In 2005, Goldman Sachs suggested a barrel of oil could 'spike' above $100. In January 2008 it did.

Ray Anderson, Chairman of Atlanta-based Interface Inc., is probably too modest to say: ' I told you so.'

The world's largest modular carpet company predicates its business sustainability - and an increasing share price - on two imperatives: zero planetary impact by 2020 and a barrel of oil at $100.00 or more. 'I believe that in the 21st Century, the most resource-efficient companies will win. The sustainable will win big when oil's price finally reflects its cost and is $100, or even $200 per barrel...That's the day for which we as a company are preparing,' says Mr. Anderson.

In 2004, as Interface celebrated ten years of its journey towards its 2020 deadline, Mr. Anderson made a prominent appearance in the Canadian-made documentary The Corporation and remains a sought-after speaker among a growing list of corporate admirers. But he's no mainstream MBA-icon, at least not yet.

Maybe this quote from his book 'Mid-Course Correction', published in 1998, is why: 'Not the least extraordinary aspect of what we are, and the place at which we have arrived, is that we have discovered the indispensable value of the soft side of business - what is being referred to more and more as spirituality in business. Spirituality in this context has nothing to do with religion; it is the discovery of the value of business, euphemistically speaking, of the right hemispheres of our brains, the emotional, caring nurturing side of our personalities. Spirituality pertains to the human spirit.'

Outside the socially responsible investing (SRI) world, it is unlikely that Mr. Anderson's stakeholders would be quite so understanding of this view if he wasn't able maximize shareholder value through increased profits. Gary Pfeiffer, a former CFO of DuPont, has pointed out that 'sustainability will become a reality when the corporate world understands it is not philanthropy but good business that makes financial sense because it creates shareholder value.'

He adds: 'Wall Street does get sustainability.They just don't understand the words. They speak a different language - the language of quarterly reports. It is their country and we need to learn to speak their language if we hope to communicate. Wall Street is only about money and quarterly earnings. Sustainability is about environmentalism, ethics, social and other value-based issues. Wall Street is about continuous improvement

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