Ecocentricity Blog: Interface’s Next Mission

Jun 28, 2016 11:00 AM ET
Campaign: Ecocentricity Blog

Interface's Next Mission

Interface’s leadership believes that Mission Zero® will be completed as scheduled. So what happens next? What’s the next mission?

First, do no harm.

I’ve long thought that this phrase was a part of the Hippocratic Oath, which is the pledge taken by medical doctors regarding their ethical obligations to patients. I checked, and it turns out that it isn’t actually in the oath. Still, the concept rings true. When ill, we turn to doctors with the expectation that they will heal us, not hurt us.

There is an elegance and beauty at the heart of this ethic. Moreover, the fundamental goodness of this precept is not unique to the medical profession. Why don’t we apply this ethical standard more broadly? More pointedly, why don’t we hold the world of business and industry to this standard? And what might that look like?

I think it would look a lot like Mission Zero®, the oath taken by Interface, Inc. to have no negative impact on the environment by 2020.

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