Anything I say or do is now at risk of showing up on the front page of a national daily newspaper and therefore, I need to be much more conscious about the implications of everything that I say or do in all situations.
John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market
Achieving the level of success that brings about celebrity is seldom a completely smooth process. Even well-regarded celebrity CEOs seldom have totally untarnished reputations. Bill Gates has been portrayed as a ruthless and devious genius, for example, while General Electric CEO Jack Welch was attacked in media outlets for an extramarital affair.
One of the more interesting recent cases of a tarnished reputation centers on John Mackey, founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market. His strategy of offering organic food and high levels of service allowed Whole Foods to carve out a profitable and growing niche in an industry whose overall margins have been squeezed as Walmart’s Supercenters have gained market share. Under Mackey’s leadership, Whole Food’s stock price tripled from 2001 to 2006. Mackey’s efforts to make food supplies healthier and his teamwork-centered management approach attracted publicity, and he appeared headed for icon status.
But in 2007 Mackey and Whole Foods were embarrassed by the revelation that Mackey had been anonymously posting negative information about a rival, Wild Oats, online. Through his online persona “rahodeb” (a scrambling of his wife’s name), Mackey asserted that Wild Oats’ stock was overpriced and that the firm was headed toward bankruptcy. This was viewed by some observers as a possible effort to manipulate Wild Oats’ stock price prior to a proposed acquisition by Whole Foods. Meanwhile, in e-mails to other Whole Foods executives, Mackey noted that the acquisition of Wild Oats could allow them to avoid “nasty price wars.” This caught the eye of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulators who were concerned about the antitrust implications of the acquisition.
What should a CEO do when his or her reputation takes a hit? As the old saying goes, honesty is the best policy. An example is offered by David Neeleman, founder and CEO of JetBlue. The reputations of JetBlue and Neeleman took a severe blow after a widely reported February 2007 debacle in which travelers were stranded in airplanes for excessive periods of time during a busy holiday weekend. Neeleman took a giant step toward restoring both his and JetBlue’s reputation by issuing a public, heartfelt apology. He not only issued a written apology to customers but also bought full-page advertisements in newspapers, posted a video apology online, and created a new “bill of rights” for JetBlue customers.
Mackey apologized for his actions via his blog in 2008. As part of this apology, Mackey acknowledged that he had failed to recognize how expectations change when one becomes a celebrity. Mackey noted that when Whole Foods was a smaller company, “I was seldom interviewed and few people knew or cared who I was. I wasn’t a public figure and had no desire to become one.” As his company grew, however, Mackey became subject to more scrutiny. As Mackey put it, “At some point in the past 10 years I went from being a relatively unknown person to becoming a public figure. I regret not having the wisdom to recognize this fact until very recently.” 1 A big part of managing celebrity stat us is realizing that one is in fact a celebrity.
KEY TAKEAWAY
- The media exposure common to modern CEOs provides the opportunity for such top executives to reach celebrity status. While this status can provide positive benefits to their firms such as increased performance, CEOs should be aware of and manage the potential for increased scrutiny associated with this status.
EXERCISES
- Can you identify another example of a celebrity CEO, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, that existed prior to the 1900s?
- Identify examples of icons, scoundrels, hidden gems, and silent killers other than the examples offered in this section.
- Would you enjoy the media attention associated with CEO celebrity, or would you prefer to hide from the limelight? Does your answer have implications for your future career choices?
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