2009 St. Martin’s Press
Ray C. Anderson

We recommend both the printed version and audiobook (Blackstone Audio, Inc.), narrated by Ray himself. He passed in 2011, leaving us a tremendous gift of his story in his voice. SHERPA Institute has worked extensively with Interface, and Ray names professionals with whom we’ve collaborated.

We cannot improve on the audiobook summary. “His story is now legend. In 1994, after reading The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken, Ray Anderson felt a "spear in the chest." The founder of Interface, Inc., a billion-dollar carpeting manufacturer, realized that his company was plundering the environment and he needed to steer it on a new course. Since then, Interface has cut its greenhouse gas emissions by eighty-two percent, with a goal to reach a zero environmental footprint by 2020. Thoughtful and winning, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist shows how Anderson revolutionized his company--improving quality, bringing costs down, and driving up profits--making it one of Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For. He challenges all industries to share his ambitious goal: to take nothing from the earth that can't be replaced by the earth.”

Three simple statements by Ray about waste hold true today:

• the greenest kilowatt-hour is the one you don’t use;
• the greenest gallon of gas, diesel, heating oil, or ton of coal is the one you don’t burn;
• the greenest Dumpster is the one you never fill.

This book belongs in every collection of anyone serious about learning the true story of a man who made an indelible mark on the industrial sustainability movement.