John Mackey Quotes

Powerful John Mackey for Daily Growth

About John Mackey

John Mackey is a renowned American businessman, philosopher, and co-founder of Whole Foods Market, an internationally recognized grocery chain specializing in organic and natural products. Born on October 15, 1962, in Virginia, Mineral, Texas, Mackey was the son of a cattle farmer and school teacher. His early life on a small farm shaped his appreciation for sustainable living and the importance of self-reliance. Mackey's entrepreneurial spirit flourished while studying at Rice University, where he co-founded Whole Foods Market in 1978 with his wife, Deborah. The duo started the business with just a $45,000 investment and a shared vision of making natural and organic foods more accessible to the general public. Throughout its growth, Mackey's leadership and philosophical approach to business set Whole Foods Market apart. He is credited with coining the term "Conscious Capitalism," a movement emphasizing businesses serving higher purposes that benefit all of their stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers, communities, and shareholders. Mackey's influence extends beyond Whole Foods Market. He has authored several books, such as "Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business" (2013) and "The Whole Foods Diet" (2011). In these works, he shares his vision for a more compassionate and sustainable business world. Mackey has been recognized for his contributions to both the business and philanthropic communities. He was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2005. Mackey continues to champion sustainability, social responsibility, and a values-driven approach to business, inspiring generations of entrepreneurs around the globe.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Every time we sell a product made out of whole foods, we're casting a stone against the giant Goliath of processed food."

This quote by John Mackey suggests a strong stance against over-processed, unhealthy food products that dominate the modern food industry (Goliath). By choosing to sell whole food products, he is symbolically throwing a stone in opposition, aiming to promote healthier, more natural alternatives. It's a call to action for consumers and businesses alike to reconsider their approach to food production and consumption, advocating for real, nutritious options that benefit individuals and communities.

"The secret to successful innovation is making mistakes, learning from them and not repeating them."

This quote emphasizes that a crucial aspect of innovation is the willingness to take risks, which often lead to mistakes. However, instead of viewing these setbacks as failures, one should view them as opportunities for growth and learning. By acknowledging and analyzing our errors, we can prevent repeating them in the future and thus refine our innovative processes. Essentially, Mackey suggests that a cycle of trial, error, and adaptation is at the heart of successful innovation.

"A company of character will always find better solutions than a company of commerce."

This quote by John Mackey emphasizes that companies driven primarily by ethics, values, and character are more likely to devise effective and sustainable solutions compared to those solely focused on commercial interests. In other words, businesses guided by a strong sense of purpose beyond mere profitability are better equipped to innovate and tackle complex issues because they consider the broader social, environmental, and ethical implications of their actions. This perspective encourages long-term success and trust in the eyes of stakeholders, ultimately leading to a more balanced, responsible, and thriving business landscape.

"If we want to realize our true potential as human beings, we must move beyond the self-centeredness that is at the heart of both consumerism and socialism."

This quote by John Mackey suggests that both consumerism and socialism are rooted in self-centeredness, which hinders our potential as human beings to flourish. Consumerism prioritizes personal gratification and material possessions, while socialism emphasizes collective ownership and equal distribution of resources, yet both fail to promote individual responsibility, selflessness, and the development of one's potential in a holistic sense. To overcome this limitation, we must strive for a balanced approach that values individual growth, community welfare, and sustainability, transcending the self-centered perspectives of consumerism and socialism.

"The more conscious you are of your own mortality, the more motivated you will be to make every day count."

This quote suggests that an awareness of one's own mortality serves as a powerful motivator for living each day with purpose and intentionality. By acknowledging the finite nature of life, individuals become more inclined to seize opportunities, pursue dreams, and cherish relationships, understanding that time is precious and should not be squandered. Essentially, it encourages us to strive for a meaningful existence while we have the chance.

A healthy diet is a solution to many of our health-care problems. It's the most important solution.

- John Mackey

Solution, Important, Most, Diet

Operating under the conscious capitalism model will show that businesses are the true value creators that can push all of humanity upward for continuous improvement.

- John Mackey

Will, Show, Creators, Upward

Free enterprise capitalism has been the most powerful creative system of social cooperation and human progress ever conceived, but its perception and its role in society have been distorted.

- John Mackey

Role, Been, Social, Human Progress

Free-enterprise capitalism is the most powerful system for social cooperation and human progress ever conceived. It is one of the most compelling ideas we humans have ever had. But we can aspire to something even greater.

