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Sunday, July 15, 2007
Wizard of Oz: Number One no-no in crisis management
In my list of issues I address in vulnerability audits I’ll have to add “officer stupidity.”Hometown hero (I live in Austin) John Mackey, chairman and CEO of Whole Foods, was outed as rahodeb, author of years of anonymous blogging that included negative comments about competitors.
Not only was it stupid—exposing this company to public ridicule, FTC scrutiny, and undermining employee confidence—it was amazingly childish. It reminds me of passing notes in class in junior high school, hoping they weren’t intercepted by the teacher, but getting a thrill out of the very process.
One has to wonder whether the chairman of such major business doesn’t have something better to do with his time. I have enough trouble working for my clients and trying to find time for my own blog. I can only conclude that he is the master of delegation!
Now that it has hit the fan, Mackey chooses to address reporter, investor and employee questions via the Whole Foods blog. Who wrote that? His attorneys? That’s how it reads. And a very unsatisfactory read at that.
Hiding behind his blog, Mackey is mimicking the Wizard of Oz rather than addressing the public’s questions. We need to hear his voice and read his body language to judge sincerity. In the meantime, we’re left to imagine our own answers to the questions: The Number One no-no in crisis management is hiding from the public!
Labels: crisis_communications, crisis_management, John Mackey, vulnerability audit, Whole Foods
Comments:
From Scatterbox:
Despite the PR and social media pundits, there’s not much to learn from the Whole Foods fiasco.
It does seem implausible for a guy who brought us such a great store to be so petty and underhanded.