Reflections on a New Century: Mike Gilliland & Josie Heath

Mike Gilliland, CEO of Wild Oats Community Markets, Inc

BMAG: As the founder of a successful “new-era” business, what do you see ahead in the coming century?
Mike Gilliland: From my tiny corner of the universe, I find it most interesting that some of the things you’ve seen for years in Boulder are just now catching on in the rest of the country. From our business perspective, we’re seeing a sea-change of consciousness in areas around the country that weren’t exactly hotbeds of alternative life-style. We just opened a store in Nashville that will probably be one of our busiest stores. A couple of weeks earlier, we opened a store in Tulsa. Five years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of putting a store in these places.
I used to think Boulder and Santa Fe and Santa Cruz were kind of anomalies and I wasn’t sure that their kind of consciousness would extend to the larger world. I’ve definitely changed my thinking. People around the country are much more interested in a wholistic life-style, not just from a natural-foods perspective, but from a community perspective. You see that at the Farmers Market, where people are looking for some connection to the land and local farmers. They want to feel involved on a local level, shopping locally, supporting sustainable things. They are casting about for some type of community.

BMAG: Do you think community is as important as people being more concerned about their health?
Gilliland: It’s more important than the health message. From a business standpoint it’s becoming common for people to seek a community focal point where they can, in our case, do their grocery shopping but also feel like they’re contributing to their community.
I also find people are much more open-minded than they ever were. There’s a real thirst for knowledge out there. We do a number of classes in the community rooms at our newer stores on topics I wouldn’t have imagined people would be interested in—a lecture on flower essences, for instance—that will be standing-room-only, in Tulsa, Oklahoma!
I’m from Iowa myself. My family hasn’t had a clue about what I do, but all of them are reading about homeopathy, mail-ordering stuff and at least experimenting with it. That’s another trend, people taking responsibility for their own health. They’re fed up with the medical establishment and are doing their own research. They’ve become almost hobbyist doctors.

BMAG: What trends do you see, if any, in corporate contributions back to the community?
Gilliland: I think it’s part and parcel of the program these days, and not just an option anymore. Everybody, even the most hardened profit-turning corporation, has to give back. People want to shop someplace where they feel that there’s something more than just the exchange of dollars for product. There is so much access to different products—the Internet or so many competing retailers—that the only way to distinguish yourself is to have some local flair, and to provide a focus on local sustainability.

BMAG: Are there any other things you’re looking forward to in the next century, and certainly the millennium?
Gilliland: I think people are looking to simplify. I know I am. I don’t know if I can slow down, but maybe learn to appreciate less more. I think that’s probably a lot of the impetus behind some of the trends we’re seeing. Everybody’s kind of overdone it for a while and now we’re pulling back.

BMAG: Are you optimistic?
Gilliland: Oh yeah! Not only from a world view, but from a business perspective we’re on the edge of a sea-change in terms of people’s consciousness. It may sound hokey, but I really take encouragement when I can go to Memphis, Tennessee, and have people who wouldn’t have dreamed of coming into the store suddenly be interested in not only the product, but in organic agriculture and issues like that which I think help us all.

Josie Heath, President, Community Foundation Serving Boulder County

Boulder Magazine: What are some of the issues you think we’ll be facing in the next century and new millennium?
Josie Heath: I’ll start with where I am right now: I have a brand-new granddaughter. As I think about the next millennium, I think about the incredible joy that our family feels about her arrival, and wish that every child would be as wanted and as welcome, not only by his or her family, but by the community.
When I think about specific issues and agendas for the next millennium, it’s hard to get past the criteria of what’s best for the children. That really ought to be the screen through which we process a lot of the important decisions we make, from an employer deciding what kind of hours employees will work to a city council making a decision about a resolution. We ought to ask ourselves, “How does this really impact our children?”
One of my hopes for Boulder is to take another really progressive step early on that carries the same weight as past decisions such as the blue line, the height limitation and the open space program—all benchmarks of how we have determined our destiny. I hope we’ll take a similar action, perhaps in technology. It could be dedicating a percent of sales tax to an infrastructure where homes are wired so people can work without having to drive to the office. We should ask how we can think into the next century to lay an infrastructure not only of education but also of technology that will make Boulder a premier place to continue to want to live and raise children.
It’s a conservative philosophy to invest and to conserve resources, so it’s hard to be labeled a tax-and-spend liberal when you want to spend money on children and on preserving our natural environment so we can sustain the quality of life we treasure. We’re all so connected, and there can’t continue to be a wide gap between the haves and the have-nots. Two ways we can bridge that gap are with education and the ways in which we nurture children.

BMAG: The community is one of your great concerns. What issues do you think we face?
Heath: One issue is the sense of community will be redefined. People really want to feel connected and are searching for community on the Internet, along the sidelines at their kids’ soccer games. Despite the fact that the characterization of community may change, we still thrive when we feel close to other people with whom we have some ties. There is a continuing desire to feel connected, and that’s good!

BMAG: You’re involved with the Community Foundation’s Millennium Trust. What is it?
Heath: The Millennium Trust’s mission is to help more people think about themselves as philanthropists. We’ve asked everyone in Boulder County to give the equivalent of one hour of their income in this millennium to help us create a trust for the new millennium. The root word for philanthropy is “philos” which is not “love of money,” it’s “love of people.” It’s connectedness, feeling that we are making a statement about what we want for the future, saying “We’re all going to stretch a little bit.”
As the director, I’ve had the good fortune to open contributions. I’m so struck by a common theme that keeps coming up, which is a very substantial commitment to the environment. It’s almost a spiritual thread that ties us here. People talk about giving birth to new ideas while out on the trails, and how important it is to keep the open space. They want their stepchild to visit so they can take him on a special trail. There’s a connectedness so that we feel not only one with each other, but also with nature. That support of the environment is very strong.
Today somebody sent in $5.15, representing an hour’s minimum wage, and wrote, “I really hope that there will be more affordable housing and more respect for people who don’t look like everybody else. Where I work, we’re all sending our money because we really believe this.” It may be one of the few things those folks agree on!

BMAG: Moving into the year 2000 is momentous to many of us. Do you have any special thoughts?
Heath: I hope we are brave about this new millennium. I feel really good that we live in a place where the Rocky Mountains, the granite backbone of the country, are right here! We ought to be at the cutting-edge of taking risks, feeling strong, being brave to do the right things. It’s a great opportunity, and I hope it will be one filled with justice and peace, so we can concentrate our energies on those things that would make this a better world.

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