John Mackey on Conscious Capitalism
by Paul Shapiro | Jul 24, 2018 | Episode 1
As a student, John Mackey was an idealistic hippie who worked in a vegetarian co-op while studying religion and philosophy. He never took a business class during his whole academic career. In other words, he wasn’t exactly the guy people would’ve placed bets on to become a businessman, let alone one who’d launch a natural foods empire called Whole Foods Market that would get purchased by Amazon for $14 billion. (Note: John long ago stopped taking a salary and even donated all of his Whole Foods stock, so he didn’t see a penny of the sale.)
Listen to John discuss with Toni Okamoto and Paul Shapiro his thoughts on everything from venture capitalists and labor unions to Whole Foods’ sale to Amazon and of course how to do good in the world via business.
John’s Books:
Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business
Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World’s Problems
The Whole Foods Diet: The Lifesaving Plan for Health and Longevity
John’s book recommendations during the show:
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World by Brad Stone
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
More info:
Conscious Capitalism, the organization John cofounded
Transcript of the episode