If you haven’t been following what John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI: NASDAQ), is doing and saying about Conscious Capitalism the read this:

Conscious Capitalism: Creating a New Paradigm for Business

Also check out what he and Michael Strong are doing at FLOW.

..and what Jeff Klein is doing at Working for Good

But my admiration of Mr. Mackey isn’t solely based on his leadership in Conscious Capitalism; the fact is that I love Whole Foods.

Here’s the back story. My family is from Austin, Texas and I used to shop at Whole Foods on special occasions with my grandfather. Some days we would visit one of the stores just to browse the wonderful produce, meats, and cheese, as money was very tight back then. I remember setting a life goal to reach a level of financial freedom wherein I could shop at Whole Foods regularly. Goal achieved! Whole Foods is my grocery store of choice…but I think it is also something more. The grocery chain has become a geographic indicator of community. Where are my people? They shop at Whole Foods.

I’ve been thinking about living some place new and one of my “must haves” for a new home is access to a Whole Foods store. Not just so I can buy food, but because I expect that the market research they use to choose store locations is very similar to what I would use to find a new community. The brand is an attracter. I wonder what might happen if Whole Foods became the Welcome Wagon of the Cultural Creatives. It would be very helpful if I could pop into my new local store and get recommendations for yoga studios, housekeepers, dry cleaners, and veterinarians.

There is a longer essay to be written on values marketing and how certain brands like Whole Foods are leading the way, with the key point being that trust is critical. In a world where we are awash in a sea of information, trust relationships are becoming more and more valuable. How are you building trust with your stakeholders, employees, vendors and customers?

This entry was posted on Monday, May 14th, 2007 at 1:35 pm and is filed under conscious capitalism, whole foods, values based marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.