During the summer of 2014 the actions of a local New England grocery store called MarketBasket became ground zero for a shift in corporate consciousness. The following impromptu contribution is in support of those who sounded the alert. (For time sequencing please read from the bottom up – includes original TCA fb & Twitter posts.)
#onMarketBasket update
January 16, 2016
My New England comrades may recall the summer of 2014 as the year that their food budget adjusted. The brave patriots and employees of MarketBasket walked away from their jobs and unwittingly interrupted the corporate status quo. The debut of “Food Fight – Inside the Battle for Market Basket” will be at the historic Portsmouth (NH) Music Hall on February 27th at 7pm. May the mindful ripple continue!
on #MarketBasket – Part Ripple
A beautiful author and teacher, Davidji, reminds us of the power of our ripple, the long-range Energetic wake/impact we have here in our magnificent world. Four months ago, my need for sustenance inspired me to see what was happening around me. More recently, I have come to notice the blossoming of a powerful ripple through this lens called MarketBasket.
It is so satisfying to feel good about this. At first, the ripple seemed uncanny, specifically acute. Social media was on fire. While TCA plugged in and cheered, supported and encouraged the process, the people felt it. A call to “double the size of your lawful assembly GET BACK IN THE NEWS in a POSITIVE LIGHT!” took less than 24 hours to manifest. “May all resolve with benefits and value multiplied.” Bingo! “…we will know and perpetuate the benefits of Stakeholder Capitalism.” We won! — In the words of CEO Arthur T. DeMoulas –thanksgiving2014, “Looking back now we can see that we were in the early stages of something that was growing, a movement was taking shape and an irresistible force was building that would not be stopped!” …and there we have it.
Thank you again, MarketBasket. Your Ripple is sound. Excerpted from TCA’s first ‘on #MarketBasket’ post, “I find it interesting how the crux of all this is taking place here in the Boston area. We Bostonian types are the original revolutionaries. What an opportunity!” –I leave you with today’s exciting and provocative headline. ‘Crew unearths Boston time capsule from Paul Revere era’. Talk about a Ripple!
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for the record
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TCA via Twitter @JoySeekr69 August 28th
Make way for the trucks!
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on #MarketBasket – Part NEW
#NewThought
You outlasted the manipulation and scare tactics. Do you know HOW you did that? You’ve got POSITIVE ENERGY on your side. You are the LIGHT and have figured out how to SHINE. Commit your experiences to paper/written word. You are a crucial part of history. You have initiated a new, bonafide corporate trend. Future generations can take pride in having you in their lineage. You and your participation and achievement in this corporate turning point (and this is big stuff) is much like Women’s Suffrage. You’re a whole class of people with a VOICE. YOU ARE CLASS – ALL THE WAY! This is a very big deal – on many levels.
I love how you stuck it out.
I love how there were no arrests – except for that scab truck driver with the hammer and menacing looking rig.
I love your deep rooted New England Yankee determination to slow this train down, way down.
I love how you have polished the image of ‘We the People…’
I love that you commanded your focus and kept your Power.
I love your understanding of ‘attitude is everything’.
I love your transformation of anger, frustration and potty mouth into fortitude and integrity.
I love your willingness to sacrifice so that, perhaps unknowingly, you have launched a significant corporate shift.
I love how you totally get that people do what they must and still embrace those who chose to staff the stores & do their paltry shopping during this period.
I love what you’ve done with your (corporate) hair.
I am humbled and grateful to you all.
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watching the ‘LIKE’ count grow on
Save Market Basket
as the formal announcement takes shape
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on #MarketBasket – Part next
Thank you again, still, and forever People of MarketBasket. I am enthralled with your Positive Energy and Force of Will. You have raised our mass consciousness with a collective resounding voice and have made it known, loud and clear that ‘the buck stops here!’ I am in awe of you. And to think, all I wanted to do was pick up a few groceries.
Students have started moving onto our university campuses here in New England and the trees are beginning to turn all across the region. We live the change that is our world. This MB movement will be studied and dissected examining every minute detail for every shred of value it offers, much like mining for gold. We know that we can’t fix any problem with the same mind that created it. I am expectant that with our emerging leaders we will know and perpetuate the benefits of Stakeholder Capitalism. May they too know the spark of mindfulness and benefit future generations with a new enlightened corporate shift.
on #MarketBasket – Part V
the Nitty Gritty
Every potato plant, like every embryo starts with a seed. Not to name names but now we see what T is up against regarding ‘onerous terms’. S’s banks and cohorts are certainly that – onerous. They are the dominant influence of corporate greed. They/It cannot hear, they are not human. They are the epitome of the very stains that are running the corporate world today. They tie T’s hands. We don’t want to swim with those fishes. The remedy? Bill Gates – hear our call! Right now there are multiple thousands of silent/private Capital-Investors in the USA, some right here in New England. In the large scheme of things this business transaction is small potatoes. Smart Investors understand the words ‘competitive advantage’ and ‘leading edge’ and ‘lucrative’. To those who will – We invite your support. People of MarketBasket – We support you. You are planting a Powerful Seed, indeed.
cc: @RichardBranson
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TCA via Twitter @JoySeekr69 August 19th
Try to hang on! Our POSITIVITY pays off BIG-TIME-they’re unraveling bureaucratic quagmire-if nay we’d alrdy know-askMYunicorn
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They brushed off their aprons and woke up the clowns
“We’re almost there darling” he said to his wife
As rituals and habits took over his life
But alas not this time as for his work he must fight
The battle near over – they’re doing what’s right
The #MarketBasket Movement is history in the making.
breathe Breathe BREATHE – we’re almost there!