- John Mackey

Ideas, Social, Compelling, Human Progress

The world is getting more connected through technology and travel. Cuisines are evolving. Some people are scared of globalization, but I think people will always take pride in cultural heritage.

- John Mackey

Through, Some, Always, Cultural

If you have a mental model that says big corporations are fundamentally greedy and selfish and exploitative, you don't really want to have an exception to that model. It's much easier to say, 'Yes, Whole Foods has been corrupted.'

- John Mackey

Big, Exception, Exploitative, Corrupted

Shopping for groceries for most people is like a chore. It's like doing the laundry or taking out the garbage. And we strive to make shopping engaging, fun and interactive.

- John Mackey

Doing, Like, Interactive, Engaging

Your typical business just measures the metrics that have to do with the profitability of the business one way or another. But you can have metrics that measure employee happiness and the morale. You can also do direct customer surveys; you can track it over time. You can do supplier satisfaction scores as well.

- John Mackey

Profitability, Scores, Surveys

We wanted to preserve as many jobs as possible, so when our sales continued to decline in August 2008, we did about a 5 percent reduction of our global staff. But in order not to cut any more jobs, we froze everybody's pay and put a hiring freeze on.

- John Mackey

Everybody, Cut, Hiring, August

At a lot of companies founded on principles, the notion of making money is almost antithetical to the ethos of the place. From the very beginning, our business has existed to meet the needs and desires of multiple constituencies: customers, team members, vendors, shareholders, the community.

- John Mackey

Beginning, Very, Almost, Shareholders

Message boards are like going to a Halloween masquerade party. Everybody has a screen name.

- John Mackey

Like, Everybody, Masquerade, Halloween

It's not Apple's fault that they're seeking to avoid paying taxes. They're not lying, cheating or stealing. They're following the rules that were created by governments. If the government doesn't like the rules, they can change them.

- John Mackey

Change, Like, Created, Cheating

The way yogurt works is you take the old yogurt culture and you put it in milk. You have to put enough of the old culture in, and then that old culture will convert the milk into yogurt.

- John Mackey

Will, Yogurt, Works, Convert

The right actions undertaken for the right reasons generally lead to good outcomes over time.

- John Mackey

Over, Reasons, Undertaken, Right Reasons

I've been doing long-distance backpacking since 2002 when I hiked the Appalachian Trail. You start to calm down and relax and get into the slower rhythm of nature.

- John Mackey

Nature, Doing, Been, Appalachian

When I'm hiring leaders, I pay a lot of attention to what their peers and what people who report to them say about them. We want people who relate well with their peers and cooperate in an exchange of information rather than being overly competitive.

- John Mackey

Rather, Hiring, Peers, Overly

I started out young and idealistic, and it was all about social justice and fair distribution of resources. I didn't understand why everybody couldn't be equally prosperous.

- John Mackey

Young, Social, Everybody, Idealistic

I've always thought the main argument for organic was more environmental than a health argument. I just don't think spraying a lot of pesticides into the environment on a routine basis is a good thing.

- John Mackey

Thought, Argument, Main, Pesticides

To me, you make a tradeoff. It might be a little bit more expensive. But you're getting a better tasting, higher quality food that's going to be better for your health and better for the environment.

- John Mackey

More, Going, Might, Higher Quality

One of the sad things about retiring is that you just become increasingly irrelevant. The world flows around you, and you don't seem to be impacting it any longer.

- John Mackey

Irrelevant, Increasingly, Sad Things

Healthier team members get a bigger food discount. We give our sickest team members an option to go through what we call the Total Health Immersion, where we take them off for a week, and we do intensive diet-and-lifestyle education.

- John Mackey

Education, Week, Through, Discount

I was looking for the meaning of life when I was in college. And my deal with my dad was as long as I was taking a full course load, then he would pay. And the times that I wasn't taking a full course load, then I was off the dole and I was working.

- John Mackey

College, Deal, Dad, Dole

One of the most important things we do is we've organized our stores and our workforce into teams.

- John Mackey

The Most Important, Teams, Workforce

The more profit we make, the more stores we can open, the more donations we can make to our community, the more responsible citizens we can be for the environment. It's all interactive. It's all connected together. There's no separation.

