Conscious Capitalism: John Mackey's 'Whole Foods'

GEL Individual Assignment 2/Jan 13/2
Maria Jimena Vargas | Student ID 9048985 |

Part 1 – Blog
Conscious Capitalism - The "not-so-secret" sauce of Whole Foods™

The last book of co-CEO Whole Foods Market™ (WFM), John Mackey questions what the main purpose of corporations is. The great financial results of WFM™ in 2012 generated + 1 Billion in EBITDA, 25 new stores opened and a strong position as the America’s healthiest grocery store indicates the strategy and philosophy of Mr. Mackey ' s view of corporations in society is contributing to the organizational success of the 30-years old company.1 (Whole Foods, 2012)
A Better Capitalism - The idea of corporations ' s purpose making not only money is an idea to enlighten capitalism 's
low and greedy reputation specially after the financial crisis of 2007. Several business leaders and academics are making their own calls to better the capitalism 's vices- Bill Gates (Davos 2008) names it "Creative Capitalism” and Michael Porter "Shared-Value Capitalism" (2011).
Better Leaders - Serving to the higher purpose of a business in society is not a task commonly taught in business 's schools. In today 's society the leaders are asked to transform and manage change meaningfully throughout the organization. Walk the talk is a recurrent phrase of today’s business strategists. Embracing the vision of an organization that translates into a corporate culture of trust and care has become the strategic leadership approach that conscious leaders are embarking on.
Global Problems & Close to the bottom line Obesity rates in US reaches epidemic proportions with an estimation of plus 50 millions Americans with overweight problems.2 By promoting healthy eating options Whole Foods Market™ aspires to win the fight of the noiseless obesity. Any action a business takes impacts the relationships with its customers, employees, suppliers, investors and community in general. A Conscious business is then, aware of these implications and creates a genuine commitment to promote win-win interactions. WFM™ has provided +1500 salad bars with Let 's Move Salad Bars to Schools, Michelle Obama 's children nutrition initiative. (Whole Foods, 2012) 3
Conscious Customers - Fashion or not, green is an attractive word these days. The word 'sustainability" searched in Google alone results in 1,220.000 global monthly searches as of today. The word "organic" results in 9,140,000 global monthly searches 4. Consumers are demanding greener, better products, less environmental impact and a fair trade off for their money. The WFM™ consumer 's experience includes among others free recipe flyers, healthy free cooking classes, in store tours, 5% of after-tax profits invested in charitable organizations (Wholefoods, 2012) 5. Aware and informed consumers are part of the conscious culture movement promoted by WFM™ to attract more customers who are willing to pay more for accessing sustainable products and services.

