What’s hidden behind the smiling faces at the register?

John Mackey is the CEO of the Whole Foods Market, which has grown from a single store to now approximately 340 stores nationwide, as well as the co-founder of FLOW and author of “Conscious Capatilism: Creating a New Paradigm for Business.” Mackey has made it his mission to make organic, holistic food available to people, as well as making a business that is not only concerned about the profit but of the customers and the employees. He has been a part of the Conscious Capitalism Movement which reminds businesses why they run and who they are to serve. Mackey wrote ‘Conscious Capitalism’ to defend his company and many others against the words of Milton Friedman in “The Social Responsibility of Business is to increase its Profits.”

I agree with Milton Friedman, the author of “The Social Responsibility of Business is to increase its Profits,” on his claims of how businesses run. Through out the piece he says that while many corporations try to be conscious of their responsibility to society, the environment and everything around them, it all boils down to how much profit they make and that their stockholders happy. No matter how much businesses want consumers to believe that they have “social responsibilities,” they will always put their profit and gain before anything else and many times stating that they are fulfilling their responsibility is a way to gain more customers and therefore profit. Milton states that corporate executives must “..make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of the society..”(Friedman, 97) explaining the main purpose of business, profit. 

John Mackey wrote “Conscious Capitalism:Creating a New Perspective for Business” in response to Friedman, because with his store Whole Foods, his mission is to make businesses more socially responsible, which is a concept Friedman attacks. Mackey states that businesses are created for various reasons, not merely for profit. “We add the ideal of ‘The Heroic’…we have the framework of higher ideals that most great businesses seek to express in some form or fashion”(Mackey, 83) expressing another perspective of what the goal of businesses are based off of. I disagree with John Mackey as I see how his business benefits people, but there is truly only one thing businesses want, profit, as it is the life blood of all corporations.

Works Cited

“John Mackey | Whole Foods Market.” Whole Foods Market. 04 Sept. 2013 <http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/person/john-mackey&gt;.