- John Mackey

More, Stores, Donations, Profit

You can't live if you don't eat, but you don't live to eat. And neither does business exist primarily to make a profit. It exists to fulfill its purpose, whatever that might be.

- John Mackey

Business, Purpose, Fulfill, Profit

I've been amazed at how quickly people can heal themselves, actually.

- John Mackey

How, Amazed, Actually, Heal

Libertarians are constantly arguing with each other who is the most pure libertarian and who is most ideologically pure.

- John Mackey

Other, Most, Libertarians, Libertarian

I reject the premise that liberal and libertarian values are necessarily in conflict. In fact, I often self-identify as a 'classical liberal.'

- John Mackey

Values, Fact, Classical, Libertarian

In general, when you travel, you get into a different reality and are able to more accurately reflect on your ordinary life. Hiking does that for me.

- John Mackey

More, Ordinary, Hiking, Ordinary Life

While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system.

- John Mackey

Country, Dollars, Takeover, Entitlement

At the end of the day, the quality of life is all we have, and it's just as important to that lobster, the quality of life that it lives - even if it's not as long - as the quality of your life.

- John Mackey

End Of The Day, Your, Lives, Lobster

I believe that all forms of socialism have been proven over time to result in a loss of both economic and civil liberties, with increasing poverty.

- John Mackey

Over, Been, Liberties, Economic

The idea that in the system, if you manage it in an optimum way, all of the constituent parts of the system also win, flourish, and benefit, is intrinsic to business and even to capitalism itself, properly understood. But people don't understand it because we're not taught to think that way.

- John Mackey

Idea, Flourish, Properly, Manage

I think for any small business that's bootstrapped, the overwhelming challenge initially is getting to positive cash flow.

- John Mackey

Small, Think, I Think, Flow

Back then, before the Internet, you had these paper catalogs that you ordered all the food from. So, we flipped through the catalogs, looked up the food we wanted, called them up, and they would show up in trucks.

- John Mackey

Through, Ordered, Flipped, Trucks

Profits are one of the most important goals of any successful business, and investors are one of the most important constituencies of public businesses.

- John Mackey

Business, Profits, Any, Businesses

Some of the greatest businesses operating from a deeper purpose have a real commitment to service, like Four Seasons, Joie de Vivre hotels, Southwest Airlines, and JetBlue.

- John Mackey

Seasons, Some, Southwest, Businesses

I love my cooking tools because I enjoy cooking - a Vitamix for smoothies and a rice cooker for steel-cut oats. I travel with a small rice cooker. I soak oats overnight, and when I get up, I just turn the rice cooker on, and it cooks the oats perfectly every time.

- John Mackey

Love, Small, Perfectly, Every Time

We knew it was going to be a market, and we knew it was a food market. Well, what kind of food market? It's kind of natural foods, kind of organic foods. So, we eventually settled on Whole Foods Market.

- John Mackey

Natural, Going, Foods, Organic

I sometimes think that unions don't understand that we live in a free society, and people have the right to not select union representation if they don't want it.

- John Mackey

Think, Unions, Select, Free Society

The way most people approach business - and the way they mostly teach in business school - involves the analytical mind. It divides it up and looks at parts in isolation.

- John Mackey

Business, Mind, Mostly, Divides

I kind of have this sense of mission now when we talk about success: I'd really like Whole Foods to contribute to the healing of America, and the success of that may be measured in decades rather than in months, but I think we're on the way to doing it.

- John Mackey

Doing, Measured, I Think, Decades

The original entrepreneur may initiate the initial purpose, but, in a sense, like a parent that has children, the children have their own destiny, and at some point, that can veer off away from the wishes the parent might have for it.

- John Mackey

Destiny, Parent, Some, Entrepreneur

We've always tried to be good citizens in the communities that we do business in.

- John Mackey

Business, Always, Tried, Communities

Use the energy that fear creates to focus the mind more intently on the present moment - where fear doesn't exist.

- John Mackey

Mind, More, Use, Present Moment

I really do believe that America has this weight problem - obesity issues - and we have all these diseases that we get - heart disease, cancer, diabetes, autoimmune diseases - that are primarily lifestyle diseases.

- John Mackey

Disease, Weight, Diseases, Diabetes

My dad for a long time was an accounting professor at Rice University. And then he went out on his own, and he got hired by a client. He ended up being CEO of a hospital management company before he retired, called Lifemark.