Part 2 – Essay
Conscious Capitalism, Whole Foods Market ™’s Leadership Portrait

Whole Foods Market™, the self claimed America’s healthiest grocery store is ranked 32 at Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to work for.
John Mackey co-Founder and Co-CEO of the 500 Fortune Company with headquarters in Austin, Texas is a controversial business leader. He is vegan since early 1970 's and a dedicated activist of health issues like lowing sugar levels in the American Diet. It is especially important that the CEO and other senior leadership embody the higher purpose of the organization rather than seek to maximize their own personal power and compensation (Mackey 2012).
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Whole Foods Market™ is widely recognized by its team based culture and consensus –driven decisions at any level of the organization including the upper echelon group (Boal and Hooijberg 2000) 7.
Although John Mackey frequently gets the attention of headlines, the company has a solid senior team. In 2010 Walter Robb was appointed as co-CEO. This emphasized the power of shared decision-making and the importance of collective construction within all levels of the company. Mackey and Robb are not part of the CEO’s celebrity culture widely spread in America. On the contrary they envision the role of the E-suite to embrace the higher purpose of the business, lead by example, inspire and transform while still satisfying all the stakeholder needs. The shared leadership approach practiced by Whole Foods Market™ is aligned to the premise that such “hero” styles alienate the workforce through failing to provide a genuine sense of involvement in, and commitment to, corporate goals. (Manz & Sims 1987) 8
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The team centered atmosphere is an strategic leadership approach that goes all the way down resulting in atypical business practices like “the hiring vote” where team members decide on new hires or the “the salary book” where relevant compensation information is displayed openly among all team members. Some dilemmas like risking confidential company information or delayed decision process may take place in such open and shared-responsibility environments. Nahavandi and Malekzadesh (1993) 9 explain that challenging seeking orientation and the need for control are dimensions that shape the strategic orientation of leaders. In this case, WFM™ is clearly a high challenge/low control while delegating and sharing responsibilities among team members because of the decentralized management style.
One of company’s core values is supporting team member Happiness and Excellence (WholeFoods.com 2013) 10 the conscious culture promoted by Whole Foods Markets™ embodies the social fabric of the company. When consumers and employees are aware and informed they are part of a conscious culture that fosters innovation and adaptation and connected to the purpose, processes and people.
Ireland and Hitt (2005) 11 emphasis on a sustaining culture, ethical practices and balanced controls as emerging concepts of how companies’ leadership strategy can be successful in today’s fast changing and global business environment. When it comes to culture Whole Foods Market™ is quite unique, the company crafted a set of written rules properly named the “Declaration of Independence” which works in conjunction with the mission and values of the company (Pearson 2012) 12. To embolden this conscious attitude and continue delighting customers, company’s teams are also benchmarked against others within the system promoting a metric based culture that convey to productivity and healthy internal competency but also share and leverage knowledge.
Whole Foods Markets™ leadership approach is unlike many other firms in America, recognized by its team-action and shared responsibility managerial system that underlines openness and trust to promote healthier, long term financial results. A riveting heritage from the Top Leaders’ vision of embracing a higher purpose, focus on all stakeholders, developing conscious leaders and a caring culture portrait the integration of meaningful individual-organization relationships within the larger and agitated industry Whole Foods Market ™ operates today.

References 1. Wholefoods Annual Report (2012)[Online]. Available at http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/ (Accessed: 26 January 2013) 2. Get America Fit Foundation 2012. Available at http://www.getamericafit.org/statistics-obesity-in-america.html 3. Wholefoods Annual Report (2012) [Online] Available at http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/ (Accessed: 26 January 2013 4. Google Search AdWords. Available at https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__c=1000000000&__u=1000000000&ideaRequestType=KEYWORD_IDEAS (Accessed: 9 February 2013) 5. Wholefoods Annual Report (2012)[Online]. Available at http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/ (Accessed: 02 February 2013)

6. Lyman, A. (2011) Conscious Capitalism – How to get it right, The Trust Worthy Leader, November 2012 [Online] Available at http://www.trustworthyleader.org/eng/Blog/9_Conscious-Capitalism-How-to-get-it-right.html (Accessed: February 1 2013) 7. Tudor, R (2012) Dilemmas of Leadership, Second edition, Routledge p, 148 8. Tudor, R (2012) Dilemmas of Leadership, Second edition, Routledge p, 57 9. Tudor, R (2012) Dilemmas of Leadership, Second edition, Routledge p, 147 10. Wholefoods Annual Report (2012)[Online]. Available at http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/ (Accessed: 02 February 2013) 11. Tudor, R (2012) Dilemmas of Leadership, Second edition, Routledge p, 150 12. Pearson, K (2012) Whole Foods Market ™ Case Study: Leadership and Employee Retention. MBA Student Johnson & Wales University. [Online] Available at http://scholarsarchive.jwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=mba_student (Accessed: 25 January 2013)

Other References: 13. Bill Gates – Creative Capitalism (2008) http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/exec/billg/speeches/2008/0124wefdavos.aspx 14. Michael Porter – Shared value Capitalism (2011) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324235104578243673073627726.html 15. Conscious Capitalism - http://www.consciouscapitalism.org 16. 2012 Fortune 100 Top Companies to work for: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/2012/full_list/

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