Good morning.
When John Mackey wrote about “conscious capitalism” in 2013, he didn’t get much push-back. The co-founder and former CEO of Whole Foods had long walked the walk when it came to living the values he espouses. He famously capped cash compensation at 19 times average worker pay and distributed stock options widely. (Equilar reports median CEO-to-worker pay ratio among the highest-paid 100 CEOs last year was close to 300 times median worker pay.)
Mackey is back with a new book The Whole Story, which publishes today. It’s a reflection on how he built the natural foods chain from a single store in Austin in 1980 to a grocery giant that he sold to Amazon for $13.7 billion in 2017. He wanted to chronicle Whole Foods’ history and convey what a fun and creative adventure building a business can be. It's “not just about making money,” he says. “It's about the relationships and the team. It's about love and creating value together.”
