AUSTIN, Texas – John Mackey defies most labels, but “unabashed capitalist” is one of the few that sticks.
In “Conscious Capitalism,” Mackey’s first book, the founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Markets Inc. offers nothing less than a full-throated psalm for the power of free markets to create value and lift humanity.
Yet at its core, and true to Mackey’s ability to avoid those hard-and-fast labels, the book out this week also delivers a pointed critique on how capitalism can lead business astray if its practice isn’t grounded in a sound ethical foundation.
“If everybody is always calculating what’s to their advantage, and no one comes with generosity, or kindness, or compassion, or forgiveness – higher virtues – your society starts to break down,” Mackey said in an interview at his company’s Austin headquarters. “I actually think that’s what’s happening in America right now.”
For much of American industrial history, Mackey said, free-market capitalism was underpinned by a sense of Judeo-Christian values. A sense of empathy and care softened the cold, hard forces of self-interest.
But that ethical underpinning has eroded as American society has grown increasingly secular, Mackey said.![]()
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