- John Mackey

University, Before, Dad, Client

Starting my own business was kind of a wakeup call in a number of different ways. I had to meet a payroll every week, and we had to satisfy customers, and we had competitors that we had to compete with in order to have those customers come into our stores, and we had to compete with other employers for our employees.

- John Mackey

Week, Compete, Other, Payroll

We do take seriously our responsibility, and growing ability, to educate people about healthy eating and giving them greater access to nourishing and affordable fresh food.

- John Mackey

Access, Affordable, About, Fresh

I was in my early 20s and open to alternative lifestyles. I thought, 'I bet you get a lot of attractive, interesting women in a vegetarian co-op.'

- John Mackey

Attractive, Early 20s, Lifestyles

I believe our philosophy of conscious capitalism will eventually be widely adopted primarily because it is a better way to do business, and it creates more total value in the world for all of its stakeholders.

- John Mackey

Business, Will, Better Way, Stakeholders

We should all have the legal right to purchase health insurance from any insurance company in any state, and we should be able use that insurance wherever we live. Health insurance should be portable.

- John Mackey

Insurance, Purchase, Use, Wherever

People need to eat whole food plant foods, primarily... whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. That diet supports our lives. We ought to live to be 90 or 100 without getting any diseases.

- John Mackey

Vegetables, Foods, Whole, Supports

The great thing about a culture is that once you really get it going, it evolves on its own. It's self-organizing. It's dynamic. It just feeds on itself.

- John Mackey

Own, Going, About, Feeds

I always like to say that our brand or our philosophy has always been kind of this marriage between the 'food as indulgence,' and it's also been about 'food as health,' that food is vitality.

- John Mackey

Always, Been, Indulgence, Brand

At Whole Foods, we allow our team members to vote on what benefits they most want the company to fund.

- John Mackey

Benefits, Allow, Foods, Vote

Examine our every action through the lens of how we would feel if it were to become front page news.

- John Mackey

News, Through, Examine, Lens

The stakeholder approach to business sees integration rather than separation, and sees how things fit together.

- John Mackey

Business, How, Fit, Integration

What I know is that we no longer have free enterprise capitalism in health care; it's not a system any longer where people are able to innovate. It's not based on voluntary exchange. The government is directing it.

- John Mackey

Health, Enterprise, Based, Voluntary

We believe that business is good because it creates value. It is ethical because it is based on voluntary exchange; it is noble because it can elevate our existence, and it is heroic because it lifts people out of poverty and creates prosperity.

- John Mackey

Business, Existence, Based, Voluntary

Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and shelter, it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges.

- John Mackey

Through, Need, Shelter, Voluntary

Customers want high-quality food, good service, and good store experience, and most retailers fail to deliver on those.

- John Mackey

Want, Deliver, High-Quality, Customers

More than once in the history of Whole Foods Market, the company was unable to collectively evolve until I myself was able to evolve - in other words, I was holding the company back. My personal growth enabled the company to evolve.

- John Mackey

Other, Foods, The History Of, Collectively

It started when I moved into a vegetarian co-op back in the '70s, and that's really when I had my food consciousness awakened. I learned how to cook, and eventually I became the food buyer for the entire co-op. Not long after that, I went to work for a small natural food store in Austin, and I became very excited and passionate about it.

- John Mackey

Small, Very, Became, Awakened

If you're growing very rapidly, it doesn't matter if you make mistakes, in a way, because the growth kind of bails you out.

- John Mackey

Mistakes, Kind, Very, Rapidly

People in America are addicted to sugar and to fat and to salt.

- John Mackey

Fat, Salt, Addicted, Sugar

Every man, woman and child consumes, on average, 43 teaspoons of sugar a day. In 13 days, that adds up to a five-pound bag of sugar.

- John Mackey

Woman, Average, Every Man, Sugar

In many companies, the person who talks the best usually gets the job. I got snowed by a few of those people over the years. I still think communication is important, but I don't think there's always a correlation between being a great communicator and other virtues that make for a great leader.

- John Mackey

Leader, Other, Great Leader, Correlation

I learned how to cook, began reading books on food. I began to understand about nutrition. It never had occurred to me that what you ate could affect how you felt. It could affect your health. It seems obvious now, but at age 23 or 22 or whatever I was, it wasn't obvious at all.

