What follows is a modified version of John Mackey's Keynote Speech at the March, 2006, Tribal Gathering of Whole Foods Market in Austin, Texas. Every few years, approximately 600 members of Whole Foods Market leadership come together for a long weekend dedicated to networking, education and inspiration. This speech was delivered on the final day of the gathering.
Much loud and sustained applause
Let's hope you feel the same after hearing this speech. I went back and forth over whether to play it safe and give a typical keynote speech, but I decided to go for it and see if we can take Whole Foods Market to the next level—on our growing edge.
Today I'm going to paint a really big picture, a picture of "everything," of how I think the world really works, and where Whole Foods Market and Grameen Bank opens in a new tab fit into it. [Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank spoke immediately following this speech.] If I communicate this information in the way that I hope to, I guarantee you will never look at the world in the same way again. You won't look at Whole Foods Market in quite the same way, either. So that is my goal.
My philosophy is that life is all about learning and growing, and that life can be a real adventure of learning, growing, compassion, and joyfulness. We all have the capability to grow all our lives—if we don't get stuck—in emotional intelligence, wisdom, consciousness, ethical development, and love. And not only individuals are capable of growth. So are organizations such as Whole Foods Market and Grameen Bank, as well as larger collective societies, such as the United States.
One way to view human development is to see a decline in egocentrism. As Henry Gardner said, "The whole history of human development can be viewed as a progressive decline in egocentrism." Consciousness development engenders a decrease in narcissism and an increase in caring and consciousness. Humans move from ego-centric to ethno-centric to world-centric as they develop in consciousness. The upward spiral of development is at the same time a spiral of compassion—from me to us to all of us.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
How many people here today heard my talk two years ago in Seattle on self-actualization? [light applause] Well, I'm not giving that talk today. [light laughter from audience] However, it does serve as a springboard for what I want to talk about.
You may recall that I introduced Maslow's Hierarchy during that talk. Maslow identified a hierarchy of needs [see chart], which is one way to think about the upward flow of human consciousness. As we evolve upward we pass through levels of needs, from our physiological needs to our safety needs, next to our belongingness needs, then to our self-esteem needs, then to our needs for the good, the true and the beautiful, and finally to our self actualization needs at the very apex of the hierarchy.
Maslow's hierarchy is a good reference point for the information that follows.
I now want to introduce another system from a man who was a peer and friend of Maslow's and who influenced, and was influenced by, Maslow. This man, Clare Graves, created another system for understanding the way the world works. Graves developed models in "emergent deep value systems" that have been built upon by others, and we now call this model Spiral Dynamics opens in a new tab.
Spiral Dynamics is a bio-psycho-social-spiritual framework (I love this word) for understanding core human thought processes. Spiral Dynamics helps identify how people change, organize, develop consciousness, make choices, create strategies, and communicate. This system helps to reveal the hidden codes that shape human nature, liberate global diversity, and drive or hinder social and organizational transformation.
Graves' work was built upon by a student named Don Beck and his student, in turn, Christopher Cowan. They wrote a book called Spiral Dynamics opens in a new tab. Ken Wilber of the Integral Institute opens in a new tab has taken the Spiral Dynamics model and incorporated it into his Integral models as a next step. Both of these are the basis for the information I'll be presenting today.
Spiral Dynamics Overview
Now I want to present a quick overview of Spiral Dynamics. Human consciousness evolves over time, both for individuals and for the larger society. This evolution of consciousness can be understood as a hierarchical spiral that evolves to greater levels of complexity. This hierarchical spiral doesn't consist of rigid levels but can be rather likened to flowing waves, with much overlap and interweaving. We are not monolithic as we move through these levels.
Within this system model, different colors represent different levels or waves of development, each offering a viewing point for the "real world" according to unique perceptual filters. The colors, which have no significance in and of themselves, are a useful abbreviated tool, to help us quickly grasp the level of consciousness we are discussing.
I want to provide some additional background information to help us gain a common language. Spiral Dynamics uses the word "vMEME" with each color. The word MEME was invented by Richard Dawkins when he wrote The Selfish Gene opens in a new tab. The little 'v' means "value MEME" to indicate that we are referencing value systems. The Spiral Dynamics model currently has defined eight levels of consciousness, but allows for the potential of new, more complex levels emerging. Ken Wilber's opens in a new tab Integral models address this in more detail.
A graphic depicting the levels of the spiral is shown below.
The vMEMEs are like invisible core intelligences. They are broad orienting paradigms that we use to interpret the world. They are structures of thinking in that you can't see them.. Life conditions awaken vMEMEs which may emerge, surge, regress, or fade in response to those events that trigger change. No one vMEME is better or worse than another, they are simply less complex and more complex. As I mentioned earlier, the levels are not rigid.
All vMEMEs are good and necessary. To evolve to more complex vMEMEs requires experiencing/living the less complex vMEMEs first. The vMEMEs are not rigid levels but flowing waves, with much overlap and interweaving, resulting in a dynamic spiral of consciousness unfolding. The vMEMEs can express both healthy (for-better) and unhealthy (for-worse) qualities; sometimes it is more beneficial to the individual to be healthy at a lower vMEME than to be unhealthy at a higher vMEME. An individual's vMEME can brighten and dim as life conditions change; each one of us experiences different things that set us off to the next evolution.
