Lesson #1 in business career management: Don't say or do anything that you wouldn't be comfortable having plastered on the Front Page of the Wall Street Journal. Now this might seem like a pretty rigid guidepost, but at least it forces thinking about the consequences of one's actions and its possible impact on your reputation and that of your employer. Imposes pretty good discipline, I'd say. This includes things you say to others both inside and outside your company and all forms of written communication, including emails and, say, postings on blogs and message boards. And if you happen the CEO of a public company, the stakes are that much higher because of heightened reputational risk as well as rules like Regulation FD. Now, my lesson should be second nature to all CEOs, as it has probably been repeated to them 1000 times by their General Counsel, Head of Compliance, Head of the Audit Committee, etc., yet it doesn't seem so in light of revelations about the CEO of Whole Foods, John Mackey, and his behavior as chronicled in a recent  WSJ Online story. So my question to my readers is this:

HOW DOES JOHN MACKEY, CEO OF WHOLE FOODS, THINK THAT POSTING RAH RAH MESSAGES ON YAHOO! MESSAGE BOARDS OVER AN 8 YEAR PERIOD IS OK? MESSAGES THAT INCLUDE FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES AND PERSPECTIVES FROM THE CEO OF THE COMPANY, WHO IS NOT PUBLICLY DISCLOSING HIS TRUE IDENTITY AND CERTAINLY NOT DISCLOSING THIS INFORMATION TO ALL INVESTORS AT THE SAME TIME?

Sorry for the use of all caps, but I am so blown away by this discovery that I couldn't control myself. For those who are playing along, Reg FD was imposed in October 2000, a full six years before Mr. Mackey ended his message board posting career. Did it ever occur to him that maybe, just maybe, his postings using a pseudonym were in violation of a pretty important securities law?  Did anyone in the company know about this like, say, company counsel? I don't even know where to begin as it relates to governance best-practices. This is such a horrible example of corporate stewardship that it is truly mind-boggling. Through his actions, which I will assume for the moment were fueled by ego and not the conscious desire to manipulate stock prices, he has jeopardized the very brand and franchise he and thousands of employees have worked so hard to build over almost 30 years. Did this ever occur to him as he was posting as Rahodeb that he could be placing his company, his employees and his stockholders at risk? I'd assume not.