Quotes by John Mackey

“The outpouring of love and support via donations will really make a difference; we are so appreciative of our shoppers.”

“He was walking home,”

“customers, team members (employees), investors, vendors, communities and the environment.”

“The union is like having herpes.”

“We are viewing the lobster as a live creature rather than a commodity that deserves no concern.”

“I was proud of them in the second half because we came out and attacked the basket. We had some looks and if some went down we could have cut the lead to under 10. We didnt quit and were not going to quit.”

“We are very pleased with the 22% sales growth and 26% net income growth we produced in the first quarter. Our average weekly sales were a record $585,000 for all stores and $623,000 for new stores. Our 13% comparable store sales growth this quarter marked our ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit comparable store sales growth, and despite the fact that our average store size continues to grow, our annualized sales per gross square feet increased to an all-time high of just over $900. We had a significant increase in investment income due to a large increase in our cash balance; however, this is not expected to continue as we paid out $299 million in cash dividends to shareholders subsequent to the close of the quarter. Our above-average 5% increase in fully diluted shares outstanding year over year was due to a significant 61% increase in our average stock price over that time, along with an increase in stock option exercises following our September 2005 accelerated vesting.”

A healthy society rests on three pillars: business, government and civil society, or non-profits. Each has a distinct and important role to play, and all three need to work together synergistically to create the most value for society.

In many companies, the person who talks the best usually gets the job. I got snowed by a few of those people over the years. I still think communication is important, but I dont think theres always a correlation between being a great communicator and other virtues that make for a great leader.

I slow down when hiking. The rhythm of nature is more leisurely. The sun comes up, it moves across the sky, and you begin to synchronize to that rhythm.

Your typical business just measures the metrics that have to do with the profitability of the business one way or another. But you can have metrics that measure employee happiness and the morale. You can also do direct customer surveys you can track it over time. You can do supplier satisfaction scores as well.

I think for leadership positions, emotional intelligence is more important than cognitive intelligence. People with emotional intelligence usually have a lot of cognitive intelligence, but thats not always true the other way around.

People need to eat whole food plant foods, primarily... whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. That diet supports our lives. We ought to live to be 90 or 100 without getting any diseases.

We do take seriously our responsibility, and growing ability, to educate people about healthy eating and giving them greater access to nourishing and affordable fresh food.

A healthy diet is a solution to many of our health-care problems. Its the most important solution.

Whole Foods has a good health care plan.

I always like to say that our brand or our philosophy has always been kind of this marriage between the food as indulgence, and its also been about food as health, that food is vitality.

The world is getting more connected through technology and travel. Cuisines are evolving. Some people are scared of globalization, but I think people will always take pride in cultural heritage.

In general, when you travel, you get into a different reality and are able to more accurately reflect on your ordinary life. Hiking does that for me.

I love my cooking tools because I enjoy cooking - a Vitamix for smoothies and a rice cooker for steel-cut oats. I travel with a small rice cooker. I soak oats overnight, and when I get up, I just turn the rice cooker on, and it cooks the oats perfectly every time.