Do We Really Know Whole Foods

The interviewer of this article, a retailing reporter, sat down with one of the two CEO's at Whole Foods. They had lunch, and true to form, Mr. Robb had 'steel-cut' oats and fresh berries. They were discussing a disgruntled ex-employee (which unto itself is interesting, given Whole Foods' posted culture and how they treat their workforce) who accused Whole Foods of 'enviro- offences' (despite their very 'green' mission) which included throwing out 'mountains of food' and failing to recycle properly. Mr. Robb dismisses the accusations as being 'palpably false' and points out that his chain donates to food banks and that at least 5 per cent of the company's annual pre-tax profit goes to charity. The article then goes to discuss with Mr. Mackey, the other CEO, the fact that he has 'raised eyebrows' on a number of occasions. (Currently Mr. Mackey is taking only 1 dollar per year as salary and his future stock options are going to charity, perhaps in penance). Mr. Mackey apparently triggered a SEC inquiry - using an alias, he was going to Yahoo Finance and lauding his own company's financial performance while denigrating his competition. The SEC declined to take action but no reason is given as to why they did not. Mr. Mackey apparently 'ruffled feathers' again in 2009 when he wrote in The Wall Street Journal that government has no business providing health care. Due to that remark, the company subsequently was boycotted. In speaking of his partner CEO, Mr. Robb observes that Mr. Mackey is not 'vanilla' and implies that no one wants 'vanilla' all the time anyway' because 'you want all the flavours' , which is perhaps an apt food analogy, at best. Mr. Robb, on the other hand, is 'vanilla', and apparently wholeheartedly committed to his 'organic ways'. He's had some challenges establishing his business in Canada. The only vaguely contentious thing he does is to 'encourage' his U.S. distributor to 'snap up' their Canadian counterpart in order to 'gain savings'. The article doesn't mention whether this coup ever occurred or whether the strategy behind it was a success. The article ends with Mr. Robb's Curriculum Vitae which makes reference as to how he and Mr. Mackey first joined up in 1991. Mr. Robb, for the most part, had a good life with organic food being the predominant theme. And the article ends with him saying that lentils are his favourite. As covered early in the course, 'perception is everything' and it would seem that Walter Robb was at pains to portray himself as a laid-back, generous, environmentally-conscious nice guy. Given his meteoric rise in the corporation (he started as a Store Manager), and his current title (the CEO of the Whole Food), it seems questionable that he's as laid back as he would have us all believe. There is also the nature of his literally green website which could have been no accident (it also uses a green font - whether this is meant to emphasize their environment commitment or the nature of their business is anyone's guess). Although the article makes reference to Mr. Robb having to acquiesce to Canadian spelling in Canadian stores, there is no sign of it throughout the website. There is also the question of the organization's coupons, which, if you look closely at the small print, are valid in the U.S. only. There is also no representation of Canada in their management/executive team (which is interesting because the United Kingdom along with the Rocky Mountain Region does have representation). Canada must be 'small potatoes' to them, indeed. Although, as we learned, values differ across cultures, that doesn't seem to be the case with Whole Foods. They have the one website which supports their entire 'global' enterprise. The emphasis is not on food. Instead, page after page is dedicated to the people that work in the stores, the company's culture and mission, and the emphasis on preserving the environment and giving to charity. It's interesting that there appears to be so much commonality of thought and cookie-cutter approach to the market given the very high number of acquisitions that were done to fuel the company's growth. The only glaring inconsistency to this blandly healthful site is its fourth 'core value' and that is to 'Create Wealth through Profits and Growth'. 'Supporting team member happiness and excellence' is just above it; Caring About our Communities and Environment' is just below it. It is such a jarring note of ambitious capitalism amidst these other sentiments. Although maybe they should get kudos for telling it like it is. After all, the bottom line is that is why companies are in business. According to the company's history, Mr. Robb arrived on the scene relatively late in expansion (the first store opened in the '70's and he joined 1991). He was spokesperson for the Globe and Mail article which implies that although he is one of two CEO's, he is likely not the 'straw man' in this operation. It seems safe to assume, particularly in light of Mr. Mackey's indiscretions, that Walter Robb is really at the helm. But, again, it's a question of perceptions. In a necessarily limited newspaper article where you cannot observe behaviours, you can only speculate about them. It doesn't seem like much of a leap to attribute (using Attribution theory discussed in class) that Mr. Mackey's behaviour (as detailed in the article) has the element of distinctiveness in that his ill-advised behaviour occurred on more than one occasion. It would be interesting to know how if interpreted those events, (i.e., the run-in with the SEC and the backlash of condemning government-sponsored health care) as being naturally occurring consequences of his own bad behaviour, or whether he has a 'self-serving' bias. If he does, then likely he has blamed the SEC for making a big deal out of nothing, and, probably, has much of the same attitude toward voicing his opinions in the Wall Street Journal. It would also be interesting to know Mr. Mackey's 'emotional intelligence', given his bad behaviour. I would guess that it's not one of his stronger traits - which he is not that self-aware and he is surely lacking in self-management. His social skills are questionable as well. For purposes of this essay, an article of Whole Foods was reviewed. The article discussed the two CEOs of Whole Foods and their contrasting behaviors, making one wonder which CEO really played what role within the company. The behaviors of one of the CEOs, Mr. Mackey, were taken into consideration and his personality as a whole was contrasted to that of Mr. Robb's (the other Whole Foods CEO). The article touched on

...