The New Corporate Facts of Life

CHAPTER 3

Create a Compelling Vision

The future ain't what it used to be.

—YOGI BERRA

 

RAY ANDERSON GRADUATED with honors from Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) with a degree in industrial and systems engineering in 1956. He spent 14 years working for various carpet manufacturers before he decided to launch his own company. While visiting Europe, he had noticed carpet tiles in commercial office buildings and saw a vision of that product sweeping the United States. Many in the industry thought the idea ridiculous. Why would anyone take perfectly good carpet, cut it into squares and expect to sell it for twice the price, especially in the midst of a recession? Yet Anderson combined his life savings with funds from supportive investors ...