John Mackey
John Mackey – Co-Founder, Whole Foods and Conscious Capitalism.
By far the best speaker at the #ConsciousCapitalismEurope
Glad I got a chance to speak with him and here are some key takeaways:
1. Self awareness + Empathy = Emotional intelligence. And this must be an important criteria for promotions. Start by listening. Only when you truly listen to people can you open your heart to them.
2. Love is very important in business. It has to come out of the corporate closet. You learn the most in life through relationships and love.
3. You will come across situations that are grey. Spiritual Intelligence helps you here. In most cases, the answer lies in win-win-win strategies. If you can’t find that, no deal.
4. A friend is somebody who is happy when you’re successful and sad when you’re going through bad times.
5. The role of a coach and a mentor is critical. Firing a mentor is also crucial, which is why I fired my dad.
6. I start my day off with gratitude practices, then read a spiritual text to put my mind in the right place and then meditate before getting caught up in the day.
7. Appreciation is by far the biggest motivator. At Whole Foods, we end all meetings with appreciations. Appreciate in public, reprimand in private.
8. Catch people doing something right, before finding faults. It is not a leaders job to find faults. Assign that to others. Your job is to pick what’s working and spread it across the organization.
9. You are a prisoner of your grievances. Learn to forgive. Practice it regularly if you truly want to liberate yourself.
That’s the man for you. Humble, direct and of course, truly conscious.
