Lessons that Indian leaders can draw from CrossFit CEO’s indecent remarks on social media

• After CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman tweeted several insensitive remarks referencing to George Floyd’s murder and the coronavirus pandemic, Twitteratti expressed their fierce anger and shock.
• Gyms across the USA, social media influencers and brands like Reebok cut ties with CrossFit permanently and expressed their dismay on social media over the brand’s failure to quickly put out an apologetic statement.
• We reached out to experts to understand the lessons one can learn from this incident.

Last week, in response to George Floyd's death, many global social-media influencers and brands spoke out online demanding change. A few giants like Amazon Prime, Nickelodeon and Spotify observed silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds on #BlackoutTuesday.

On the other hand, CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman’s controversial tweet referencing to George Floyd’s murder and the coronavirus pandemic, sparked outrage on social media.

To be specific, in response to a tweet that said racism is a public health issue, Glassman said it's 'a FLOYD-19 issue.’


It soon escalated and set the ball rolling. Gyms across the USA and sports giants like Reebok cut their affiliation with CrossFit for not apologizing sooner and taking corrective actions. According to an online spreadsheet tracking, affiliates who have dropped CrossFit, as shared on Brand and Social Media Expert Karthik Srinivasan’s blog, the list currently stands at 310!



Social media influencers also ditched their associations with the brand.

This whole fiasco comes with its own list of learnings for leaders everywhere. The incident came as a reminder that one needs to be careful before putting anything out on social media, be empathetic. It also showed the critical role Public Relations plays in the journey of a brand. We all saw what kind of repercussions it brought on CrossFit. Closer home too, empires can easily collapse in a day if the audiences find out the person behind the brand still holds on to their sexist, classist or racist prejudices.

We reached out to a few Indian Brand Experts and Public Relations Professionals to understand how CrossFit should have tackled the situation, what it teaches our country’s leaders and if the COVID situation has made the business environment more volatile, pushing brands to realise the importance of communicating thoughtfully on social media, now more than ever before?

Here is what they said:

Karthik Srinivasan, Brand and Social Media Expert:

“It teaches us that social media is a performance. Anything said online becomes the 'written word'. I recall reading a really thoughtful sentence from Neil Postman's book ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business’, that I'm reading now: "What people say is assumed to be more casually uttered than what they write. The written word is assumed to have been reflected upon, by its author." The crux is, when on social media, behave as if the world is watching you... because it is!

The first necessity is to work towards not being in such situations. CXOs learn so many things in their journey towards the ascent to that role, but not how to use social media. Why? Because everyone assumes that social media is free and what is there to learn anyway? But they did learn public speaking, presentation skills, etiquette etc, even though they were free, too. Also, the assumption that some other department would do it on behalf of the CXO. Those days are gone.

The first need is to help CXOs understand the power of social media and the pitfalls it comes with. And help them in a structured way to build their personal brand via social platforms. This is insurance in terms of the brand's corporate communications process - insurance against days when things are going wrong, when the CXO with a trusted voice (that she/he built over a period of time) could come and help the brand.”

Lloyd Mathias, Business Strategist & Angel Investor and former APAC Marketing Head of HP:

“I think CEO’s and brand custodians should be very careful about their social media communication in general, especially when it touches serious issues like human rights and racism. In this instance, CrossFit’s CEO Greg Glassman’s tweet clearly lacked sensitivity. As a CEO and de facto spokesperson for your business and brand you have the added responsibility of setting the tone of communication. Failing to do so will harm your brand and the community in general.

The first thing brand’s need to do when they err on issues like this is to apologize unconditionally. This is best done in the same medium where the original error was committed and by the same person who made the mistake. Customers are likely to accept an apology when it comes unconditionally, straight from the heart and is genuine in intent. Also good to follow it up is with genuine contrition - by addressing the cause that your post went against and stating that you and your company stands with the cause.

In the current Covid situation, digital and social media have become mainstream so it's double important for brands to remain ultra-cautious in their posts. Having said which, brands will need to be empathetic and not remain silent hoping the issues that are current to their consumers, die down.”

Dilip Cherian, Founder- Perfect Relations:

“The huge fallout from the Crossfit Controversy around the CEOs wiseass tweet is a lesson to business leaders everywhere. Indian business leaders are still notoriously allergic to social media. This can't last going forward as customers are now increasingly expecting to hear from CEOs about their own brands, their big news breaks and their responses to public issues.

Reluctant Indian CEOs are becoming an unwitting drag on their companies outreach competencies. At Perfect Relations, we've been championing CEO voices on Social Media, as a critical input into this new age of Co Owned Media. It's vital for a post-Covid economy. But being trained on how to use this vital tool and having professional oversight teams is just as vital, as just having a Social Media voice in India.

What the Crossfit CEO did was exuberant foolishness. An attempt to sound like a clever punster spun out of control. The 3 lessons he's taught Indian CEOs are, One, please don't be smart alecky. Two: Steer clear of issues that involve fissile public emotions unless you want to show empathy. Three: have someone check your responses for you & don't overrule them.”

Among the golden "Perfect Rules" that we use to coach CEOs is one that says, ...No humour ( it's for standup comics), no self deprecation (you're the Boss), no puns (that's for experts), no tilting at political holy cows (leave that to politicians). Our broad Comms thesis is Remember "we live in brutally literal times". Navigate you must, even as you must Engage."