325: How Whole Foods Market Co-Founder and CEO John Mackey Leads By Example

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

John Mackey, Co-Founder and CEO, Whole Foods Market

Right now, every company needs strong leadership to guide them through these challenging times. Thankfully, Whole Foods Market co-founder and CEO John Mackey is well versed on the principles of leadership and is launching his latest book, Conscious Leadership, this month to help other founders put those ideas into practice.

In addition to the book, people can see Mackey’s approach to leadership in action with Whole Foods. While Mackey is grateful that his stores are still in full operation during Covid-19, he doesn’t try to hide the fact that circumstances have been extremely challenging—from rapidly scaling its supply chain to accommodate the sudden demands of customers to generating almost no revenue as a result of all the sanitation products the business has had to invest in.

But these obstacles don't bother Mackey. As a conscious leader, his priority is making sure that every single one of their 100,000 team members has access to the resources they need to stay safe at work. He has also raised every in-store worker’s pay by $2 per hour, provided two extra weeks of sick pay for those who have to quarantine, and is giving unlimited callouts during this time.

In this conversation, Mackey shares more about what it means to lead with love, how founders can attract and retain great talent in this challenging environment, and so much more. If there’s any other type of content you’d like to see that would be valuable to you during this time, please don’t hesitate to reach out at [e-mail].

Key Takeaways

• An overview of Mackey’s best-selling book, Conscious Capitalism
• A sneak peek into Mackey’s latest book, Conscious Leadership, and what inspired him to write it
• The two most important pillars of leadership
• Why Mackey believes in leading with love
• How Mackey is putting conscious leadership into action during the pandemic
• The challenges Whole Foods has been dealing with from a supply chain and revenue perspective
• Why being an Amazon subsidiary adds a layer of complexity to the Whole Foods business
• How to attract and retain great people during these challenging times
• What Mackey has done to support Whole Foods employees during Covid-19
• Why Mackey believes in the win-win-win mindset, and how this attitude can guide your business decisions
• The importance of leading by example

Key Resources From Our Interview With John Mackey

• Get your copy of Conscious Leadership here