In general vMEMEs follow several trajectories as they evolve. They go from less complex natural, technological, and human environments to more complex. They likewise go from surviving in the bush through the awakening of new consciousness levels to surfing beyond the Internet to even higher levels of complexity, to understanding the entire global ecosphere. Finally, they go from a small piece of land via migrations across land and information terrains to the global village and cyberspace, where a complexity of development through shared information becomes possible.
The First Tier vMEMEs
Now I want to introduce the eight core vMEMEs. The first six are called First Tier vMEMEs, as opposed to the Second Tier vMEMEs, which I will explain later.
Beige "Instinctive/Survivalistic" vMEMEThe first is the Beige "Instinctive/Survivalistic" vMEME. This first arrived on the scene, or "awakened," 100,000+ years ago. Its basic premise is: Do what you must to stay alive. The characteristic beliefs and actions of the Beige vMEME are:
An individual uses instincts and habits just to survive
The distinct self is barely awakened or sustained
Food, water, warmth, sex, and safety have priority over anything else
Beige individuals form into family survival bands to perpetuate life
Where do you find the Beige vMEME expressed? Here is a representative list: The first peoples, newborn infants, senile elderly, late-stage Alzheimer's victims, mentally ill street people, starving masses, bad drug trips (if any of you ever had bad LSD trips, you were probably back in a Beige vMEME), and "shell shock." This vMEME is well described in anthropological fiction like Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear.
The Beige vMEME includes approximately 1/10 percent of the world's adult population and zero percent of the power.
Purple "Magical/Animistic" vMEMEAs human consciousness evolves, it next goes into the Purple "Magical/Animistic" vMEME. This second "awakening" occurred approximately 50,000 years ago. We're tapping into this vMEME this weekend at the tribal gathering, because we're tapping into the power of the tribe. The basic theme for the Purple vMEME is: Keep the spirits happy and the tribe's nest warm and safe. The Characteristic beliefs and actions of the Purple vMEME are:
Thinking is animistic; magical spirits—both good and bad
Obeying the desires of spirit beings and mystical signs
Showing allegiance to chief, elders, ancestors, and the clan
Preserving sacred objects, places, events, and memories
Observing rites of passage, seasonal cycles, and tribal customs
Although some of this sounds benign, it wasn't all good, because this was where slavery and human sacrifice came into the picture.
Where do you find the Purple vMEME expressed? Here is a sampling: belief in guardian angels and Voodoo-like curses, animism, blood oaths, Native American Indians were living primarily in the purple vMEME when the Western peoples arrived on the continent, chanting and trance dancing, good luck charms, mystical ethnic beliefs and superstitions, New Age beliefs—crystals, tarot, astrology, and Harry Potter's magical world.
The Purple vMEME includes 10% of the world population, and only 1% of the power. The following provides more detail about the typical qualities seen in the Purple "Magical/Animistic" vMEME:
Characteristics
- Mystical spirits, signs
- Safe clans and nests
- Powerful elders
- Our people vs. "them" [Whole Foods Market against Wild Oats and Trader Joe's]
Decision making
- Custom and tradition
- Elders' counsel
- Signs or the shaman
- Clan gets the spoils
Education
- Paternalistic teachers
- Rituals and routines
- Passive learners
- Family-like learning; oral history to pass down the stories
Family
- Extended kinships
- Rites of passage
- Strict role relations
- Protects bloodline
Community
- Respects folk ways
- Honors ethnicity
- Lets group be itself
- Guards magic places
Life space
- Old country ways
- Focus on subsistence
- Fearful, mystical, superstitious
- Full of spirit beings
Just to explain the rhythm, the vMEMEs tend to alternate between individualistic and community-focused. The Purple vMEME was community focused. The next level is individualistic.
Red "Egocentric/Narcissistic" vMEMEThe Red "Egocentric/Narcissistic" vMEME, the third "awakening," occurred about 10,000 years ago. Its basic theme is: Be what you are and do what you want regardless—"Nobody tells me what to do."
Many teenagers are at the Red vMEME. Many of you in the audience probably remember going through this phase. The characteristic beliefs and actions of this vMEME are:
The world is seen as a jungle full of threats and predators
The individual breaks free from any constraints to please self as self desires
The individual stands tall, expects attention, demands respect, calls the shots
The individual enjoys himself to the fullest, right now without guilt or remorse
The individual conquers, out-foxes, and dominates other aggressive characters
An overly developed ethnic identity can lead to genocidal wars, slavery, and racism
The individual believes that: "I am special, I'll live forever, I am immortal, not like the others."
Where is the Red vMEME expressed? The following sample provides an overview: the "Terrible Twos," rebellious youth, frontier mentalities, feudal kingdoms, street gangs, James Bond villains—the guys that conquer the world (I always wondered what the big payoff was if you conquered the world. Well, in the red vMEME these guys get all the women, the fast cars, and the money), epic heroes, soldiers of fortune, wild rock stars, William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Sauron in Lord of the Rings, Voldemort in Harry Potter.
The red vMEME includes 15% to 20% of the world population, but only 5% of the power.
When adults are residing at the Red vMEME, we often think of them as "spoiled." But you need Red energy to overcome restrictions and boundaries put on you by other systems.
The following provides more detail about the typical qualities seen in the Red "Impulsive/Egocentric" vMEME.
