Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC - Full Auto Friday - Round 5

Episode Date: June 12, 2020

Traditionally these episodes are dedicated to multi-topic Q and A, today will be slightly different. The most regrettable moments of my life revolve around the times I have not taken action when I should have, when I have not said something that I should have, when I tolerated what I know to be wrong. I am as flawed as the next man.  The list of my mistakes is long and distinguished. I will stand in judgment of my actions, all of them. What I discuss on this episode needs to have been said long ago, many times, by far too many people. I was part of the problem, I should have been part of the solution. Question 1: CrossFit

Okay, guys the red smoke. Smoke, west of the smoke. Okay, copy. Where's the smoke? I'm looking at danger close now. All right, ladies and gentlemen, full Auto Friday number five. I'm going to run this one a little bit differently than the normal structure, which would be a couple of different questions limiting myself to five minutes of answering

in an attempt to keep up on the Q&A. And I'm going to deviate on this particular setting because, this last week has been an interesting one and I'm sure a very difficult one for a lot of people. And the majority of the questions that I have received have been around what's happening in the CrossFit world or the CrossFit ecosystem. And people asking me to weigh in on what I think about the CrossFit CEO's tweet and specifically the fallout that came from that. So I'm going to dedicate this entire episode to my answer.

but before I even begin to answer, I need to lay out a few things. The first one is, is I'm not a provocateur. If you follow me at all in any medium, I'm not looking for drama. I have not dedicated two and a half years to this podcast in the hopes that, you know, in the mid-130s on the episodes that I'm going to have a ha, surprise, gotcha moment. That's not who I am. I'm not TMZ. I'm also six years out of the game. My anniversary of leaving CrossFit is actually this month, and it's about four days from today.

Four days from today, it will be six years out of the game. And I guess lastly, I don't have anything to gain from this, and I probably have everything to lose. Because if my experience with CrossFit headquarters holds true, let's just say that they have a reputation for litigation. Now, I've been asked about CrossFit hundreds of times since my departure on some very high-profile platforms. And what I would recommend to people, if they want to get an understanding of how I feel about CrossFit, I would say go to those platforms and look at how I respond when I'm asked about the program or the people that work for the company. And I would ask for you to find and provide for me an example of me spinking negatively about the program itself or the people that work for the organization. And you're not going to be able to because on those platforms and when I am asked, what I will generally do is one of two things.

Defend the methodology or try to educate people on their misconceptions. And if you're in the CrossFit world, you know that there's plenty of misconceptions around the methodology and the programming. And the reason that I do that is that CrossFit has been tremendously impactful in my life. And for a very long period of time in my life, I absolutely loved it. and I still, at a very deep level, love the CrossFit methodology. I think it is beautifully simple. I think it's effective, and I love how you can broadly apply it. And I know right now that the CrossFit community is in a difficult position,

and people are trying to figure out a way to define or separate the brand from an individual. And I actually think that there is a way for CrossFit headquarters to be what they need to be for the affiliates and the community they have created. But I'm going to end this episode with that. So I'll get back to that. So it's been positive in my life. I've defended it publicly. So why open my mouth now? Why take the time being removed as long as I have been to actually say anything?

And the answer to that is pretty core to what I think I am as a person or who I consider myself to be. And again, if you follow me on any of the platforms or you listen to the podcast, you're going to hear me talking to people about standing up for what they believe in or being the example or leading, whether that be in their example or in a leadership position. And, you know, one of my favorite quotes is what you tolerate in your presence is your standard. And I'll also be the first person to tell you and admit that I don't have a perfect track record or on any of those things. Actually, it's far from it. And I have regrets in my life. And if I sit down and I think about the regrets that I have, more often than not, they

are tied to circumstances in which I fell short in those things. And this situation, this circumstance, is one of those times. I failed a lot of people and I failed myself. And I should have done the right thing and I should have done more. And I know that there are people who are afraid to say anything. And I feel obligated to make amends for my lack of behavior or my lack of action previously. And hopefully, in some way, provide a platform for people who I believe need to be heard. so that they can be heard. I found CrossFit in 2005, and it changed my life. I rehabed myself from

