CrossFit has the core competencies of a great company
Boz, Sevan, Ro, the Buttery Bros, and Mariah Moore are great examples
I believe two core competencies of a great company are its ability to develop people and perpetuate the “right” culture. If companies are developing people, you see those people engaged, modeling the right behaviors, attracting talent that want that same experience, and accomplishing great things. For reference please see this Harvard Business Review article, written by a previous colleague of mine. We both worked at a company that was entirely focused on people development (it just utilized consulting services as the venue of developing its people). Usually, if employees don’t experience that development, they don’t demonstrate engagement, they leave, and go on a journey to find that level of personal fulfillment. For more on the importance of developing talent, and what the value is, see here.
Similarly, many companies have a good culture, but then it changes (for the worse) or it becomes insular. In my experience and studies, insular cultures are predictors of losing companies, and in the long run they don’t develop people and therefore do not accomplish their mission.
You see this with team sports — coaches understand that talent development is the foundation for being able to perpetuate a winning culture for longer than 1 season. Make the athlete/person better, and then ensure they are able to perpetuate that opportunity to the next generation. Athletes who have been involved in winning programs and/or teams always mention something like this in interviews.
In the midst of the 2022 CrossFit Games we are experiencing a demonstration of both of these competencies playing out in real-time.
CrossFit Games 2022
If you read my previous article, I stated that Dave Castro was integral to CrossFit, and that his new role of managing the affiliate community was also critical. However, with Dave no longer involved in running the Games, the question became does CrossFit have a valid leader of the Games. Some can clearly argue whether the 2022 Games season has been flawless (it hasn’t).
Longtime CrossFit adherent Adrian Bozman (“Boz”) has stepped in to fill the gaping hole left by Dave Castro. For those new to the CrossFit ecosystem, Bozman has served as Head Judge under Dave Castro for many years, and before that he was a CrossFit L1 (seminar) staff for many years. In short, Adrian has had several role within CrossFit (the company), learning from many great minds within the company, which has translated to Adrian’s development.
In my opinion, Bozman is absolutely crushing it as the new programmer of the Games. Bozman clearly has put his spin on the Games, in multiple ways, which have thereby made it obvious he plans to test the athletes, not simply showcase them.
Another thing Bozman is doing really well: being open to media and owning his viewpoints and decisions about why and how he thinks about Games programming. Here are some fantastic (imo) interviews with Boz where he very clears articulates his thinking (day 1 recap, day 2 recap, day 3 recap). To me, what stands out here is the openness to talking about things in near real-time (less than 24 hours after the daily events). Next, the event called the Capitol, was easily one of the coolest events in CrossFit history. Most color commentators have said the event was visually stunning, while being a great example of CrossFit. Athletes said it was the one event they will remember for the rest of their lives, and it showed the community in full force. It is all demonstrated in this video. The title of this video says it all “Let me show you CrossFit”. (more about media below)
The next example of the talent development factory at CrossFit is media. I touched on this previously, but I want to call it out here as well. Sevan Matossian, who was Executive Producer at CrossFit before he was unceremoniously fired, along with almost all the other media staff. What has Sevan done since then? Started was is obviously one of the most popular CrossFit podcasts. It has taken some time to smooth it out, but Sevan seems to be one of the best interviewers (at least of CrossFit athletes and personalities) I have seen. He has formulated a media team that is easily providing some of the best near real-time analysis of the Games. His motto is “its hard to stop people who aren’t getting paid for what they do”. The amount of content Sevan and his team are putting out is staggering.
Next, you have the Buttery Bros (Heber Cannon and Marston Sawyers). These were two of the individuals that were part of the CrossFit media team, who were also fired when Sevan was fired. What have they done since then? Go on to create some of the best CrossFit-oriented content, albeit very different from the podcast format that Sevan puts out. They routinely travel all over the world, highlighting the individual athletes of the CrossFit space. The number of consumers of their content is incredible, considering the size of the CrossFit ecosystem, and they quality of their media is outstanding.
Next you have Rory McKernan. Rory was also fired from CrossFit and is now leading the media efforts of CrossFit Mayhem, which by most accounts is the largest, and most successful affiliate in the history of CrossFit. Mayhem also happens to put the most number of athletes (across both Individual and Team divisions) in the CrossFit Games. In essence, you have one affiliate with the media team of a company like CrossFit.
Yes, all of these individuals left CrossFit the company, but in each instance, they are still perpetuating the mission of CrossFit. With that said, they each left behind someone at CrossFit who is also assuming the mantle.
That person is Mariah Moore, who is now the Film Director for the CrossFit Games documentaries. Mariah started at CrossFit in 2014 and most recently directed the 2018 and 2021 Games documentaries. In my opinion, the 2021 documentary is outstanding, maybe the best one. Her team is all over the place at the 2022 Games. They are the ones who put out the “Let me Show You” video I referenced earlier. I expect that they will be putting out a special documentary about Tia-Clair Toomey (post 2022 Games)-I expect it will be outstanding.
While many of the media people have left CrossFit, notice how they went on to do great things? Like the Deloitte article (referenced above) states, they were developed and ready to fly.
Relating to how companies reinforce their goals based on the people they recruit and retain, the talent development imperative is even more important when you see yourself as a disruptive force, or a movement, like CrossFit. People, which is part of your business architecture, become critical to your value chain. They can either reinforce and further your product architecture, or hinder it. This has helped CrossFit disrupt the entire fitness industry. And each of them are examples of individuals that developed while at CrossFit, were ready for the next important step in their career, and have been able to persevere AND thrive during adversity.
To me, this demonstrates the core competencies of talent development and perpetuating the right culture.
Here’s the really important point
In a previous article I proposed that CrossFit should NOT see the Games as something that is antagonistic to the mission. Instead, I argued that CrossFit needs to adopt and perpetuate the stance that the CrossFit Games supports the mission by getting people into the affiliates. For the more academically-minded individuals, there is a great framework that helps you reframe “problems” that appear like “either-or” choices, and instead find a common “solution”. For a quick overview see here.
If you go back to the Day 2 Recap video that Boz did with Sevan, you will hear him talk about how he views the Games reinforcing what happens in the affiliates. And Affiliate owners came up to him at the Game and told him the same thing. Boz clearly understands the polarity of the Games and the Affiliates. And Boz doesn’t see it as either-or; Boz sees and is providing a solution.
This is why you develop talent (especially if you are a disruptive force and want to continue to be) — it provides you with the people who can take the movement to even higher levels of functioning, and in CrossFit’s context, that means changing the lives of people for the better. It means your organization never loses sight of the purpose of the mission.
That is #winning. Way to go Adrian and CrossFit.