Characteristics
- Raw power displays
- Immediate pleasure
- Unrestrained by guilt
- Colorful and creative
Decision making
- Tough-one dictates
- What gets respect
- What feels good now
- Powerful grab spoils
Education
- Rewards for learning
- Tough-love tactics
- Work on respect
- Controlled freedom
Family
- Gang-like battles
- Builds us vs. them walls
- Tests of worthiness
- Struggles with the system
Community
- Predators in control
- Danger to the outsiders
- Forms fiefdoms
- Turf wars and vendettas
Life space
- Unconstrained
- Might makes right
- Winners and dead losers
- Attention-seeking
Blue "Purposeful/Authoritarian" vMEMEAfter the very individualistic Red vMEME, the next level goes back again to the more community-focused orientation. The Blue "Purposeful/Authoritarian" vMEME, as the fourth "awakening," began approximately 5,000 years ago. The basic rules for the Blue vMEME are: Life has meaning, direction and purpose with outcomes determined by an all-powerful Other or Order. This vMEME brings discipline to the spiral because you are now "following a higher order."
The characteristic beliefs and actions of the Blue vMEME include:
Sacrificing of the self to the transcendent Cause, Truth, or righteous Pathway.
Allowing the Order to enforce a code of conduct based on eternal, absolute unvarying principles of "right" and "wrong"—there is one right way to live and deviations punished from the path are punished.
Following the right path produces security now and guarantees future reward; if you don't follow the path, well, you've made your choices.
Displaying missionary zealotry, which can be short on evidence and long on belief and faith, as well as closed minds. When you run into people with very rigid thought structures, you are dealing with someone who is residing at the Blue vMEME.
Engaging in pleasurable acts is seen as frivolous; humor is rare; actions are based in judgment not compassion, although there is a lot of talk about compassion.
Operating from a fundamentalist, conventional, traditional, and conformist worldview.
Where do you find the Blue vMEME expressed? The following provides a sample:
Christian and Islamic fundamentalism, Puritan America, Dickensian England, Singapore's strict discipline, witch hunts, codes of chivalry and honor, the Spanish Inquisition, the caste system in India, Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, Boy and Girl Scouts, and patriotism.
The Blue vMEME includes 35% to 40% of the world population, and 25% to 30% of the power. The figures are somewhat lower in the United States.
The following provides more detail about the typical qualities seen in the Blue "Purposeful/Authoritarian" vMEME.
Characteristics
- Only one right way
- Purpose in causes
- Guilt in consequences
- Sacrifice for honor
Decision making
- Orders from authority
- Do right, obey rules
- Adhere to tradition
- Righteous earn spoils
Education
- Truth from authority
- Traditional stair steps
- Moralistic lessons
- Punishment for errors
Family
- Seat of truths and values
- Proper places for all, respect for parents
- Codes of conduct
- Teaches moral ways
Community
- Peace-and-quiet
- Cautious and careful
- Tidy, green, and neat
- Born into society
Life space
- Law abiding citizen (this was the bourgeoisie that drove Karl Marx crazy)
- Places for everybody
- Seeks peace of mind
- Rewards to come
The Blue vMEME is one the core constituencies of the Republican Party and comprises the "moral majority" in the United States today.
Orange "Scientific Modernism" vMEMEThe Orange "Scientific Modernism" vMEME, the fifth "awakening" began only 300 years ago. Its tagline is: Act in your own self-interest by playing the game to win.
Some of the characteristic beliefs and actions of this vMEME include:
Strongly expressed individualism; Orange breaks away from the "herd" of the Blue vMEME.
Developed human rights, legal freedoms, free markets, capitalistic democracies
Strong faith in science and rationality, which eclipse superstition
Seeking to live the "good life" with material abundance
Believe that optimistic, risk-taking, and self-reliant people deserve their success
Play to win and enjoy competition; very success driven
Basing principles on ethics, not religion
Ignoring of inner spirituality to a high degree; the subsequent loss of the sacred
The Orange vMEME is expressed in ways such as the following: The Enlightenment, "success" ministries (such as Napoleon Hill and Tony Robbins), American "Founding Fathers," Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, Wall Street, Rodeo Drive, The Riviera, the cosmetics and fashion industries, breast implants, emerging middle classes around the world (in India and certain parts of China), Chambers of Commerce, corporate America, Forbes magazine, materialism, and the stereotypical yuppies.
The Orange vMEME includes approximately 25% to 30% of the world population. In the United States, the figure is closer to 50% of the population. Worldwide, this vMEME wields 45% to 50% of the power. Orange is the dominant vMEME in the U.S. today.
The following provides more detail on the typical qualities seen in the Orange "Achievist/Strategic" vMEME.
Characteristics
- Competes for success
- Goal-oriented drive
- Change to progress
- Material gain/perks
Decision making
- Bottom-line results
- Test options for best
- Consult experts
- Successful win spoils
Education
- Experiments to win
- High-tech, high status
- How to win niches
- Mentors and guides
Family
- Upwardly mobile
- Demands attention
- High expectations
- Image conscious
Community
- Caters to prosperous
- Displays affluence
- Buys into society
- Security for the elite
Life space
- Wants to prosper now
- Competition always
- Leverages influence
- Seeks material things
A few people in this audience may relate strongly to this vMEME. I know I do.