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Kudos to our local grocery stores, namely #HannafordSupermarkets, who are picking up the #MarketBasket slack. You’re doing a beautiful job. Management and employees are ON IT, stepping up & working extra hours/keeping shelves stocked to accommodate the emergency – sharing genuine smiles. Market Basket IS family – there is still time to keep it that way.
56 people reached
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on #MarketBasket – Part III
We interrupt this blog to bring you history in the making. It is happening in my own back yard. A seed has been planted in the world of corporate image and relations. The DeMoulas family feuding is come to a head. They are real people. It is not beyond me to consider how heavy the weight of the world must be. For sure, there are solutions to be had in saving face. Let’s remember, even the Hatfield and McCoy families called a truce – in 2003!
Administratively, we’re in the thick of it –negotiations – the actual do or die transition phase. Like birth, it is natural for it to be the quickest, most intense and uncomfortable phase in the whole process. It is the phase just before emergence. We’ve seen the co-Chief Executives issue ultimatums. That’s movement. That’s something. Try not to judge it. They are taking the legal formality. They are obligated to do their duty. High level negotiations are notorious for stretching things/time out, to the very last second, after flirting with every single deadline and exhausting every single ‘remedy’ they can conjure. I think of a Bruce Willis movie scene where, in jest, an audience of thousands are alarmed and rushing out of the building while the lone authority figure stands in the middle of oncoming chaos yelling “stay calm!” They may as well leave the building too. You’re doing it right people – “Save MarketBasket” & “Don’t Feed the Greed”
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TCA via Twitter @JoySeekr69 August 12th
fear not my dear – it ain’t over yet – instead, IMAGINE the POSITIVE change when ATD is unleashed to rebuild #MarketBasket !
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on #MarketBasket – Part II
#community #family
I am amazed that I’m seeing it first hand – from the point of community. Great Appreciation goes out to all the employees and boycotting customers. You are pioneers and show great courage and forthrightness. There is still time. May all resolve with benefits and value multiplied.
In my last post I mentioned my exploring MB with the possibility of becoming loyal to the store and that MB was catching up to our whole foods demands and doing it economically using a win-win business model. Several weeks ago we had shopped at the store, our third visit. From a potential customer viewpoint, there was no clue that MB was inches away from hitting the fan.
I caught his eye as he scanned for his item in isle 13. Using my eyes as direction and quietly remarking ‘… this is like a homecoming’. At the end of every row, around the coolers, near the deli and produce sections there were groups of people, whole families, stopped to chat and exchange positive Energy. You could almost think they came together on a bus. I’ve seen comradery in the citified groceries but nothing like this. And, only ever at MarketBasket.
Maybe populations in the more rural areas have the advantage of living among nature and when we go out on the town we find our friends and the Gazebo; where, in more populous areas, we have the advantage of living among a high concentration of humanity and when we go out on the town we find the ocean and the Fenway.
Label the contrasts Bizarro-land. The Energy is nourishing and very Uplifting!
on #MarketBasket
writer’s note: There really is nothing too serious going on around here but I do hold a degree in business – it speaks to me as I contemplate doing some grocery shopping. I am a Hannaford customer and had just started exploring the local MarketBasket as they had recently begun introducing more whole and natural/organic foods. That along with the 4% deducted at the register, I was looking forward to redirecting some of my shopping dollars, over time. —Thank you to all the Market Basket employees and customers for sacrificing and making the stand. You are true Patriots.
Market Basket. This is serious business. One of the largest food chains in three of the six New England states – we’re talkin’ about the real food chain. A company worth over $ 4 BILLION – that’s BILLION with a ‘B’ – in the USA that’s where nine zeros follow the 4 – that’s $4,000 a million times; and, with over 25,000 employees servicing an extensive customer base in their over 71 store locations, the nine, that’s 9 shareholders, hold all the strings, but, that’s not quite true. The shareholders and their entourage of legal council, finance experts and the like are earning their keep like leeches firmly attached to thin skin – they ain’t lettin’ go ‘til it’s all gone. Such a shame – The 9 could still take the high road – re-instate Artie T, apologize to their employees and customers for their error in judgment – then, beef up the revenue sharing, setting precedence for doing the right thing. The 9 would go down in business history as heroes and leaders in foresight. They are in a position to be the shot heard around the world – the trigger of which is being pulled as I write. They, in this very moment, could turn the tide of the indelible corporate greed of late. They could demonstrate a new business model where everyone benefits thus accelerating growth in a healthfully thriving market. The Wegmans grocery chain has just established another store in New England. Here they come. Come on you guys – how much is enough – drop all the pretense – you 9, strip down naked and sequester yourselves (figuratively speaking). No outside contact with anyone but the shareholders. Now, do whatever it takes to make this right! This is a modern day tea party and the world is looking upon you 9 to show us how to reach groundbreaking solutions. I find it interesting how the crux of all this is taking place here in the Boston area. We Bostonian types are the original revolutionaries. What an opportunity!
The Closet Academic 
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