Revelations from Super Soul Sunday with Whole Foods Founder, John Mackey

Earlier this year, Oprah Winfrey sat down with John Mackey, co-founder of Whole Foods Incorporation, for her Super Soul Sunday Series on the OWN Network. There is one simple ingredient that Whole Foods was birthed from and it is--LOVE! As a Whole Foods customer, it's one thing to enjoy going down the natural food isles in the store but it's a real joy to learn how such an awesome grocery store came into being. Mackey provided the audience with remarkable insight about his life, fulfilling one's higher purpose and sound wisdom concerning ethical business practice.

Birthing Whole Foods

John Mackey was a student in university when the idea for a natural and organic foods grocery store came to him and his friend at the time. Mackey's parents desired for him to assume a typically coveted profession in society. His mother wanted him to become a doctor or lawyer. Deep down, Mackey knew that this was not what he wanted for himself and he decided to break away from what his parents wanted. It was something that he had to do and he did exactly that. When discussing this breaking away, Mackey expressed, "I just followed my heart...Whole Foods would not exist if it weren't for love."

When John Mackey's mother died, he was in the early stages of his career as co-founder of Whole Foods Market. The journey towards reaching his greatest potential and high purpose had just begun. Mackey expressed that his mother died thinking that he had settled for an occupation that was beneath him but he knew that he had to step out of his comfort zone in order to fulfill his higher purpose.

At this point in the interview, Oprah mentioned Joseph Campbell's, the Hero's Journey and likened it to Mackey and his decision to break away from what his parents wanted for him. There is the stage in the Hero's life where he receives a call to action. This call may present itself as a challenge that can disrupt the natural order of things or in this case, what society or influential individuals in a person's life may want for the hero. This is the stage where the Hero has to decide whether they will accept the call to action and break away from what others may want of them. The hero must decide whether he will cross the threshold and begin the quest for fulfilling his higher purpose.

Mackey is a type of hero who left what was familiar, ventured out into the unknown and made his home treading on foreign terrain. It was a conscious decision by Mackey to break away from what his parents ideals were in order to fulfill his higher purpose. Though the start towards fulfilling his purpose may have been small and replete with hard work, he truly had a GREAT, BIG purpose to fulfill in becoming CEO of one of the largest chains of supermarkets in the nation.

On ethical Business Practice

Today, green businesses are faced with various decisions concerning how to run a company in an ethical manner. Mackey spoke about how most businesses are run unconsciously and the need to move towards conscious capitalism. Conscious capitalists need to show that they authentically care about their customer. Are you tuned in to the needs of your customers and their expressed likes and dislikes? Have you made the step to find out more about your customer? Have you done the work that you need to do to truly become a green and conscious business?

In paraphrasing, Mackey noted that essentially, we all have an ethical responsibility to grow as a human being and to become more conscious, and when we do so, our organizations and businesses will grow as well. Leaders of green businesses should opt to be authentic and real, instead of showing themselves as perfectionists. The spiritual life of a leader of a green company should inform the business life. Adopting ethical and sustainable business principles require leaders with disciplined minds, who are not afraid to embrace the power of love.

Mackey spoke about the competitiveness of the corporate world and the "dog eat dog" mentality that many leaders feel that they must embrace. Green businesses should not only steer clear of this mentality, they should also be open to embracing principles and ideals that have love at the core. Great performing business leaders do not operate simply from intellect and the mind; they are genuine and willing to show their humanness.

On Healing

This interview that Oprah had with John Mackey was supremely enlightening and it was a wonderful heart to heart between two very wise people. Mackey left us with a powerful thought on healing.

"We are able to heal our society, heal our planet and heal ourselves when we enter into consciousness through and with love."

There's a song that's so befitting of this article and the ideas expressed by Mr. Mackey in his Super Soul Sunday interview. It's by Feed me & Crystal Fighters and it's called "Love is all I got." Go listen!

"Wake your soul with love in the morning Feed your soul with love in the evening Expand your soul with love on the weekend"