As a student, John Mackey was an idealistic hippie who worked in a vegetarian co-op while studying religion and philosophy. He never took a business class during his whole academic career. In other words, he wasn’t exactly the guy people would’ve placed bets on to become a businessman, let alone one who’d launch a natural foods empire called Whole Foods Market that would get purchased by Amazon for $14 billion. (Note: John long ago stopped taking a salary and even donated all of his Whole Foods stock, so he didn’t see a penny of the sale.)

Listen to John discuss with Toni Okamoto and Paul Shapiro his thoughts on everything from venture capitalists and labor unions to Whole Foods’ sale to Amazon and of course how to do good in the world via business.

John’s Books:

• Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business

• Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World’s Problems

• The Whole Foods Diet: The Lifesaving Plan for Health and Longevity