- John Mackey

Reading Books, Affect, About, Nutrition

Amazon is certainly not a perfect company. However, doctors, teachers, engineers, journalists, politicians, and labor unions are also on a continuum of consciousness, and none are perfect either. It is easy to judge and find fault with any company if that is what one's ideological biases wish to see.

- John Mackey

Perfect, However, None, Engineers

I think it's absolutely essential that the people that work for a company need to feel that they're part of something bigger - that it's not just a job.

- John Mackey

Think, Need, I Think, Essential

A healthy society rests on three pillars: business, government and civil society, or non-profits. Each has a distinct and important role to play, and all three need to work together synergistically to create the most value for society.

- John Mackey

Play, Role, Pillars, Work Together

Whole Foods Market tries to embody all of the principles of conscious capitalism all the time, but like any person or company, we sometimes fall short.

- John Mackey

Like, Tries, Foods, Embody

Any type of political ideology is going to have a lot of different variants of it.

- John Mackey

Going, Ideology, Lot, Political Ideology

I really think people should live to be 100 years old pretty much disease-free. I think that's our genetic potential.

- John Mackey

Think, Pretty, Genetic, 100 Years

I tell students and young professionals all the time to follow their hearts, do what they truly love, and if it's business, run it by being grounded in ethical consciousness.

- John Mackey

Love, Business, Young, Hearts

I would say you have an ethical obligation to pay the taxes that you owe, but you don't have an ethical obligation to pay taxes that you don't owe. In fact, you should be seeking ways to legally minimise your taxes.

- John Mackey

Fact, Taxes, Pay, Legally

I used to boast that Whole Foods was sort of recession-proof. And obviously I've been proven wrong. So I'm not boasting about that any longer.

- John Mackey

Been, About, Foods, Boast

You have to understand: the narrative that people have about business and capitalism is that they are fundamentally selfish, greedy, and exploitative. Of course, I don't agree with that narrative.

- John Mackey

Business, Exploitative, Greedy

I slow down when hiking. The rhythm of nature is more leisurely. The sun comes up, it moves across the sky, and you begin to synchronize to that rhythm.

- John Mackey

Nature, Sky, More, Leisurely

As a company grows, its purpose grows with it. It has the potential to evolve your purpose.

- John Mackey

Purpose, Evolve, Grows, Potential

It's competition that forces companies to get out of their complacency.

- John Mackey

Complacency, Get, Companies, Forces

I like games that are complex - the deeper you get into the game, the more there is to learn.

- John Mackey

Game, Learn, Like, Deeper

Human beings are made up of many different values, and sometimes those values are in tension with each other.

- John Mackey

Other, Tension, Made, Beings

Food is intensely pleasurable, and people are afraid that if they change the way they eat, they'll stop having pleasure.

- John Mackey

Change, Pleasure, Having, Intensely

Whole Foods has a good health care plan.

- John Mackey

Health, Health Care, Foods, Care

There is nothing wrong with making money, but that's not particularly inspiring.

- John Mackey

Money, Making, Particularly, Making Money

I'm a huge NBA fan and watch many games each year. Following any sport is kind of bringing us back to our tribal roots.

- John Mackey

Kind, Year, Back, Following

Not everyone is born to run a $4 billion company. There is no magic formula. I've learned, and I've grown by learning. That's why I've enjoyed being in business so much: It's stretched me.

- John Mackey

Business, Magic, Everyone, Enjoyed

I think for leadership positions, emotional intelligence is more important than cognitive intelligence. People with emotional intelligence usually have a lot of cognitive intelligence, but that's not always true the other way around.

- John Mackey

Think, Always, Other, Positions

When we start a new store, we make sure that we transfer enough starter culture from other stores that are already Whole Fooders, who've already incorporated our values and our culture within themselves into the... into the store.

- John Mackey

New, Other, Sure, Stores

Good leaders need to be able to connect to all of those around them. This is especially true at Whole Foods, where we have a very team-oriented culture.

- John Mackey

Need, Very, Foods, Connect

I dropped out of college for the last time in 1977.

- John Mackey

College, Last, Dropped, Last Time

I'm very encouraged by millennials and their drive to make the world a better place.

- John Mackey

World, Better, Very, Encouraged

Snatam Kaur is a yogini, and I find her music deeply spiritual. I feel more love and I feel more peace when I listen to her music.

- John Mackey

Love, More, Feel, Deeply

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