Green "Communitarian/Egalitarian" vMEMEThe response to the somewhat singularly driven Orange vMEME is found in the Green "Communitarian/Egalitarian" vMEME, the sixth "awakening," which first appeared nearly 150 years ago. The basic theme for the Green vMEME is: Seek peace within the inner self and explore, with others, the caring dimensions of community. Another way to think of this vMEME is as "The Sensitive Self."
Some of the characteristic beliefs and actions of the Green vMEME include:
Becomes more aware of the suffering of the world, of other sentient beings
The human spirit must be freed from greed, dogma, and divisiveness
Feelings, sensitivity, and caring supersede cold rationality
Share the Earth's resources and opportunities equally among all
Reach decisions through consensus processes
Anti-authoritarian and against hierarchy; establishes lateral bonding and linking
All values are pluralistic and relativistic; no one should be marginalized
Environmentalism becomes a socio-political movement
A fundamental belief is "All people are good; it's society that makes them bad." Highly idealistic.
Can create cults of victims and censorship through politically correct thinking; can also be politically dogmatic.
The Green vMEME is seen in the following: John Lennon's music, deep ecology, Greenpeace, animal rights, Woodstock, single payer health care, ACLU, humanistic psychology, diversity training, multiculturalism, Boulder, Colorado, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream company (pre-merger—I have a feeling they are more orange vMEME after Unilever acquired them), The Body Shop, politically correct thinking, deconstructionism, postmodernism, The Utne Reader, Paul Ray's Cultural Creatives opens in a new tab, and the natural/organic foods movement.
I believe that the essence of the culture wars in the U.S. is the differences between the Blue, Orange, and the Green vMEMEs.
The Green vMEME comprises 10% of the world population, and holds nearly 15% of the power; in the U.S. you can double these numbers. The Green vMEME now has more power in the U.S. than the Blue vMEME.
The following provides more information on the qualities inherent in the Green "Communitarian/Egalitarian" vMEME.
Characteristics
- Seeks inner peace
- Everybody is equal
- Everything is relative
- Harmony within the group
Decision making
- Reach consensus
- All must collaborate
- Accept any input
- Communal spoils
Education
- To explore feelings
- Shared experiences
- Social development
- Learn cooperation
Family
- Grouping of equals
- Participative activities
- Highly accepting
- All feelings processed
Community
- Social safety-nets
- "Politically correct"
- Open for insiders
- Invests in self
Life space
- Thrives on belonging
- Needs acceptance
- Sacrifice feels good
- Renews spirituality
The Second Tier vMEMEs
Consciousness continues its upward flow. There is a huge gap between what we have been talking about, and the next wave of consciousness. None of the First Tier vMEMEs can fully appreciate the value of the other vMEMEs. Each believes that its worldview is the only true perspective. However, a qualitative leap in consciousness occurs when a person moves past the Green vMEME into Second Tier, which is also termed "Integral."
Individuals who operate from the Second Tier are capable of fully appreciating the value and necessity of all the vMEMEs. They comprehend that the health of the entire spiral, or all vMEMEs, is essential. At the Integral level, fear and anxiety largely disappear from consciousness. At the Second Tier, systems thinking becomes the norm, and mental activity consists of joining, linking, and synthesizing in pluralistic systems. Individuals who have achieved the Second Tier find a greatly increased capacity for love and compassion. This is the "Self-Actualizing and Transpersonal" level in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, as presented earlier.
I realize I'm giving you a lot of information. This is all background for what I really want to talk about. I want to provide you with an underlying structure for the discussion that follows. Bear with me, I have just a bit more background.
Yellow "Autonomous/Integrative" vMEMEThe first level within the Second Tier is the Yellow "Autonomous/Integrative" vMEME, which is the 7th "awakening," and it occurred approximately 50 years ago. The Yellow vMEME's basic tenet is: Live fully and responsibly with authenticity.
Some of the characteristic beliefs and actions of the Yellow vMEME are:
Pursuit of learning for its own sake.
Systems thinking.
Viewing life as a kaleidoscope of natural hierarchies, systems, and forms
Valuing the magnificence of existence over material possessions
Prioritizing flexibility, spontaneity, and functionality (Here at Whole Foods Market, you have long seen that I have a huge bias toward flexibility.)
Valuing knowledge and competency over rank, power, and status
Integrating complex systems with ease
The risk at this level of the wave is what Darth Vader from Star Wars or Sauruman from Lord of the Rings faced, which is the risk of the fall downward.
The Yellow vMEME is expressed in the following: Carl Sagan's astronomy, Peter Senge's opens in a new tab learning organizations, Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time opens in a new tab, chaos theory opens in a new tab, appropriate technology, eco-industrial parks (using each others' outflows as raw materials), Fred Alan Wolf's opens in a new tab "new physics," Deepak Chopra's opens in a new tab Ageless Body, the movie What the Bleep Do We Know? opens in a new tab, Wired magazine, Gandalf the Grey from Lord of the Rings, and Dumbeldore from Harry Potter.
The only two companies I know that are operating frequently at the yellow level are Google and Whole Foods Market. There are probably many more, but those are the two that spring to mind. This is a recent vMEME, and only 1% of the population is found in the Yellow, but it holds 5% of the power world-wide.
The following qualities typify the Yellow "Integrative" vMEME.
