ETHICAL DILEMMA EXERCISE OB at work Do the Ends Justify the Means? process of acquiring Wild Oats, and deriding the target Whole Foods, a fast-growing chain of upscale grocery may have made the acquisition easier and cheaper. Because stores with stores in Vancouver, West Vancouver, Toronto, the companies often have stores in the same cities, the and Oakville, a few in London, England, as well as a large Federal Trade Commission (FTC) attempted to block to number in the United States, has long been a Wall Street acquisition and was responsible for "outing" Mackey. In favourite 132 It regularly appears on Fortune's list of 100 March 2009, Whole Foods agreed to sell 31 of the Wild Best Companies to Work For (it was #32 in 2012) and has Oats stores it had acquired, drop use of the Wild Cats spawned its share of competitors, including Fresh Market name, and undertake other actions that nullified the per and Wild Oats efits of the acquisition Given that most industry analysts see a bright future for Mackey lamented the debacle not his secret blogong upscale organic markets like Whole Foods, it's no surprise but the Wild Oats acquisition. He said, "We would be be- they have attracted their share of investor blogs. One promi- ter off today it we hadn't done this deal-taking on all this nent blogger, "Rahodeb." consistently extolled the virtues debt right before the economy collapsed." By 2008 of Whole Foods stock and derided Wild Oats. Rahodeb pre- Mackey was blogging again, under his real name His posts dicted Wild Oats would eventually be forced into bankruptcy and the Whole Foods stock price would grow at an annual are neither as frequent nor as interesting as Rahodeb's rate of 18 percent Rahodeb's Yahool Finance blog entries Do you think it is unethical for a company leader like were widely read because he seemed to have special insights Mackey to pose as an investor, talking up his or her com. into the industry and into Whole Foods in particular. pany's stock price while talking down his competitor's Would it surprise you to learn that Rahodeb was Should leaders be judged solely on their end achieve- exposed in 2007 as Whole Foods co-founder and CEO ments? Or do the means they choose also reflect on their John Mackey? ("Rahodeb is an anagram of "Deborah, leadership qualities? Would Mackey's behaviour affect the name of Mackey's wife.) What is more, while Rahodeb your willingness to work for or invest in Whole Foods? Is it was talking down Wild Oats stock, Whole Foods was in the impossible for leaders to be ethical and successful