one of the best management texts on the entire realm of sustainability from human resources through to production. What differentiates Ray Anderson from Yvon Chouinard is his contextual "insulation" as CEO of manufacturing and marketing company in the "traditional" sense as opposed to Patagonia's founding principles of serving wilderness users who inherintly (or ought to though the reality of the garbage on Everest) promoted wilderness protection. That synergistic relationship was both the rationale for sustainaability at Patagonia, and the positive feedback loop that promoted its products as such to the users who etc etc. That's what Let My People Go Surfing explains in both the internal company and eventually supply chain applications.
Where my company, RiverSides, as manufacturer and marketer of the market-leading RiverSafe V1 RainBarrel for residential stormwater retrofits, seeks to emulate Ray Anderson's leadership is through his visionary marketing strategy of leasing carpet to buildings rather than selling it. As manufacturers we are committed to fast-tracking the process of replacing virgin materials throughout the supply chain loop with reprocessed materials comprising existing products.
Looking forward to who will
Looking forward to who will be the next Ray Anderson, and what attributes future leaders will posses that we have yet to identify.
Thank you Joel.
Thank you Joel.
A very thoughtful and well written article.
I think you have captured the essense of what made Ray unique and successful. And I have to agree that, after Paul Polman at Unilever, the candidates to be the "next Ray Anderson" are not apparent.
Perhaps as the consequences of our current "take-make-waste" industrial system become clearer, more Rays will emerge...
Following Kathryn Cooper's reframing of the question, I can't help thinking that one reason there are not more who measure up to Ray Anderson is that their are very few at the core of business who are willing and able to stare deeply into the abyss, truely understand the nature and depth of the problem; and still have the faith and passion required to work relentlessly toward solutions, without being distracted by ... [insert long list of potential distractions]
I wonder if it is an old
I wonder if it is an old paradigm that asks "Where are the heroes who will lead us bravely and resolutely in this transition to sustainability?” In an evolving story from a reductionist, industrial paradigm to one based on whole systems and whole self; a new lens may be required.
Distributed leadership is a child of systems. We are a part of a larger organism; humankind and the planet. It stands that each one of us has a role to play in this transition. If we direct our intent and attention on our inspirational future (individually, in community, as employees etc); we may find that we are the ones we have been looking for.
Ray Anderson’s boldness was part of his authentic personal journey. A journey rooted in compassion and a clear insight to the radical interdependence of everything. Ray’s lesson to us just might be that it is possible for each of us to remake the world with a sustainability lens - even the most unlikely of radical industrialists.
I believe the reason there
I believe the reason there are no more "Ray Andersons" is that most C-suite folks think their organization already IS run by one (after all, they recycle paper & cans don't they?). In our work, we've repeatedly seen that the C-suite occupants have little clue as to their organization's true efforts and results in this regard, and have had underlings purposely avoid pointing out sustainability shortfalls as they may lose their job. Others believe that their comments will fall on deaf ears. C-suites almost exclusively look for profit today, not for improved results in the future. Sustainability is all about long term planning.
Not only was Ray a believer and willing to back up his beliefs by supporting organizational efforts, he was a great communicator. Both are key to success. His organization's results prove their long-term thinking was well worth the effort; he would also tell you that it was his employees efforts that made it successful.
Thank you Joel for shining
Thank you Joel for shining some additional bright light on Ray Anderson's extraordinary legacy of what I refer to as StewardHeirShip TM. That encompasses Service, Stewardship, Spirit and Sustainability.
As a result of meeting Ray at World Business Academy and learning more about his works through membership in Social Venture Network, my team and I who cofounded Universal Stewardheirship, Inc. seek to promote his vision, mission and accomplishments.
While there may never be another Ray Anderson, we believe there has never been a richer opportunity in America for furthering his vision (and for fulfilling the Ultimate Destiny of the USA that Benjamin Franklin said was not power but light) than the combination of the new Benefit Corporation model and the Crowd Funding provisions of the JOBS Act. We believe that is especially true when combined with the principles and practices of Community Economic Development that include self-help, empowerment and capacity-building.
Thank you again! May we please have permission to reprint your article on our web site at http://www.communityeconomicdevelopmentresourcecenter.com/?
Charles - you may reprint the
Charles - you may reprint the first few paragraphs, or some other reasonable excerpt of your choosing, then link back to the original on GreenBiz. Hope that's OK.