Characteristics
- Big picture views
- Integrative structures
- Naturalness of chaos
- Inevitability of change
Decision making
- Highly principled
- Knowledge centered
- Resolved paradoxes
- Competent get spoils
Education
- Becomes self-directed
- Whole-day package
- Tuned to interests
- Non-rigid structure
Family
- Shifting roles
- Expects competence
- Takes each as is
- Information base
Community
- Does more with less
- Appropriate technologies
- Power is dispersed
- Integrated systems
Life space
- Life is learning
- Intrigued by process
- Freedom to just be
- Rarely fearful
Turquoise "Holistic" vMEMEBeyond the largely individualistic Yellow vMEME, the Turquoise "Holistic" vMEME, as the 8th "awakening," began expressing about 30 years ago. This vMEME's basic premise is: Experience the wholeness of existence through mind and spirit.
Some of the characteristic beliefs and actions of the Turquoise vMEME include:
Experiencing the world as a single, dynamic organism with its own collective mind
Acknowledging the Self as both distinct and a blended part of a larger, compassionate whole
Viewing everything connected to everything else as incredibly beautiful ecological alignments
Experiencing energy and information as permeating the Earth's total environment
Thinking that is holistic and intuitive, with an expectation of cooperative actions
Synthesizing science and religion into a universal spirituality
The Turquoise vMEME is seen in: David Bohm's opens in a new tab theories, McLuhan's "global village opens in a new tab," Rupert Sheldrake and morphic fields opens in a new tab, Gandhi's ideas of pluralistic harmony, Ken Wilber's opens in a new tab "Spectrum of Consciousness," James Lovelock's "Gaia hypothesis opens in a new tab," transpersonal psychology, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's "noosphere opens in a new tab," the White from Lord of the Rings, and Dumbledore from Harry Potter [if he isn't really dead-we are waiting to see what happens in book seven]. Whole Foods Market is evolving towards the Turquoise vMEME as an organization, working with Grameen Bank and our various foundations.
The Turquoise vMEME currently has around .01% of the population, but already holds approximately 1% of the power in the world.
Some of the differences to note are that the Yellow vMEME figures things out on an individual basis, and is very good at figuring out paradoxes on a one-up basis. The Turquoise vMEME goes back into the community orientation. It begins to connect on a global basis to other organizations and individuals that it harmonizes with to magnify the good we can do. With our partnerships with Earth University opens in a new tab and Grameen, Whole Foods Market is recognizing that if we really want to help the world to evolve, we have to link up with other organizations with whom we harmonize to extend our influence.
The following qualities define the Turquoise "Holistic/Integral" vMEME.
Characteristics
- Scans the macro
- Synergy of all life
- Safe, orderly world
- Restore harmony
Decision making
- Blend natural flows
- Look up/downstream
- Plan for long range
- Life gets spoils
Education
- Access to world
- Blends feelings and technology
- Bring past to life
- Maximize the brain
Family
- Global awareness
- Grows consciousness
- Broad interest ranges
- Seeks outreach
Community
- Interconnected
- Highly diversified
- Not isolationist
- Information rich
Life space
- Belong to universe
- Fit into chain of being
- Do something here
- As one with life-force
Are there any vMEMEs beyond Turquoise?New vMEMEs will continue to be created as the evolution of human consciousness so requires. Beck and Cowan claim that a new vMEME, Coral, exists but that it lacks a sufficient number of people to be statistically meaningful. Likewise, Ken Wilber believes that vMEMEs beyond Coral also exist. He calls this the "Third Tier" of consciousness. He states that fully realized beings such as the Buddha and Jesus evolved to this Third Tier. Non-dual consciousness and universal love and compassion characterize this level of consciousness.
Spiral Dynamics and Whole Foods Market
We needed to go through all that background information to acquire some basic language in common. Now, how is Spiral Dynamics relevant to Whole Foods Market? Spiral Dynamics is a useful model to understand one's personal values and one's current level/wave of consciousness. Spiral Dyamics is also a useful model to better understand what is happening in the world today. In addition, Spiral Dynamics is a useful model for understanding organizations and businesses. Why are we different than most other corporations in the world? Most corporations in the United States are rooted firmly in the Orange vMEME; a few are in the Green vMEME, as are many non-profits. There are very few Second Tier (Integral) corporations. I believe Whole Foods Market is a Yellow, Integral organization. Finally, Spiral Dynamics is a useful model to understand the evolution of our agricultural system over the past 100,000+ years and where it is headed.
What are the limitations of First Tier business models? Large corporations are solidly grounded in the Orange vMEME. Corporations are the most influential institutions in the world today and yet most people do not believe they are "good" or that they can be trusted. Corporations are widely perceived as greedy, selfish, exploitative, and uncaring; they are only interested in profits. Poor, and very public, examples of ethical lapses include Enron, Tyco, NYSE, WorldCom, Mutual Funds, AIG, and Martha Stewart. The Orange vMEME thinks in terms of machine or engineering metaphors; for example: labor, land, and capital are "factors of production," and are therefore merely means to the end of efficiency.
The Orange vMEME doesn't grasp systems interdependencies and therefore largely lacks ecological consciousness or a sense of responsibility for other stakeholders. The anti-globalization movement is primarily a Green vMEME anti-corporation movement. Many people are afraid that corporations want to "rule the world." Corporations and capitalism both have serious "branding" problems. These problems are inherent problems within the Orange vMEME, because it doesn't communicate well with other vMEMEs, especially Green. It is my opinion that large corporations need to evolve to Green vMEME, and then to the Second Tier (and become Integral). That is why it is so exciting to see Safeway and Wal-Mart becoming more sensitive to their stakeholders besides their investors. They are beginning to recognize that they need to evolve.
