As I was writing this essay about Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of Interface, Inc., I looked at two photographs I had of him and his company. The first photo shows the public Ray, stalwart as the face of the corporate giant that he built and pushed to its lofty pedestal within the sustainable flooring industry. The second photo was taken on the factory floor at Bentley Prince Street, the Los Angeles-area Interface corporation also recognized for its innovative practices. Pictured here is the code of sustainability standards by which Ray’s companies and people are expected to conduct their business.
These principles are bedrock mainstays of the Interface modus operandi. They are affirmations growing out of the Interface corporate commitment. If nothing else, Ray’s professional life was certainly governed by a set of well-drawn principles that embody the tenet of doing well by doing good. A southerner by birth and graciousness, Ray’s professional ethic was demonstrably not far from the fundamental Golden Rule of his upbringing.