John Mackey: Live To Make Profits
on Thursday, June 13, 2019John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods with a Money Quote saying we need to differentiate between needs and wants and then include them both into our greater purpose. John Mackey said:
“Just as people cannot live without eating, so a business cannot live without profits. But most people don’t live to eat, and neither must businesses live just to make profits” — John Mackey
Share the John Mackey Money quote image above on your site:
Short Link to this Quote:
In this quote, John Mackey is drawing an analogy between how individuals need to eat for sustenance but do not live solely to eat, and how businesses need profits for viability but should not exist exclusively to generate profits.
Mackey acknowledges that just as eating is necessary for human survival, profits are necessary for a business to survive in the long run. However, his point is that as people have higher purposes beyond just eating, businesses too should have deeper goals beyond the single-minded pursuit of profits.
The quote suggests businesses should see profits as an important means to an end, rather than the end itself. Implicitly, Mackey is advocating for businesses to consider other priorities like customer/employee well-being, community impact, innovation and sustainability – not strictly short-term profit-maximizing.
Overall, he believes businesses can and should serve purposes beyond profit alone, just as people live for more than sustenance.