Okay, the headline got your attention. Yes, we believe Whole Foods' CEO John Mackey should resign but not as you might surmise because of any particular ideas he expressed in a recent op/ed piece on healthcare reform in The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Mackey should resign because, purely and simply, he has become a liability for Whole Foods. An email from his own company acknowledges Mr. Mackey's most recent misstep.
"As you are aware, John Mackey wrote an op/ed piece that was published in The Wall Street Journal earlier this week on health care reform, one of the biggest and most emotional issues facing our country. John's intent was to express his personal opinions -- not those of Whole Food Market team members or our company as a whole. Still, it's very clear that John's piece offended some of our customers, other members of the communities we serve and some of our team members as well."
Mr. Mackey's op/ed piece is symptomatic of real deficiencies in his leadership. While these might be able to be tolerated in good times, these are not good times for the natural and organic food chain.
- He is disconnected from a core consumer group of Whole Foods. Mr. Mackey doesn't seem to understand that a large number of Whole Foods' shoppers are politically liberal. Their shopping at Whole Foods has always been, to them at least, an outward sign of that liberalism and their personal philosophies about health, the environment, fair trade, etc. (From a strictly communications standpoint to this audience, who thought a lead with Margaret Thatcher was a good idea? Weren't there any quotes from stump speeches Ronald Reagan gave against Medicare for the AMA back in the early sixties?)
- Staying with Whole Foods' shoppers, Mr. Mackey forgot consumers have many options other than Whole Foods. Today, people can be "conscious consumers" at Trader Joe's, mainstream supermarkets and many other stores that sell organic and natural products.
- Whole Foods' "apology" points out that Mr. Mackey doesn't get the people who are working for his company. Back in 2002, while doing some quiet research of Trader Joe's as a crew member, we found Whole Foods' associates were some of its most likely recruits. To a person they came to TJ's saying they wanted to work for a company that didn't say one thing publicly and do another in practice. Perhaps this is a small indication of what they were talking about back then.
- Mr. Mackey doesn't know how to stop talking, blogging or otherwise communicating with the outside world. Having gone through the whole "Rahodeb" business that involved a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into anonymous posts he made on a Yahoo Finance board, you'd have thought that someone on the Whole Foods board would have suggested a bit more caution on his part going forward. If they did, it didn't work.
Finally, John Mackey has to go because his op/ed piece is costing Whole Foods brand equity (and likely dollars and cents as well) at a time when it can't afford to be giving any away. For many people, Mr. Mackey, like Steve Jobs at Apple or Jim Sinegal at Costco, is Whole Foods. The company and Mr. Mackey's claims that the opinions expressed in the Journal were his own and not the company are falling on a lot of deaf ears. When your shoppers stop listening to you, it's time to bring in someone they will listen to.
Discussion Questions: Do you think John Mackey should resign as CEO of Whole Foods? How would you evaluate the company's crisis management response to the uproar caused by Mr. Mackey's op/ed piece?