an injury. I recovered both mentally and physically. It changed the way that I trained. It increased my combat readiness. And I was incredibly passionate about it. And I was never an anybody inside of this organization. It would be very crystal clear about that. I do not claim to have ever been anybody inside of CrossFit headquarters other than an employee. I don't consider myself to be one of the OGs. I don't consider myself to have been part of the inner circle. I certainly didn't create anything. And I by no means claim to at any time have been a cornerstone of any portion of the organization. But I did work for them for a relatively long period of time. And that started in 2007 when I attended a seminar as a participant. And from seven to eight, I basically interned and I just,

learned as much as I possibly could. And my first paid gig with the organization was at a military seminar in Edmonton, Canada. And that's where I began my employment with CrossFit Inc. It was specifically just on the military side of the house. And eventually that grew to the civilian side of the house. And for many years, I was a part of the trading department. And the vernacular that was used at the time was I became a flowmaster, meaning I had a seminar staff underneath me. And I had the amazing privilege and pleasure to travel around the world with some of the leaning trainers that are still working for the organization today. In 2010, I had to take a pretty hard knee because I did a military deployment. And when I came back in late 2010, I started working on the business

side of the house specifically in regards to the potential partnership sponsorship between CrossFit and Reebok. And I remember this time specifically, and I, know exactly when this was to the day because the day that my mother passed away, I received a text message from my sister while sitting at a table with Reebok and CrossFit executives, beginning to work our way through the minute details of what would eventually become the relationship. And from 2010 to 2014, I managed that relationship and some of the other small partnerships. And let me be very clear. I didn't do that alone.

I was always working with other people. I was always backstopped by other people. But I'm going to leave as many names out of this as possible. Because I don't want to involve anybody in my decisions moving forward in life on these topics. I also worked on the charitable initiative. Specifically, there was a school building initiative in Kenya. And then there was a CrossFit for Hope initiative with St. Jude. And I was the pilot for three years as well, too.

And Greg eventually bought an airplane. I moved Greg around and staff members. however the company saw fit to move people across their chessboard. Let me be first to tell you that I wasn't a perfect employee. I'm sure that I made Dave and Nicole's life pretty bothersome at times with the stupid shit that I've been known to say in seminars. And I did the best that I could when I was an employee. Certainly not perfect.

And if CrossFit headquarters wants to discuss my deficiencies, I'd be more than welcome to address them and take complete and utter ownership of those. And the bottom line for me when it came to my employment with CrossFit is that I personally benefited greatly. And so did my family from my time working for CrossFit. I made business connections. I was able to have some amazing flight training and some amazing flight experience. I was able to take my family on trips. I was paid very well, in my opinion.

Greg was very generous to me at times. And it allowed me, you know, probably the most importantly, to transition outside from the military into the next phase of my life without really worrying about those steps. And for those of you watching on video, the reason I keep looking down is I'm referencing my notes. This to me is an important topic. And this is like my fifth time attempting to sit down and get this information out of me in the most clear, concise, and responsible manner. So if you see me looking down in the video, it's because I'm referencing my notes. So bottom line, working for CrossFit was incredible. impactful for me. And on June 15th, 2014, I quit. And I was offered additional money to sign a

separation agreement that had some non-disclosure clauses in it. And I chose not to. And I know I just finished saying that it was tremendously impactful for me working for CrossFit. I had an amazing benefit from it. So why did I quit? And the simplest answer that I can provide, is that I quit because I couldn't tolerate the thought of working for Greg Glassman for a single day more, which leads me in the direction of starting to answer these questions. The CrossFit headquarters that I worked for, and these are my words describing the work environment that I was a part of, the CrossFit H2 that I worked for was an environment that was ruled by fear. It was ruled by fear of retribution, and that could come in me.

many forms. Perhaps it would be you were getting pushed away, or you would be removed from information or events, from the inner circle, punitive measures with your paycheck, litigation. Certainly, litigation was a portion of that. The environment that I was in, I would be, I describe it as an environment of wearing golden handcuffs. And let me be the first to tell you that I was the individual to put those handcuffs on. And it was an environment where you're paid really well. And I would say for some people, they start getting paid at a level that achieves a point where it would be difficult to match on the open market.

And when you get to that point, in my own experience, what happens is that it changes your behavior. And it creates an environment of yes, men and women. And another way to describe that would be enablers. And what it causes you to do is to keep your mouth shut. but when you should open it. It causes a lack of action when action is the one thing that should have been taken. And I'm looking at everything that has, you know, kind of come out over the last week.

