Despite the PR pundits, there’s not much to learn from the Whole Foods fiasco.

The entire business world is shaking its head about Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, who was exposed for an eight-year run of posting anonymous comments to Internet investing bulletin boards touting his company’s stock and flaming his competition.

It’s an amazing story. Perhaps that’s why PR pundits are jockeying to make the whole thing more complicated and significant that it really is.

Public Relations Society of America, for example, sent a press release offering its director to wax prolific about "reputation impact of undisclosed-identity executive internet postings."

"Corporate executives in all areas of a company," she said, "must be acutely aware of the ethical implications of communications they initiate, including those under the auspices of being a ‘private citizen.’" 

The problem with this PR platitude is that it is both obvious and irrelevant to the Whole Foods fiasco. The vast majority of CEOs would never do what Mackey did. I know because I’ve spent 23 years dealing with corporate controversies, real and perceived. In that time I’ve run into only a few very smart chief executives who did such very stupid things. They usually made matters worse by arguing that regulators, lawyers and the media were making a big deal out of nothing.

Smart people doing stupid things is what this mess is all about. Even now -- with the Wild Oats merger imploding, SEC investigations starting up and shareholder lawsuits all but certain – the CEO behind Whole Foods’ meltdown says he did nothing wrong, ethically or legally.

If PRSA wanted to offer advice from the whole debacle, perhaps it should forgo the lofty rhetoric and get straight to the point:

Attention all public company CEOs and Presidents: Don’t post comments on the Internet promoting your company’s stock and slamming your competitors while pretending to be someone else. This is wrong. You could cause a huge PR problem for company. You’ll probably get sued, and you might be breaking the law.

And while we’re at it, don’t go to your annual meeting wearing a fake mustache and pretending to be a happy shareholder. Don’t sit in Starbucks with a cell phone loudly telling your imaginary stockbroker to buy company shares before the "big news" comes out. Don’t make hang-up calls to your competitors in the middle of the night. Don’t write your company’s ticker symbol in bathroom stalls. 

If you don’t understand why you should not do these things, resign now. You have serious issues.

And you’re not fit to be your company’s leader.

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What do you think?  What lessons are learned from the Whole Foods situation and others like it?  Post your comment here or drop me a note at scatterbox @ stevensilvers.com.  I’ll post a compilation in a few days.

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