A couple of Fridays ago I attended Forward07, an American Marketing Association conference on innovation and sustainability. I’ve attended a few conferences in the past year and none were as inspiring as this one. Huge thanks to all the folks who helped pull this one together.
The Challenge
Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, was the first speaker of the day. He told his story in a very simple and authentic way without the aid of any of the usual presentation tools. His pure honesty and passion held the room in a way I have seen very few speakers pull off. More than a decade ago, Ray was 61 years old and had no concern for anything but his bottom line. He was challenged by Interface to have a stance on the environment and a month later he approached them with ‘Mission Zero.’ By 2020 his company would not only have zero footprint on the earth, but every day of production would be giving back to the earth. He believed that his company could make this a reality while dramatically increasing their margins (‘doing well by doing good’).
Permission to Fail
Ray spoke about how giving his staff permission to fail created an environment spawned innovation. One story that particularly impressed me was how an engineer’s idea to tear down their production line and reinstall it would cut energy usage dramatically. Because they installed all of the equipment prior to running the pipe, the plant had narrow diameter pipe winding throughout the entire line. The friction created by the narrow pipe and the excessive length caused by the winding resulted in the need for high power pumps to push fluid through the system. By tearing down the entire line, running large diameter pipe first and then installing the equipment, Interface was able to use pumps that ran on 1/14 of the power than its predecessors did. The money saved by not using 86% of the energy dramatically increased the companies margins and significantly reduced their footprint (‘doing well by doing good’).
Interface could have looked at the capital cost, the potential for failure and denied the engineer’s proposal. Thi’s is just one of many stories Ray told that illustrated how being less afraid of failure inspired the innovation that has made Interface an icon of sustainability.
Looking to Nature
Interface’s designers and engineeres looked to nature to see what it does well and what they could take from it. Among other things, their designers noted how nature isn’t perfect. That while humans have a natural drive towards perfection, they dream of a natural place when they imagine the ideal. They designed a rug tile production system that produces no tile the same. This resulted in their quality assurance people not being able to find any imperfect tiles, easier installation and zero waste.
Ray said that the ‘best way to have good ideas is to stop having bad ideas.’ It sounds simple but you can tell he really means it. By expecting exactly that from his company, they are on a strong path towards their mission for zero footprint. He is an inspiration and I believe his vision will fundamentally change the way business is done. As he finished his story, the crowed roared into a standing ovation. One woman stood and shouted that he should be President. I don’t think Ray wants to do that, but I hope he inspires the next one.
The Tools
The rest of the day was filled with a panel of sustainable businesses and some motivational fun with Kevin Carroll. Kevin spoke about the importance of play and surrounding ourselves with tools that get us excited. He challenged the crowd to ditch their mission statements in favor of ‘inspirational dreams.’ I couldn’t agree more with that idea… It is my experience that you can people and companies who expose their spirit and passions are magnets. People just want to be a part their lives, projects or work.
I could go on and on about this conference and all of the amazing stories I heard. The important thing is leaving feeling energized and inspired.