What are the limitations of First Tier non-profit organizations? Most American non-profit organizations are grounded within the Green vMEME, creating inefficiencies, waste, and stagnation. I would argue that most are ineffective. Nearly 99% of non-profit organizations are dependent upon donations from the business sector of society in order to exist-they aren't sustainable on their own. All institutions need inputs of resources, energy and money in order to fulfill their purpose. Ultimately all money is produced through business enterprise.
We need to be asking: "Are altruistic goals by themselves enough to make a non-profit organization "good" or "ethical?" Do these altruistic goals make them effective? Are non-profit organizations able to completely transcend self-interest simply because they have altruistic goals? I would argue they don't. It is my opinion that non-profit organizations need to evolve to the Second Tier (become Integral), just like business.
We see a basic conflict between the Orange and Green vMEMEs; a perceptual wall between the "good" non-profits and the "bad" corporations. The wall needs to be torn down and the polarities integrated at a higher level, the Second Tier (Integral). Business needs to become "good," with a deeper and more comprehensive purpose. Corporations must rethink why they exist. They must evolve past machine metaphors and learn how to think holistically. At the same time, non-profits must become economically sustainable and discover that money and profits are good, not evil, and part of the healthy holistic organization. Grameen Bank is a great example of an altruistic organization that has learned the importance of sustainable enterprise. We need to recognize the increasing importance of social entrepreneurship. This will continue to grow.
Once the perceptual wall is torn down, it becomes clear that business and non-profit organizations are much more alike than they are different. They both can become Integral. At the Second Tier, THEY AREN'T ANY DIFFERENT!!!!
Second Tier (Integral) holistic view of interdependence of all stakeholders
Second Tier (Integral) holistic view of interdependence of all stakeholders
When you fully understand the need to simultaneously satisfy the stakeholders, you'll see that business enterprise and non-profit enterprise are far more alike than different, and they have much to teach each other.
A Quick History of Food Production
I'm going to paint a big picture of the entire history of food in the next few minutes, using Spiral Dynamics to help illustrate the talk.
The following is an overview of the evolution of food and agriculture from a Spiral Dynamics perspective:
Beige vMEME Began 100,000+ years ago—hunting and gathering
Purple vMEME Began 50,000 years ago—hunting and gathering plus early horticulture
Red vMEME Began 10,000 years ago—transition to settled agriculture as main source of food
Blue vMEME Began 5,000 years ago—traditional agriculture established; authoritarian cultures built upon agricultural surpluses
Orange vMEME Began 300 years ago—industrial system gradually applied to agriculture; we began to apply science, technology, and industry to agriculture
Green vMEME Began 150 years ago—in response to the industrialization of food, the natural and organic movement began evolving over the past 50 years in response to the industrial model of the Orange vMEME
Yellow vMEME Began 50 years ago—"Deep Organic" and animal compassionate movements began about 20 to 30 years ago. These movements are still scattered and not well linked together. Part of the Whole Foods Market mission is to link these two together.
Turquoise vMEME Began 30 years ago—its effects on food production not known as yet
Industrialization of our Food
I would now like to discuss the industrialization of our food production, which began with the Orange vMEME. I want to give the Orange vMEME full credit for the benefits this mentality has brought to our food systems before I critique it.
Over the last 300 years the Orange vMEME has steadily replaced the Blue vMEME approach to agriculture. As a result, an industrial model of food production has spread throughout the world. World food supplies have tripled in the past 30 years. World grain production requires only one-third the amount of agricultural land that it required 50 years ago for the same level of production. These massive increases in productivity have greatly reduced the price of food. Cheaper food has enabled individual and societal resources to be spent in other ways to enhance our quality of life. Americans now spend less than 10% of their disposable income on food. In 1950 we spent over 20%.
That being said, there are a lot of negative effects from this industrialized model. The large increases of productivity are primarily the result of massive chemical inputs. Each year about 3 million tons of farm chemicals are applied to the surface of our planet where they escape into the global environment. This has resulted in the degradation of both soil and water. Nearly one-third of the original amount of U.S. topsoil is now gone. Agriculture uses two-thirds of the world's fresh water resources, and, in many cases, it is polluting and depleting groundwater supplies.
The creation of animal "factory farms" has greatly lowered the cost of all animal products, but it has come at tremendous cost in animal welfare. Most farm animals are now raised indoors in confined animal feeding operations, where almost all natural animal behaviors are denied. Over 12 billion farmed animals are now slaughtered every year in the United States.
Animal factory farms have huge negative effects on the environment. The volume of farm animal waste products is 130 times greater than human waste in the United States, and this material usually does not pass through sewage treatment plants. One big industrial hog operation produces more waste than the entire city of Los Angeles over a year.
Farm animals in the U.S. now consume 70% of all the grains we grow. Including the land used for grazing cows, this means that means that 80% of all agricultural land in the U.S. is used to raise animals for food. That is equal to almost one half of the total land mass of the continental U.S.
