John Mackey
Co-founder & CEO of Whole Foods Market
John Mackey is the co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market, Inc., based in Austin, Texas. He is widely credited with helping fuel the rise of organic and natural food in the United States—and reinventing the experience of grocery shopping.
John opened a small health food store in Austin in 1978, which in 1980 merged with another local natural foods store to form the foundation on which Whole Foods Market was born. John has led Whole Foods Market since the beginning through mergers and internal development to create a FORTUNE 500 company with the goal of becoming a $12 billion company by 2010. His business philosophy is to act with care and responsibility toward all of the various stakeholder groups of the Company and to operate Whole Foods Market with social and environmental responsibility. Mackey was named 2003 Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young and has been honored by top-tier publications for his business sense and philanthropic values.
Blog Posts by John Mackey
Creating the High-Trust Organization
American society appears to be undergoing a crisis in trust. Most of the major organizations that we depend upon, including governments of all types, corporations, our health care system, our financial institutions, and our schools all seem to be failing us. Indeed, I do not believe it is an exaggeration to claim that our society is actually undergoing a disintegration process whereby the fundamental premises and values supporting our institutions are all being called into question. While such disintegration is of course very painful to experience, it is also a tremendous opportunity for genuine transformation. My essay will attempt to outline some of the most important values and strateg
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John Mackey: How do you take trust from ideal to real?
Trust isn’t an abstract ideal, according to Whole Foods CEO John Mackey—it’s a function of carefully designed organizational structure, strategies, and practices.
John Mackey: How do you take trust from ideal to real?
by John Mackey
6:14
Trust isn’t an abstract ideal, according to Whole Foods CEO John Mackey—it’s a function of carefully designed organizational structure, strategies, and practices.
John Mackey: Can you measure trust?
by John Mackey
5:28
Trust is difficult to measure quantitatively, but when a managers are attuned to the mood and behaviors of employees, they can sense when trust has been strengthened or undermined. The founder and CEO of Whole Foods explains why the heart is as important as the head in effective management.
John Mackey: Want trust? Let people be their whole selves
by John Mackey
5:28
MIX Maverick and Whole Foods founder John Mackey says to create high-trust organizations we need to create cultural processes, structures and strategies that allow human beings to reach their full potential.
John Mackey: How do we combat cynicism and restore trust?
by John Mackey
8:10
MIX Maverick and Whole Foods founder John Mackey argues that the only way to win is for organizations to embrace a deeply felt sense of purpose—one that serves the highest human ideals.
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Me In Three
- Named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003, and is a strong supporter of free market economics.
- Began his first health food store, Safer Way, in his garage in Austin in 1978, with his girlfriend Renee Lawson Hardy, whom he had met while working at a vegetarian co-op.
- Wrote a letter in 2006 to all of his staff announcing that he would reduce his own salary to $1 a year, donate his stock portfolio to charity and set up a $100,000 emergency fund for staff facing personal problems.