Yes Sir! Thank you Joel.
Yes Sir! Thank you Joel.
Joel, thanks for a great
Joel,
thanks for a great article - and indeed, it was exactly this question that led me to eventually undertake doctoral research to determine how organizations can become 'sustaining' (beyond reducing harm to nurturing ecologies). You have delivered the interview I would have liked to. But in anticipating such an interview, I discovered some additional thoughts that go towards responding to some of Katherine’s reframing question “How do we all measure up? What stops us?”
Firstly, when I talk individually with business people – they all seem to want the same things – a clean, healthy world for their children to grow up in, a happy and satisfying life and greenery and animals to enjoy… so I don't think its lack of desire.
It seems to me that we don't know how to liberate that desire within organizations. Old assumptions about what motivates people (money c.f. intrinsic satisfaction); management notions about control and order get in the way of ideas emerging from people within the organization; perspectives on how change occurs get in the way; limited and myopic perspectives of the world and its degree of interconnectedness; and yes, some ego’s and individual needs seem to reside at the intersection of desire and liberation too.
It is important to remember that Ray was the head and owner of his own business (i believe this was the case until his departure). Managers who report to shareholders via a Board have a much greater task in front of them – to overcome the inertia of a financial and legal system underpinned by assumptions of continuous growth that are no longer (if ever) applicable -a different level of consciousness.
I don't know THE answer – and I am sure there is no silver bullet – but the answer is a much more systemic one than “not enough courage or backbone”. And I think that’s reassuring – its not that we are ‘bad people’… its just that we are mistaken in some of our thinking and we are gradually changing it. I too wish it was faster and we could clone a million Rays! But this is not possible …. However he continues to shine his light for us as we move forward systemically.
Joel, thanks for a really
Joel, thanks for a really thought-provoking article! In seeking out companies focused on sustainability and innovation I've thought about this question many times: Who are the real visionaries making this happen? What have they done to succeed and why aren't there more of them? Thanks for sharing this.
Best,
Phil
Thank you Joel. A great
Thank you Joel. A great piece. Maybe the question should also be - how does each one of us measure up. What stops us? We are all coming to "consciousness" on this front. Pieces like this remind us of our goal.
That's a terrific reframing
That's a terrific reframing of the question, Kathryn. Would love to hear your (and others') thoughts on this.
What stopped me for many
What stopped me for many years was the assumption (I think based on mass media messages) that sustainability was a problem, that there were no potential solutions, and that the primary thing for me to do was use less.
What got me turned on was also a process (see my earlier comment):
* turning 40 and asking "well what do I REALLY want for myself in the coming decades" (to make a difference reducing corporate burnout as a professional coach)
* learning to listen to myself during my initial coaching studies
* noticing that I was (reluctantly) interested in a Masters in Sustainability announced at lunchtime during graduate eCommerce studies
* doing post graduate studies and being introduced to the books "Natural Capitalism", "Mid Course Correction" and "Cradle to Cradle"
There was my "aha" (with a great inspiration from Ray Anderson included). I had been a supply chain systems consultant, and these particular books spoke to both my personal and business experience. Because of this experience, I believed (and still hold the assessment) that as an individual consumer I could not make a significant difference. Much as I loved my bush garden, I had no sense of power or possibility or connection to "this sustainability thing".
What these three books gave me was HOPE - and a positive, explicit vision of practical ways our system could be AND WAS changing. These ways were congruent with my own knowledge of the inside operations of factories and warehouses in a range of industries.
That's what activated me - HOPE and a specific positive vision.
In Innovation Diffusion terms, the challenge I see in front of us now is how to get this new way of doing business "across the chasm" to the Early Majority who are motivated differently from Innovators and Early Adopters. My experience in CleanTech circles is that the Innovators and Early Adopters have "got it".
To me, if popular, powerful voices make "sustainability" look difficult and expensive to the Early Majority then that "chasm" will get wider, especially if they have to risk their reputation on "costly new programs". So the more well-known people we can get to speak out about how straightforward, sensible and rewarding sustainability is when it's done strategically to achieve win/win/win outcomes the better.
I assess that it's also important to distill the systems changes required to get started into simple memes that suit our time. Easy, useful products and ideas get cross the "chasm" quite easily.