And, you know, the thing that resonates with me the most is the email that was sent to the Rocket CrossFit owners. And to me, that was the language used in that is that's the Greg that I was around often. And I saw him play out and communicate in those ways in both personal and professional relationships, whether it be on, you know, early in the week signing a decade-long multi-million dollar contract that touches just about every single aspect of the CrossFit headquarters organization to later in that week, assembling your staff for the first time to answer questions about it and framing your new partner in the most pejorative of terms as shoe cobblers and referring to them as the shoe money or having employees openly mock them on the puky.com website or just moving staff members around and pitting them against each other. I watched this happen for years and it was,

it was McAvellian to say the least. But here's the deal when it comes to that. That's Greg's company and he can run it however he wants to. And I provide that information just to provide actual context. My thoughts on the actual tweet itself. I'm actually going to point to an article that was written by Dale Saron. And he explains what role he held inside of CrossFit inside of the article. And it was a really well-witten, real-witten article. And it was titled, in defense of Greg Glassman. I agree with Dale's assessment. In the time that I spent with Greg, the last four years, I worked directly for him and with him. And in the years before that, I saw him often in a variety of interactions. And I agree with Dale's assessment. I don't think he's racist. I did not

leave with that impression. The tweet and whether or not it was racist or just off time or, you know, the tone or the timing was off, he can explain that. But, you know, in people's direct questioning, what do I think about the tweet? Again, the best thing that I can give you, is in my experience, I did not find the man to make decisions based off of race at all. And in the article, you know, Dale did a very good job of highlighting the good that both Greg Glassman and CrossFit have done, sometimes individually and sometimes side by side. And I'd be the first person to admit that Greg has done substantial good. I was there at some of the instances that Dale mentions in the article.

And I'm not a fan and I don't believe in absolutes. I don't believe in always and never, so I try to avoid them. But I also look at people the same way. There's not all good and then there's not all bad. And like I said, I'll be the first to admit that Greg did a lot of good. But to me, that is not a free pass to ignore the bad. or the things that he did that should have been addressed at a professional level. Dale, I would challenge you to write one more article.

And if I could, I would like to suggest the heading for you. In defense of Greg Glassman and his treatment of women, specifically female members of CrossFit headquarters. Because it is on this issue that not only myself, but so many other people failed. And I was quiet when I shouldn't have been, and I was tolerant when I shouldn't have been, and I fell short of the advice that I constantly give to other people. So my response to, you know, when people ask me, what do I think about what's going on this week, the biggest, not the biggest, the best response that I can give you

is that I'm actually surprised that it has taken this long. And I asked myself, a couple years ago, when it was in the middle of the Me Too movement, and I was watching some of these reports come out, and I asked myself, how in the fuck does this happen? How does behavior like this occur? And how is it allowed to continue to occur? And then I had the crashing realization

that I know exactly how it happens. because I was complicit in allowing this to happen, at least in the interactions that I observed or heard in my time working for CrossFit headquarters. I cannot count the number of times that derogatory and specifically sexual comments were made about female staff members directly in my presence. Sometimes the staff members were not there and oftentimes they were in mixed company. And very often, the overtures were far more overt. It was an open secret as to who was potentially in the sexual crosshairs for Greg. And whether that manifested in uncomfortable travel arrangements, as for female staff members traveling with Greg and a trip is coming up, but only one hotel room is booked, or female employees sitting alone in a vehicle with the CEO being told what Greg prefers from his women,

or even to me directly, being told from Greg that he suffers from the same thing that Tiger Woods does. And the list goes on and on and on. And the closer that you got to Greg, the more that you saw. And the closer that you got to Greg and the more that you saw and the less that you did, or what essentially it seems like all of us did, which was nothing, the more we enabled this behavior. The things that I talked about are broad examples, and I'm intentionally being broad because I don't want to drag anybody else into this other than those that need to be. But there are so many of these stories to tell. And the bottom line is they're not mine to tell, but these people deserve a platform.

