My guest today is the co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods, John Mackey. John grew Whole Foods from founding it in 1980 to becoming a $13 billion Fortune 500 company, with over 80,000 employees, which he eventually sold to Amazon in 2017. I first interviewed him back in 2013 when he was starting to evangelize the conscious capitalism movement, then caught up with him in 2017 when he released his first cookbook. That’s why I was overjoyed that I got to catch up with him again to talk about his new book “Conscious Leadership” for this podcast episode.

The 5 questions I ask in this episode:

1. Your father was a role model for you in your childhood and even an investor in your company. What life lessons did you learn from him that has helped you become the leader you are today?
2. Business values are at the core of Conscious Capitalism and Leadership. How did you originally identify your personal values and then embody them through your company for so many years?
3. In today’s society, people work for and buy from companies that have a clear purpose not just make a profit. Employee and consumer activism have been heightened by recent political and social events like the killing of George Floyd. How can leaders focus on operating their businesses while also being sensitive to the global issue’s stakeholders care about?
4. I’ve spoken to a lot of business leaders about what it takes to lead during a crisis such as the pandemic we’re living through right now and they say that trust is critical to sustainability. How have you been able to build trust with your workforce during this time?
5. What is your best piece of career advice?

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