Our oceans suffer from the Orange vMEME approach, as well. Industrial pollution and over-fishing cause tremendous damage to our oceans. Coral reefs have declined by 30% in the last 30 years. It is estimated that the total number of whales in the world has declined 90% in the last 100 years. World supplies of cod, swordfish, marlin, halibut, skate, and flounder have been reduced by almost 50% in the last 50 years. We are fishing out the oceans, it is happening in our lifetimes.
Industrial mono-cultures are causing a loss of genetic diversity around the world. And the remaining genes in agricultural crops are being modified and introduced into the food supply chain at an alarming rate. Genetic engineering of our food crops has great potential and great risks. Unfortunately, it is currently being developed almost strictly from the consciousness of the Orange vMEME.
The current obesity epidemic is probably directly related to the industrialization of our food production system. The figures are staggering! Over 60% of Americans are classified as overweight and 26% are considered obese.
The success of Whole Foods Market in the last couple of years has extended beyond our core Green vMEME customer base and has attracted the Orange vMEME customer. This is certainly good in one sense, because it is extending our business mission further into the world. The success with this customer base is also now resulting in increased competition from Orange vMEME businesses—Wild Oats, Safeway, Super Value, Wal-Mart—who are chasing our customers. The integrity of our industry will be under increasing pressure. There will be a competitive pressure to "dumb down" the organic movement.
What are the causes of these negative effects from the industrialization of our food production? One effect is that the Orange vMEME lacks the perspective to think holistically or ecologically about agriculture. The environmental impacts of industrial agricultural production processes are not fully factored into cost models - the pollution of air and water and the degradation of soil. Next is the failure of the market to effectively communicate other values besides prices to consumers. Quality, nutritional value, and the environmental impact of products are not fully communicated to the consumer. The market system doesn't communicate any values other than cost.
Farm animal welfare is completely ignored because livestock animals are seen as merely a "factor of production" instead of as sentient beings to be cared for. Factory farms are, for most citizens and business owners, "out of sight, out of mind."
The negative effects of the Orange vMEME in agriculture are most clearly seen in our "Factory Farms." With this model, all that matters is minimizing costs and maximizing productivity. That, in a nutshell, is the logic of the Orange vMEME in agriculture today.
If Whole Foods Market doesn't work to correct the horrible abuses of farm animals, then who will? This is factory farming, so you can take a good look at it.
*[presentation of Meat Your Meat, a video prepared by PETA]*
click here to choose your player and download speed and watch the video opens in a new tab
[The audience buzzes at the conclusion of the video.]
I hope I didn't mess up your lunch today!
Evolving Solutions for Agriculture
What are the solutions to the industrialization of agriculture? Agricultural needs to evolve from the Orange vMEME to the Green vMEME and then make the leap to the Second Tier (Integral). Food producers need to evolve to systems thinking—holistic and ecological—optimizing the entire system, not just one part. The U.S. needs to eliminate all agricultural subsidies to agribusiness. Farmers and producers need to internalize the costs of environmental impacts. We need to more fully adopt the tenets of the "Deep Organic" agricultural movement. As a society, we need to support local agriculture. We need to demand the compassionate treatment of farm animals and the integration of farm animals into ecological farm systems.
Organic Solutions
Organic agriculture is certainly one of the solutions. Organic agriculture produces food without synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The organic agriculture movement was originally activated by the Green vMEME, but now the Orange vMEME is co-opting organic agriculture. As a society, we are better served by adopting Deep Organic (Second Tier-Integral) versus Shallow Organic (Orange vMEME) agriculture. An example of shallow organic agriculture would be the labeling of certain brands of milk as "organic." A factory farm can legally produce organic milk if it is feeding the cow organic feed, but otherwise maintaining factory conditions. By contrast, the Deep Organic world-view sees the farm not as a "food factory" but as a human-managed microcosm of the natural world. The Deep Organic world-view sees the soil as a living system to be nurtured and replenished instead of "mined" and exploited.
Whole Foods Market was instrumental in helping to develop the national organic standards into law. However, we have got to do a much better job of educating our customers and the media about the value of Deep Organic agriculture. We must not compromise our higher values, but maintain the very highest standards. We are going to have to stand strong and fight the corporate movement to dumb down organic agriculture.
Animal Welfare
Whole Foods Market Animal Compassionate Standards are a great leap forward over what exists now conventionally. But we have to do better. Our long-term goal is to develop compassionate standards for all meat, poultry, and fish species sold in Whole Foods Market stores. Duck, pig, beef, and sheep standards opens in a new tab are completed and can be viewed on our website. Lobster, broiler chicken, laying hens and turkey standards are planned for 2006, and dairy cows, goats, and fish farms are slated for 2007. We are developing the standards as a multi-stakeholder process, involving major animal rights organizations: Animal Welfare Institute, Viva!USA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Humane Society of the U.S., Animal Rights International, and Farm Sanctuary. We are producing a living document that is subject to revision. Any future product that adheres to these standards will be clearly marked with soon to be developed Animal Compassion logo.
I want to talk briefly about the Animal Compassion Foundation opens in a new tab. Our intention with this foundation is to create a worldwide network of ranchers and farmers interested in improving humane treatment for farm animals. The foundation will search the planet for innovative methods to be studied and provide research money for scientific studies to improve the welfare of farm animals. The foundation will collect information for knowledge sharing on a worldwide basis. The foundation will be funded through a Whole Foods Market annual Global 5% Day opens in a new tab.
