The Interface Model for Sustainable Companies
Early in our journey, we began to get a sense of the full breadth of changes a commitment to sustainability would bring. The most basic drawing of a contemporary corporation — its vision, its processes, its ways of doing business — simply does not include sustainability. Reaching and maintaining sustainability meant Interface would need to evolve into an organization of an entirely different kind of design.
There was no blueprint for this kind of organization in business. But there was in nature. If nature designed an industrial process, what might it look like? How could we translate the operations of nature into a model for a business?
Nature has some fundamental operating principles: it runs on sunlight and other renewable energy sources, it fits form to function, it recycles everything and it is extremely efficient — never creating excess or wasting — and, finally, it rewards cooperation. Our job was to translate these principles into a new model for business. To begin with, it meant that we would become a business that runs on renewable energy. We would carefully eliminate waste from all areas of our operations and recycle and then reuse the materials from our products and those that support our business. We would find a use for everything we use and waste nothing. And finally, we, too, would reward cooperation — with suppliers, customers, investors and our communities.
A company that is aligned with these principles is the model for the sustainable enterprise of the next industrial revolution — The Prototypical Company of the 21st Century — and it is the company Interface is evolving toward. This section and the links that follow provide an overview of how companies can move from a typical 20th century company to a sustainable business, and include excerpts from the book “
Mid-Course Correction,” by Interface founder and Chairman Ray Anderson, which describes the model in detail.
The Next Industrial Revolution: Model for the Prototypical Company of the 21st Century
Fully integrating the natural cycle with production and imbedding a sustainability link. This Interface Model is described in greater detail in “
Mid-Course Correction,” by Interface Founder and Chairman,
Ray Anderson. Or, read more about the model, how it was created and what it means to businesses in this
article.
Based on our development of this model and the corresponding framework for sustainability, Interface was the first corporation to receive the Dubai International Award for Best Practices to Improve the Living Environment. This biannual award, granted by the Dubai government and the United Nations Center for Human Settlements, recognizes and seeks to enhance awareness of sustainable achievements in improving the living environment. It reflects the commitment of Dubai Government towards sustainable development of human settlements and protection of the environment.
NEXT: Moving from Typical to Sustainable: The Starting Point