(B) Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on Conscious Capitalism, Leadership and Win-Win-Win Thinking
In this episode, we discuss conscious capitalism, transformational leadership lessons, and how to use win-win-win thinking to create breakthroughs in your business with Whole Foods co-founder and CEO John Mackey.
John Mackey is the CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods Market, co-founder of the nonprofit Conscious Capitalism, Inc., and co-author of the best selling Conscious Capitalism. Under his leadership, Whole Foods has grown to be a $13 billion Fortune 500 company. John’s skills as a CEO have been recognized by publications like Ernst&Young, Barron, Fortune, and many more! He has recently co-authored another conscious business book, Conscious Leadership: Elevating Humanity Through Business.
Business is a fundamental social good. Capitalism is the greatest creator of value in the history of humanity.
250 years ago 85% of the people on planet earth lived on less than $1 a day, 94% lived on less than $2 a day.
Business creates value for customers, it creates value for employees, and it's a social good.
“Business creates more value than all governments and all nonprofits combined."
“Business is good and we can make it better.”
What do people misunderstand and get wrong about capitalism?
Business is NOT a winner take all game. And yet there is a deeply set belief in most people’s consciousness that if someone is getting rich, someone else is getting poor.
Business is inherently a “win-win-win” game - NOT a zero-sum game.
You don’t have to manage your business in terms of tradeoffs, think about the lateral shift of simultaneously creating value for ALL your stakeholders.. come up with strategies where they can ALL simultaneously win.
How do I make sure everyone wins, instead of thinking of interactions as zero-sum.
We need conscious leaders everywhere.. business, education, politics, etc.
The GDP per capita has grown 50x in the last 200 years.
Capitalism will never be perfect because people will never be perfect.
“A lot of my best ideas come to me when I wake up"
Inside baseball into Amazon's Whole Foods merger.
The power and importance of long term thinking in making business decisions
Care enough about your people to invest in them and get them to stick around.
The secrets Whole Foods used to build a great culture
Purpose - is your purpose an attractor? Does it draw people into your culture that are attracted to your purpose?
Core Values - Connect each of the stakeholders to a core value that ties into the purpose
Leadership Principles
Whole Foods Leadership Principles
Leadership principles are like the scaffolding that you want to build your business around.
Empowerment and the notion that “it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission”
Your culture extends out from your leadership principles.
Team member growth and happiness are the CORE VALUES of the company.
Cultures tend to perpetuate themselves, and they repel people who don’t fit the culture.
The CULTURE you incubate with transforms milk into yogurt.. make your starting culture in your store the RIGHT people.
If you’re the LEADER you MUST embody the culture. People pay a lot more attention to how you act than by what you say. If you don’t embody the culture, people will see you as a hypocrite. The leader must BE the culture.
That’s true of all the leaders.
Cultures are living, they don’t stay the same, they evolve over time.
What’s changing that we don’t want to change
What is not changing that we want to change
Curating a culture is like a Gardner.. pluck the weeds and nourish the right seeds.
Most people take their culture for granted, it’s one of the most important assets or one of your biggest liabilities.
Be conscious about your culture, be aware of where it might be deteriorating.
"Constantly evolve your team"
“Recycling” employees instead of firing them.
Coaching and mentorship have been tremendously impactful for John and he’s a big believer in them.
John “fired his own father” from being his business mentor.
As a leader, you have to continuously learn and grow. A company can’t grow beyond the leader, the leader either holds the company down or lifts the company to a new level.
“I’ve held Whole Foods back many times from its highest and best potential."
How John navigated the difficult dynamic of growing Whole Foods past his father’s limitations.
The importance of getting together with your peers.
Homework: If you don’t know your purpose as a human and as a leader, you need to find THAT. Until you find that purpose for yourself and your organization you will ALWAYS sub-optimize. Once you align your life mission with your business you will unleash so much energy and creativity you will blow your mind.
Homework: Think in a win-win-win instead of zero-sum. Figure out how EVERYONE you interact with can win.
Thank you so much for listening!
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Want To Dig In More?! - Here’s The Show Notes, Links, & Research
General
John’s Website and Wiki Article
John’s LinkedIn
Media
SWAAY - “Why Conscious Capitalism Is The Future” by Charlotte Chipperfield
CNBC Make It - “Whole Foods CEO on life with Amazon: ‘It’s like a marriage – I love them 98% of time’ by Jade Scipioni
Entrepreneur - “How Whole Foods CEO John Mackey Is Leading a Revolution in Health and Business” by Jon Schumacher
Business Insider - “A leaked Whole Foods memo from CEO John Mackey reveals some of employees' biggest concerns from a survey with 68,000 responses” by Hayley Peterson
Bon Appetit - 'We Were Just a Bunch of Young Hippies Selling Food to Other Hippies' By Ali Francis
Reason - “John Mackey and Conscious Capitalism Have Won the Battle of Ideas With Everyone but Libertarians” by Nick Gillespie
Observer - “Whole Foods CEO John Mackey Says Meatless Meat Isn’t Very Healthy” By Gabriela Barkho
INC. - “John Mackey: 4 Decisions That Built Whole Foods” by David Whitford
Fortune - “John Mackey: The conscious capitalist” by Beth Kowitt (2015)
The New Yorker - “Food Fighter: Does Whole Foods’ C.E.O. know what’s best for you?”By Nick Paumgarten (2010)
[Podcast] My Food Job Rocks! - EP. 155 [PODCAST SHOWCASE SERIES] – Business for Good Interviews John Mackey, CEO and CoFounder of Whole Foods
Videos
CNBC - How The Amazon-Whole Foods Deal Changed The Grocery Industry
Big Think - Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on ending poverty, being libertarian, and more (full video)
Talks at Google - John Mackey: "The Whole Foods Diet" | Talks at Google
Darden MBA - Living a Life of Conscious Leadership: John Mackey, Whole Foods Market
Reason TV - Whole Foods' John Mackey: Why Intellectuals Hate Capitalism
TEDMED - John Mackey at TEDMED 2010
Books
Amazon Author Page
Conscious Leadership: Elevating Humanity Through Business Sep 15, 2020 by John Mackey, Steve Mcintosh, and Carter Phipps
The Whole Foods Diet: The Lifesaving Plan for Health and Longevity by John Mackey, Alona Pulde, and Matthew Lederman
Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business by John Mackey, Rajendra Sisodia, and Bill George
Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World's Problems by Michael Strong and John Mackey
Letters Arising Out Of A Correspondence Between ... John Mackey ... And ... H. Woodward, Which Appeared In The Clonmel Newspapers by John Mackey
[Audiobook] Passion and Purpose: John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, on the Power of Conscious Capitalism® by John Mackey/Sounds True
Misc
[Book] The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Klemp
[Mission Statement] Whole Foods - Our Leadership Principles