Moving Forward
In conclusion, I want to say WAKE UP!!! Wake up! Learn and grow! Evolve your consciousness to a higher level. Open your heart wider and extend love, care and compassion further.
Fulfill the mission opens in a new tab and core values opens in a new tab of Whole Foods Market. Our company is making a real difference in the world. We are making it better. You are contributing to the evolution of the world, by fulfilling our mission.
Think in terms of creating value for all of our stakeholders simultaneously. All stakeholders are interdependent and connected together. When you do this, you are thinking with Second Tier (Integral) consciousness. As you practice this at Whole Foods Market, you are practicing Second Tier thinking. Sometimes it seems as if the Team Members are only thinking about the Team Member's interests, although many are paying attention to the Customers. It seems like the only ones paying attention to the investors are the Team Leaders. Maybe that's how they got to be Team Leaders. The trick is to think in terms of creating value for all stakeholders simultaneously.
The final message is Whole Foods Whole People Whole Planet. We are all connected together in an upward spiral flow toward greater health, happiness, peace, love, and ecological sustainability. That is our purpose, and that is what we are doing.
Here are a few resources if you'd like to learn more:
A Theory of Everything by Ken Wilber
Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan
Essential Spirituality by Roger Walsh
Boomeritis by Ken Wilber
I'll entertain a few questions:
Q: You used several terms: arrested vs. activated. What do those terms mean, and are these the only states you can be in?
A: When a vMEME is activated, that means it is starting to "light up." If you are in a particular vMEME and it stops making sense to you, if something has happened in your life to make you question the values you hold, the next MEME will start to make sense, and will "light up."
If you are arrested in a certain level, your growth has stopped, you're not letting other input or information in, your thinking has become rigid.
Are there only two states? No, but can't think of anything else to tell you right now.
Q: You referenced "power" and the percentages each level held several times in your talk. How were you defining power?
A: They weren't my statistics (I got them from Don Beck's book Spiral Dynamics), but I define it as power in society, economic/political/social power. Orange is most powerful level today in the United States. Green growing in power, and Blue is still pretty powerful, but is in gradual decline. You have to view the statistics on a world-wide basis. The figures are different in the U.S., because we've got more Green activated.
Q: You identified the need for the entire food industry to move toward a more holistic manner of production; do you believe enough people will embrace having to pay for the additional costs?
A: Yes, I do. Look at how much the industry has changed in 20 years. Many more people are buying organic food, even though it costs more. Look at Wal-Mart, selling organic produce. Who'd have thought that would happen 20 years ago? Make no mistake, Whole Foods Market will be leading the way; especially if we become more conscious, we can then grow and evolve more quickly; as we network with evolving organizations around the world, such as Grameen Bank and Earth University, we'll be helping to speed up the evolution into the Second Tier. At Whole Foods Market, we have a great balance of Orange, Green, and Second Tier energy in an interesting mix. We have many challenges ahead, but let the fear go, people. WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE.
Q: Is Whole Foods Market willing to address Population Control in its networking activities?
A: Maybe. I prepared this talk today because I wanted to challenge each level to understand the other. Some of the most important upward movements in the world today are in places like India and China, where people in the Blue vMEME are moving in great numbers into the Orange. As societies move into the Orange vMEME, populations tend to self-limit. I believe population will take care of itself. As economic power grows, the incentive to have many children lessens. I believe population will limit itself voluntarily, or internally by cultures, as a country's consciousness grows. I don't see a real need for external controls or programs. I think the answer is to make the whole world prosperous, fulfill Muhammad Yunnus' vision for empowering the poor, on a world-wide basis.
Q: You talked a lot about Genetic Engineering and how its name would need to change, and how it needed to change. What would you change the name to, and what would it look like at the Second Tier?
A: Genetic Engineering is caught in the crossfire of the Orange vMEME vs. Green vMEME thinking. At the Second Tier, it could potentially become of great benefit to the world, many beneficial things could come from it, but it probably wouldn't be called GE. If undertaken from a higher consciousness, and from a position of care, compassion and love, and an understanding of the complex systems involved, Genetic Engineering has the capacity to do great good. I reject the Green vMEME thinking that Genetic Engineering must be stopped at all costs. I think it needs to be implemented from a systems perspective, which isn't currently happening, but could in the future. I know I will be misquoted and misunderstood. I didn't SAY that I favored Genetic Engineering. Let's be clear about that.
Q: As the world goes through the evolutionary process, with half the world still in the beige/purple/red/blue vMEMEs, how much leap-frogging will take place? Must societies go thru each level?
A: Yes, but they may move through them more quickly. I wouldn't even be doing this talk, except that I'm hoping to accelerate Whole Food's evolution. If everyone here, if everyone in the company made a commitment toward growth, it could have an accelerating effect on our organization's influence at the next level. My generation, which includes the Boomers, was the first that activated the Green vMEME in large numbers. Unfortunately many of the Boomers got stuck there. They didn't go any higher. You see a lot of the negative parts of the Green vMEME now manifesting in society and this has fueled the culture wars. I'm most excited about the millennial generation, the young people born after about 1982. These kids are collectively very, very awake. Many of them are moving into the Second Tier already, and they are only 20 years old! The next generation will be moving into the Second Tier in significant numbers. I start to cry when I think about these young people, because they are so awesome and their potential for doing good is so great.
I think this is a good place to stop. Thank you.
