John Mackey Quotes

“Bill Gates did not start Microsoft with the goal of becoming the richest man in the world. He saw the potential of computers to transform our lives and was on fire to create software that would make them so useful that eventually all of us would own one. He followed his passion and, in the process became the richest man in the world – but that was the outcome, not his goal or purpose.”

“Business can be a wonderful vehicle for both personal and organizational learning and growth.”

“Business is based on cooperation and voluntary exchange. People trade voluntarily for mutual gain. No one is forced to trade with a business.”

“Great enterprises have great purposes.”

“Business must view people not as resources but as sources.”

“Clarity of purpose… leads to bolder decisions.”

“Entrepreneurs are the true heroes in a free-enterprise economy, driving progress in business, society and the world. They solve problems by creatively envisioning different ways the world could and should be.”

“Every person alive has the potential to learn and grow to contribute their unique creativity toward making the world a better place.”

“Follow your heart wherever it takes you. Choose love instead of fear. If you do, a wonderful life adventure awaits you! Carpe diem!”

“For us, our most important stakeholder is not our stockholders, it is our customers. We're in business to serve the needs and desires of our core customer base.”

“I believe that most of the greatest companies in the world also have great purposes… Having a deeper, more transcendent purpose is highly energizing for all of the various interdependent stakeholders, including the customers, employees, investors, suppliers, and the larger communities in which the business participates.”

“I had no way of knowing how many accepted business practices I was ignoring and that gap gave me the opportunity to innovate freely without the burden of too many legacies to overcome.”

“There will be no one that ever loves Whole Foods Market as much as I love it.”

“I thought back to that little Victorian House, where Safer Way had begun and the modest dreams of success that Renee and I had shared as we woke up each morning on the top floor, took our showers in the dishwasher and converted our bedroom to its daytime form as the store's office.”

“I am fulfilling my inner desires, in terms of reaching my fullest potential as a human being. I became a grocer.”

“I'll always wonder if we had fought Jana Partners could we have won? But [Amazon has] been a good steward of the brand. They let us drop our prices and they enabled Whole Foods to think long term.”

“I have my own views, and they're not necessarily the same as Whole Foods'. People want me to suppress who I am. I guess that's why so many politicians and C.E.O.s get to be sort of boring, because they end up suppressing any individuality to conform to some phony, inauthentic way of being. I'd rather be myself.”

“We're trying to do good. And we're trying to make money. The more money we make, the more good we can do.”

“It really is true that none of us are getting out of here alive and we should never forget this fundamental existential truth. Since death is real and inevitable for all of us, how then should we live our lives?”

“When you look at the power to move billions of dollars through the agricultural economy to address some deep and unconscionable problems, you have to credit Whole Foods for being one of the pivot points. It deserves a lot of the credit for breaking us out of a cul-de-sac in terms of food and health, and the health of the planet.”