The Science of Success Podcast

View Original

(B) Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on Conscious Capitalism, Leadership and Win-Win-Win Thinking

Lace Gilger
See this content in the original post

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!

Please SUBSCRIBE and LEAVE US A REVIEW on iTunes! (Click here for instructions on how to do that).

What interferes with your happiness? 

I know better than most that your thoughts and feelings aren't always true and can hold you bak from achieving your goals. 

That's why I'm excited to share with you our sponsor, BetterHelp. BetterHelp is offering 10% your first month when you go to www.betterhelp.com/sos and sign up. 

BetterHelp isn't self-help, it's professional counseling. You'll get timeline and thoughtful responses from counselors and can schedule weekly video or phone sessions. All without ever having to enter a waiting room. 

BetterHelp can provide you with professional counselors who are specialized in depression, anxiety, stress, relationships, grief, and much more. 

Try them today and get 10% off your first month by going to www.betterhelp.com/sos!

You've got to check out this incredible online community Matt and I have become a part of. It's the ultimate knowledge hub from The Hustle, called Trends. 

Trends allows you to interact with and learn from a community of industry leaders to be the first to know what emerging trends are coming next. 

No matter what you do, this information is incredibly valuable! They also host weekly live lectures on tons of topics from growth strategies, SEO, and more!

Right now you can get your first two weeks for just one dollar at www.trends.co/sos! 

Check it out and join Matt and I today!!



Want To Dig In More?! - Here’s The Show Notes, Links, & Research

General

Media

Videos

Books

Misc

See this content in the original post