(image credit: Whole Foods website)

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, co-author and leader for the Conscious Capitalism Movement in business writes in his book, Conscious Capitalism, how a business crisis was the genesis of this movement.

John had a bent towards creating a business model that positively impacted all of the stakeholders his business would touch on a day to day basis. He did not fully understand what that meant until the business sustained a deathblow crisis.

When John’s store, located in the city of Austin, suffered its worst flood in seventy years, they found the store eight feet underwater wiping out everything. Both John and his wife, Renee, were facing the reality –  “This was it.”  No way could they overcome the set-back.  Then this crazy thing happened.  One by one, all of their stakeholders from employees, customers, vendors, creditors and the community at large started to pitch in.  They believed in Whole Foods and what John and Renee were doing and said, “We’re not going to let this store die. Come on guys, let’s get to work.”

This created the “Oh Wow!” moment for John. He saw the influence of business and how the opportunity to enroll and impact his stakeholders beyond the exchange of goods and services for money had actually changed these people.

Today, our global community, is in a crisis like we have never seen before.  What role will business play?  What business leaders will step up? What can you do to support your stakeholders? What is the possibility in this problem that we all now collectively face?

What a great time to look at your business from an entirely different point of view!

The other morning I was so pleased to see an email from California Coast Credit Union, an organization that I am associated with through a non-profit  that banks with them.  They announced, “Loan Payments Automatically Deferred for 60 Days. If you need to delay the payment, just do it at no cost.”  In addition, they provided information for emergency funding if needed and what actions to take.

Who in your community of stakeholders of employees, customers, vendors and the community at large can you help or need help from?  What new and creative ideas can be brought forward through business to provide support in the short-term and to positively change the way we do business in the long-term?

Share your creative ideas.  Share what you have seen others doing.  Let’s get the dialog going!  Let’s use this crisis to lead and turn this problem into an amazing possibility.

Written by: Jeff Blanton | CCSD Board Secretary | Founder, Blanton Group

Whole Foods updates on how responding to Covid-19 can be found here