And the reason that they're not talking now is because of fear. I'm going to give one more example in the hopes that it provides some clear. color, and context into the environment that some of these women had to tolerate. Imagine a female employee that had spent already plenty of time in Greg's crosshairs. And I say that based off of what I saw, what I heard, and comments made directly to me from Greg. This female employee is in a vehicle, mixed company. She happens to be in a relationship with a deployed service member, and Greg inquires about that service member and finds out that he is currently for deployed overseas. His response to that

information directly to this employee was, let's hope that we get to name a hero wad after him soon. And for people who don't know what a hero wad is, that's a workout that is named after somebody who was killed in service of their country overseas or law enforcement first responder here in the United States. And there is no more precise window into the environment with which some of these people had to operate than that statement from the CEO. And that individual owns 100% of CrossFit Inc. Now, as I was taking the notes to sit down and talk about this, it was announced that Dave Castro was going to become the CEO. And I've known Dave for a long time. we were at development group together different squadrons didn't work directly with each other

and we're not close but i would describe our relationship as friendly and i would consider dave to be a friend the last time i saw him was actually in las vegas and we had a very nice conversation and i would like for people to actually give him the space and judge him on the merits of his decisions going forward and his actions going forward as the CEO and i have no doubt that i have no doubt that i myself and many others are curious about the first moves that he is going to make. I have some food for thought for everybody who is sitting back and watching and waiting. As I mentioned before, the longer that you were there and the closer that you were to the apex of the organization, the more that you saw and the more that you heard. It's entirely possible that nobody saw more

than Dave Castro himself. I do believe that CrossFit headquarters can be for the affiliate community, everything that the affiliates want and need from them. But I don't think that that can happen until they work their way through some very difficult conversations and issues. The topic that I'm talking about, key amongst them. Leadership drives culture. And that was the culture.

inside of CrossFit headquarters. And if Dave is stepping into the role as CEO and Greg remains the 100% shareholder of that organization, there is no change that is going to occur. And I am not calling for Greg to lose his ownership stake in CrossFit because I do not believe that somebody should be stripped of what they built. But I will say this on that front. My personal belief is that CrossFit was successful in spite of Greg Glassman, not because of Greg Glassman. He was surrounded by very capable people. Many of those capable people saw, heard, and watched so many things happening to so many people and they should have stepped up and they should have stopped it.

And they, we, me, we didn't. And we are all complicit in that. I would like to see CrossFit headquarters become the beacon for the CrossFit community. And I think there's an easy way for CrossFit headquarters to be very open, honest, and transparent about what I'm talking about. I have no doubt that they are going to come over the top and deny what it is that I am saying. So I have two options that I believe would allow people the opportunity to decide for themselves. self. The first one is this. I would like to extend to you an open offer to sit down and talk. We'll meet at a neutral location and let's bring in a third party audio, video organization

that can set up audio recording equipment and multiple video cameras. And we can talk about the exact same things that I am talking about here. But we're not going to talk in generalities. We're going to talk in specifics and we're going to talk about names. and then we should release the entire content of both the audio and the video unedited. As a matter of fact, it should never be controlled by either party. Let's allow a third party to come into a conversation where we directly address these issues. And if you're not comfortable with doing that, release people from their NDAs, release people from the clauses inside of their separation agreements that would prevent them from speaking their mind

for fear of retaliation, a litigation, punitive measures of any kind. Don't release them from the entire NDA. Don't release them from the tire separation agreement. But on this topic, on this issue, let people speak in their own voice. Absent those two things happening, the only thing that I can do is recommend and implore the people that I know are out there right now who are digging to continue to do so. Now, what I think is actually going to happen is that CrossFit headquarters is likely going to consider litigation against me. And I accept that. And I want to be crystal clear to

CrossFit headquarters. I used generalities in what I was speaking about intentionally. Please don't confuse that for a lack of having specific and precise detail. I'm speaking up now because I should have spoken up then. And for the other members of the CrossFit headquarters staff who are wondering whether or not you did the right thing, all I would ask of you is this. Put your mother or your sister or your wife or your daughter into the same events or situations that you saw play out over time and tell me if you would be comfortable sitting back and being unwilling to speak up.

The reason that this was allowed to happen is because, because we enabled Greg. And if the choice on your side of the house is for you to attack me, let me be very clear. I will burn this motherfucker to the ground in the defense of what I believe. And I am unwilling to move an inch

on my morals on this moving forward. And that's all I have for Full Auto Friday.