John Mackey, the C.E.O. of Whole Foods, has learned the perils of speaking his mind. But he still says what he thinks about everything from “conscious leadership” to the behavioral roots of the obesity epidemic. He also argues for a style of capitalism and politics that at this moment seems like a fantasy. What does he know that we don’t?
Listen and subscribe to our podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or elsewhere. Below is a transcript of the episode, edited for readability. For more information on the people and ideas in the episode, see the links at the bottom of this post.
* * *
Stephen DUBNER: So, you are, as I understand, a staunch vegetarian who’s also a staunch libertarian. I don’t think that’s a big club, that crossover.
John MACKEY: I did meet somebody a few years ago that said they were both. I’m not totally alone.
John Mackey, the co-founder and C.E.O. of the Whole Foods supermarket chain, seems to be comfortable with contradiction — or at least what may look like contradiction to the rest of us. He is a 67-year-old vegan and daily meditator who also lionizes free-market icons like Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand. He speaks out against factory farming; he’s also called climate change “perfectly natural and not necessarily bad.” A New Yorker profile of Mackey once declared that he, “can’t help but speak his mind, out of which spring confounding ideas and conventionally irreconcilable contradictions.”
MACKEY: Look, I just show up in an authentic way everywhere I am. I think that’s the best strategy in life.
DUBNER: Did it take you a while to show up always as your authentic self?
MACKEY: Of course. It’s a skill. You have to practice authenticity. It’s sort of natural to tell lies, even little lies. We learn to dissemble at a very young age. We are also very much afraid of disapproval from others. It’s really obvious today because there’s a fear of being canceled. If you say the wrong thing, you get a Twitter mob after you, and the next thing you know, you might lose your job. So, people begin to pretend to be something they’re not, because people are scared.
So, being authentic is not necessarily an easy thing to do. And I just try to be authentic and careful. Meaning — context, who am I talking to? So, I’m still being authentic. I’m not dissembling or misrepresenting myself. But then again, I’m not saying absolutely everything I’m thinking every second.
DUBNER: So, “authentic but careful” sounds to me like a razor’s edge.
MACKEY: It is a razor’s edge. You have to be really conscious.
“Conscious” is John Mackey’s watchword these days. Some years back, he wrote a book called Conscious Capitalism, which argues that profits and purpose should be fully compatible. Mackey’s follow-up book, published this fall, is called Conscious Leadership. Today on Freakonomics Radio, we see that the razor’s edge can get very sharp very fast.
MACKEY:...
Read the Original Article on Source Page
#Succeed #Authentic #Hint #Carefully
0 Post a Comment:
Post a Comment