A live-stream by TJ Walker on limits of crisis communication using the Raymond Moore/Indian Wells Tennis Garden controversy as a case study. Walker explains that some self-inflicted crises cannot be fully repaired by messaging, praises the tournament's rapid dismissal of Moore, and draws lessons about institutional response, reputational risk, and why sexist public remarks provoke strong backlash.
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Are there limits to damage control in a crisis communication situation?
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Yes, most emphatically. Yes, there are limits. There are some crises self created where no matter what spin you do, no matter how many checklist items you accomplish on your crisis communications management plan, you're not going to win. You simply have to slink away with your tail between your legs. Case in point, Raymond Moore, who until very recently was the chief executive of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California and director of its tournament. Here's what he said at a press conference, no less. He said that in my next life when I this is a quote. In my next life when I come back, I want to be someone in the WTA, the Women's Tennis association, because they ride on the coattails of the men. They don't make any decisions and they are lucky. They are very, very lucky. If I was a lady player, I'd go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nidal were born because they have carried this sport. They really have. Well, as you may or may not have heard, Serena Williams, a number of other people, especially women and especially women tennis players, were not particularly pleased with Mr. Moore's comments. Now he did put out an apology that very day just a few hours later. Guess what? It was too late. Folks. I am often called into major corporations, political campaigns to help with the crisis. There's always something you can communicate to lessen the sting, to minimize the blow. But you can't always save your career or your organization's brand in this particular situation. I think the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and its tournament will survive their brand because they did exactly the right thing. They kicked the guy out pronto. They didn't sort of put their finger in the air and take the pulse. Let this drag on for weeks and weeks. Weeks wait for boycotts, have people they acted right away. In that case, they did exactly the right situation. More on this in a moment.
Do you have a speaking related question? Number one, USA Today best selling author TJ Walker. For more than 30 years, Walker has been a public speaking coach and media trainer to presidents of Countries, Prime Ministers, CEOs, Nobel Peace Prize winners, professional athletes and Ms. Universes. Send your questions to infoediatrainingworldwide.com or on Twitter jwalker.
So we're looking at the limits of spin. But I do want to look at this from two different perspectives. There's the perspective of this individual, Raymond Moore and there is the perspective of the particular tennis club in question, the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, as well as its tournament, plus the people aligned with it. And it has some heavy hitters. Larry Ellison owns the tournament. He's the billionaire high tech businessman out in California. Here's what he said. And some of you will find this amusing, I think, as I do shortly thereafter, when he was kicked out, says Ray, let me know that he has decided to step down from his roles as CEO and tournament director effectively immediately. I fully understand his decision. Well, let me tell you, folks, I'm no friend of Larry Ellison. I haven't met with him in privately, but everything you've ever heard about him, you can't imagine that that's how that conversation went. What you have to imagine happened was Ellison got calls from media, famous celebrities who were outraged and said, how could you let an idiot like this run your tournament? Are you insane? And Larry Ellison, I'm sure, summoned this guy to his office and said, you're an idiot. You're over. I want your bags packed out the door in about two minutes. Otherwise the guards are throwing you out on your. You know what? Again, I don't have evidence that that's happened, but I cannot for the life of me imagine any other scenario that could have happened in a situation like this. Folks, you can't, in this day and age say something at a press conference where it's public, you know, it's public, you know you're being quoted, that is considered wildly offensive and sexist and it not be your own show. I mean, this is an employee someone hired, someone hired and fired at will as the director for this guy. Now, it's a little different if you're Donald Trump, for example. Very different situation. And as many of you have heard me say on this show before, most of the things that Donald Trump does and gets away with are not applicable to everyone else. This is certainly one of those situations. But I do want to look at what the tournament did because I actually think they did exactly the, the right thing by getting rid of this guy so quickly. They sent a clear message to the rest of the world, to advertisers, sponsors, women who play tennis. We do not tolerate egregious sexism and we don't want anyone like this working with us. If you come to our tournament this year, next year, you're not going to have to deal with him. We had to make a choice between you and this guy, Raymond Moore, and we chose you. That's the message that this tournament is sending. And that Larry Ellison, the owner of the tournament, I think, is trying to send. I think he's succeeding. Now, the other just odd thing about this is tennis is one of the few sports in the world where women actually are many times a bigger draw than men. You know, when you talk about professional basketball, a lot of sports where the audience, the audience conviction, the audience levels of attendance, the revenues are just dramatically outsized on the male side, tennis isn't one of them. And the other reason why I think this stung so much, there are some real trailblazers like Billie Jean King and others going way back to the 60s who had to fight tooth and nail for equal prize money. So when you see a quote like this, it is just pouring. Forget salt in old wounds. This is pouring acid in old wounds. This is why it generated such outsized media. I wouldn't say outsized. It generated huge, huge media attention in part because it brought in very high profile, famous celebrities like Serena Williams. If you are asked to name the most famous female volleyball player or gymnast these days, most people would have a hard time. You ask people who's the most famous female tennis player and Serena Williams name comes out pretty quickly. So that's a problem when you have a crisis situation and you are aligned against really, really famous people who have a good reputation. The other thing, some of the particulars of this quote, if I were a lady player, it just sounds like the type of verbiage someone would use in the 1950s. Not a female or a woman, a lady player. It just evokes images of such a creakness, backwoods fellow. And the next sentence just strikes me, I'd go down every day on my knees. Well, when you have a really old guy, in this case an old white guy, talking about how happy women should be to be going down on their knees, it obviously evokes all sorts of other horribly sexist imagery. And the tournament really had no choice. But again, I do want to give them credit. I don't know the actual number of hours it takes, but they certainly did not let this foment for years, months, weeks or even days. It was a matter of hours. They got rid of this guy. And when you contrast that with a golf tournament like the Masters, which has had its own issues with charges of sexism, of course that doesn't let women be member, or historically not let women be members, it is a stark contrast. It does show that anytime there is a crisis, there's something you can do. Most of the time, institutionally, there's something you can do. And unfortunately for Raymond Moore, I don't feel sorry for him. The thing for the institution to do is to is to throw this guy out on his you know what so well done. Crisis communications efforts from Indian Wells Tennis Garden Poorly done for Raymond Moore, but he looks like an old an old white guy who's been running a tennis tournament for quite a while, so I have to assume he's not a poor guy. Will not be taking up a collection plate for him here. I'm TJ Walker, as always, happy to answer any of your questions about crisis communications, presentation training and media training. Thanks so much for joining me. May all of your presentations in life be a success and more successful than Raymond Moore. See you next time.
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