Unit 5 Discussion Topic 1

How to Succeed in Managing Projects

Use your favourite search engine and look for articles that ask the question “How to Succeed?” that provide insights by John Mackey and Kip Tindell.

What insights were you able to find on Mackey and Tindell? Are Mackey and Tindell onto something, or are they businesses anomalies in industry? Do you agree that the purpose of business is not primarily to maximize shareholder value? Support your position.

Professor and class,

Before I started this out, I had no idea who these two individuals were or the company’s they own. What I found even more interesting is that they were both housemates in the ’70s in Texas while going to college (Time, 2008). It is pretty amazing that these two guys, who lived in the same house, ended up becoming very rich CEO’s running their own businesses. In an interview with Time magazine, Mackey, the now owner of Whole Foods, remembers talking to his girlfriend about how easy the retail business was for him. Keep up a good attitude, do your work with a smile, and be nice to customers. That will help keep current customers happy and possibly create some buzz around your product or location.

What I find amazing is that they didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to gain business, rather, they were true to their values (which I guess can be considered out of the ordinary these days) and believed in the fundamental retail rule which is “the customer is always right.” In the interview, Tindell stated that when he runs a business he keeps it tied to his personal morals as opposed to changing them when it comes to a business environment. He feels that looseness of moral values should not take place if it deviates from the owner’s personal one. It seems to me like these two respect their employees as much as they do their customers which makes a huge difference in work climate.

References

Time. (2008, June 26). Former housemates John Mackey and Kip

Tindell talk about poker, retailing, and the limitations of

shareholder capitalism. Retrieved

from http://business.time.com/2008/06/26/former_housemates_joh n_mackey