Jumping in to localize the Whole Foods story

Executive crusades can be risky and distracting. That's certainly no surprise to Whole Foods CEO and founder John Mackey.

Investors, unions and customers have all expressed ire at the political views he expressed in The Wall Street Journal on Aug. 11.

Mackey presented a free market alternative to Obama's health-care reforms, adding that Americans do not have an intrinsic right to health care, an idea at odds with the company's well-heeled liberal clientele. (One question I haven't seen explored yet is whether Mackey is happy to make a shift to a more mainstream customer base.)

Stakeholders across the board are questioning whether Mackey is the right man to run the company, which ironically has a reputation for being a progressive company that treats its employees well.

And reporters are scrambling to find ways to localize the story as it moves from Wall Street's concerns to Main Street protests.

Protests in New York:
Single-Payer Health Care Advocates Picket Whole Foods

Investors chime in:
Motley Fool: Should Whole Foods bag its CEO?

Unions vote no confidence:
Unions join Whole Foods boycott

Damaging the image:
Brand Image: Did Mackey Really Hurt Whole Foods? (WFMI)

Investors want CEO out:
CtW Investment Group Calls for Whole Foods Board to Remove Chair and CEO John Mackey

Don't forget, reporters can get a lot of great information from other reports, but if you're going to try to localize an ongoing story, be careful about jumping in late in the game. Go back to the source. Do your own reporting.

The op-ed that started all this:
John Mackey: The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare

You probably don't want to wait until the company's Whole Story chimes in.