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Here are five choice articles from the business press to start off your workweek. I'm pointing you to articles about John Mackey of Whole Foods, people and profits, YouTube and you, logistics, and corporate culture.

From the Economist: Silence is golden
"In an op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal on August 11th, Mr. Mackey set out some right-wing ideas for reforming health care strikingly at odds with those currently being pushed by the Obama administration. This provoked uproar in the online community that now rules the world—with an army of bloggers demanding a consumer boycott of the company, around 13,000 joining a "Boycott Whole Foods" group on Facebook and Twitter circulating countless pledges never again to darken the doors of its stores."

Wally's Comment: John Mackey just seems to have a knack for stirring up ire. In 2007 he masqueraded as "Rahodeb" on investment discussion boards. Whole Foods was trying to take over Wild Oats at the time. "Rahodeb" plumped for Whole Foods stock and suggested Wild Oats was about to go bankrupt.

The SEC declared that there was no wrong doing. Evidently lying to the public under a false name in order to increase your own profit is not considered a violation under their rules.

Then, earlier this year, Mr. Mackey mentioned that among what Whole Foods sells there's healthy stuff and "a lot of junk." The Whole Foods faithful were appalled.

Now he's done it again. This time there are calls to boycott whole foods. What's interesting about this to me is that Whole Foods fans never seemed to mind when he was lying to the investing public, but they're upset that he has conservative views on healthcare. Makes me think that Whole Foods is as much a political position as a place to shop.

From Entrepreneur: Put People Before Profits
"As a student of corporate culture, I've been following the country's job loss news with a mix of horror and detachment. Obviously, when nobody is buying your products, you can't keep your entire team intact. But what does cutting surviving employees' salaries and 401ks really have to do with a company's long-term viability? As counter-intuitive as it sounds, you need to invest in fun instead."

Wally's Comment: I almost didn't read far enough in this post to find the value. Don't make that mistake. Read right past the parts about "fun" till you get to the four very sensible suggestions that are down the page a ways.

From the Financial Post: YouTubeLand: Make it here, you can make it anywhere
"If Martha Stewart is apple pie, then Nadia Giosia is a spicy veal sandwich laden with Jalapeno peppers and dripping with Tabasco sauce. Although she may not be a household name yet, in just over a year Ms. Giosia's punk-rock princess online cooking show, Bitchin Kitchen, has gathered an online fan base nearly half as large as Ms. Stewart's. And next year, the 29-year-old Montreal native will bring her nine tattoos and one-of-a-kind kitchen comedy to Canada's Food Network, a meteoric rise that never would have been possible without YouTube."

Wally's Comment: If you haven't checked out the business possibilities of YouTube, now would be a good time. There are already a lot of businesses using the site to improve results.

From Industry Week: Logistics on a Bumpy Road to Recovery
"The logistics industry took a particularly hard hit over the past year, according to the 2009 State of Logistics Report, released by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). The recession has wreaked havoc with many of the companies that provide transportation and warehousing services to manufacturers, with more than 3,000 trucking companies alone going out of business in 2008, eliminating 7% of the available capacity on U.S. highways. The only bright spot to this decline, at least for manufacturers, is that after rising more than 50% during the previous five years, the cost of logistics actually dropped 3.5% in 2008. The unfortunate reason for this decline is the simple fact that industrial production fell 7.8% in 2008, and thus manufacturers had less freight in the supply chain."

Wally's Comment: Logistics is a critical function for any business that deals with a physical product. In many ways, the way logistics goes reflects the economy.

From HBS Working Knowledge: Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity
"Culture clash is often considered a major cause for the failing of mergers and acquisitions, and for this reason it is an important consideration for corporate strategy. Although less publicized, culture clash has also plagued alliances and long-term market relationships. It provides a unique lens on the performance effects of corporate culture itself, and thus culture's potential to generate a competitive advantage. This paper develops an economic theory of the costs and benefits of corporate culture—in the sense of shared beliefs and values—in order to study the effects of culture clash in mergers and acquisitions."

Wally's Comment: This is a first rate look at how culture clashes can smash the best of intentions in a merger or acquisition. Even if you don't care much for the details of the economic theory behind all this, there are several good practical lessons. You can also download a PDF of the working paper.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.