Should NYRR CEO Mary Wittenberg Be Fired?

My friend Kai wrote a fantastic post called Lay Off Mary Wittenberg. He wonders why Mary Wittenberg, CEO of New York Road Runners (NYRR), is taking most of the fall for the terrible decisions to not cancel the NYC Marathon after Hurricane Sandy and to then cancel the race at the last minute.

Kai argues that the blame belongs to more than just one person, and Mary is a person who’s done some incredible things for the NYRR organization so people should not be so quick to call for her firing.

At first I agreed.

When I read that people were demanding she be fired, I thought “Of course she should not be fired!” The real fuck up was Mayor Bloomberg’s. It was his decision not to cancel the race, his decision to let 47,000 runners hang out on Staten Island with their free coffee and bagels while parts of that same island were destroyed, people lost everything and bodies were still being discovered.

Whether or not Mary had any power to persuade him otherwise, I don’t know. But regardless, I don’t think she should be fired for the decision not to cancel the race.

That being said, I do think Mary Wittenberg should be fired.

NYRR puts on phenomenally well-organized races, yes, but there is a lot more to running a company — one members pay money to belong to — than just being good at one specific thing.

I’ve always been astounded by NYRR’s lack of communication and inability to learn from every single shit show that hits their social pages – and there have been many. There was controversy over the NYC Half Marathon lottery after NYRR changed how it works but didn’t communicate this to people paying to enter the lottery. There was controversy after NYRR decided to remove marathon baggage check but didn’t communicate this until well after the race entry fees were paid. There is always a lot of noise on their Facebook page from members wanting simply to understand, to be communicated with, to be looped in, to not be left in the dark about events they are paying for.

And each time, NYRR continues to fail to communicate and they continue to fail to respond to the criticism or moderate comments.

The issue culminated this past week, with heated Facebook wall posts ranging from people demanding the marathon be cancelled to sharing petitions to have it canceled to threatening attacks on runners who choose to participate in the race.

There were thousands upon thousands of comments on the NYRR and ING New York City Marathon Facebook pages, almost all scathingly negative. These comments were not moderated in any way; in fact, there were barely any official postings from NYRR at all. When they did post an update, it was well after the news already revealed the information. But those posts were few and far between.

NYRR had ample time over the last two years to develop a communication plan, establish a social media policy, hire a social media or community manager. Someone from the organization should be on those Facebook pages. Someone from the organization should be offering the updates to the very members and marathon participants who paid money for this race and have a right to know what is going on.

Why did marathon runners find out the marathon was finally canceled on the news, with no word at all from NYRR until the following DAY?

And now, after they already handled the entire debacle as poorly as possible, they STILL aren’t offering any information. Their last official Facebook update was November 2. Today is November 7. Thousands of runners are still waiting to hear what will happen to their race fees? Will they be donated? Will they go towards their entry fees for next year’s race? Will they go into NYRR’s pockets? And they want to know what, exactly, is the policy for next year’s race? Are they expected to pay again? While this Runner’s World article provides some much-needed information, there are still many more questions from people who have a right to know. [Update: A few hours after this was posted, NYRR shared a short update on their wall & via email]

And why are registrants learning official NYRR information from Runner’s World in the first place? Why are they learning it from the news?

Why won’t NYRR communicate with their members? Do they not see that would be a simple way to appease many of the frustrated, angry people leaving negative messages about them on their own Facebook page?

If NYRR is still working on the details and doesn’t know the answers yet themselves, an update saying that much would quiet a lot of the noise. People — customers — just want to know their concerns are heard, their interests are in play.

What it comes down to is that Mary Wittenberg is not just the CEO of the marathon and she is not not just the CEO of the races. She is the CEO of the entire NYRR organization. As such, it is her responsibility to ensure the organization runs professionally. It is her responsibility to listen to her paying members and customers, and take their interests into consideration. It is her responsibility to take the mistakes she made and learn from those mistakes so they don’t happen again

Mary Wittenberg excels at certain parts of her job. She is great at bringing elite and international runners to NYC. She is great at taking primarily NYC races and turning them into world-class events. She is great at inspiring people to run who might never have before. She is great at generating excitement about the NYC Marathon. In fact, I admired her for a long time. But she is not great at being a CEO.

I don’t enjoy every aspect of my job, but it’s a JOB. I can’t pick and choose what I feel like doing and ignore the rest. If I did that, I would be fired.

While the circumstances surrounding the marathon cancellation were not necessarily Mary Wittenberg’s fault, that situation brought to light the serious problem with the way she leads her company. What was once a source of frustration among NYRR members and runners is now a source of frustration to a far greater amount of people. She had plenty of time to identify the communication and customer service issues and fix them. Instead, she let it go — continuing to ignore the very member base that allows her to have an organization to even run — until the ultimate customer service issue happened last week regarding the 2012 NYC Marathon. This backlash — which continues on their pages today — could have easily been greatly reduced.

So yes, I think Mary should be fired.

17 comments on Should NYRR CEO Mary Wittenberg Be Fired?

katie
November 7, 2012 at 4:00 pm (12 years ago)

my thoughts exactly.

why it took them 18 hours to send out an email to runners saying the marathon was canceled boggles my mind.
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David H.
November 7, 2012 at 4:02 pm (12 years ago)

I think the organization’s Board of Directors (http://www.nyrr.org/about-us/board-of-directors) should put out a statement of regret regarding the situation, explain that they’re working with organizers, the city, sponsors and runners alike to assure this situation doesn’t happen again. Ultimately, I think she should be forced out of her position not because of what happened last week, but because of the communication issues you put forth here. I think, unfortunately, the decisions made were those made on a microphone by the mayor. You should see Mary’s interview on the Today Show. She was put in an awkward position because the mayor was pushing the race to move forward.
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j.
November 7, 2012 at 4:24 pm (12 years ago)

you said this so much better than i ever could have. almost a week after the race was cancelled and i am still blazing mad over how the entire thing was handled. it blows my mind that they sent out an email the a DAY after it was announced in a press conference. that is no way to run a business, and that’s no way to treat people who pay a LOT of money to participate in these races.

and to not have heard a single peep since the cancellation is also mind boggling. don’t we DESERVE to know what happens next? i understand that there are many details to be worked out, but i really feel as though they have no concept or care for any of the runners.
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Carrie M
November 7, 2012 at 4:52 pm (12 years ago)

Haha, you read my mind! I just posted this on their facebook page “In the past 5 days since I signed up the Richmond Marathon, I have posted questions on their facebook page and have gotten a response to every single question or comment within an hour. This organization could learn a thing or two (or a thousand) about communicating.” I 100% agree with you!!
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Carla
November 7, 2012 at 4:55 pm (12 years ago)

I agree that she shouldn’t be fired solely for the marathon cancelation, but I think people are being too quick to defend her by saying it wasn’t her choice. Bloomberg had tons of city-related issues to be concerned with in the aftermath of Sandy, whereas Mary ONLY had to worry about the marathon. When Bloomberg treated it like a blip on his radar, she should have canceled last Tuesday in good conscience instead of jumping at the opportunity to hide behind him and shrug that it was his call. Do people really doubt that if she’d proposed canceling it early on, Bloomberg would have agreed?

I love running and New York City races, so I’ll keep participating in NYRR events, but they definitely need a communications overhaul and an executive who actually has her runners’ best interests at heart. From not opening Brooklyn Half registration until well after people had to start training for a hypothetical race, to taking away marathon baggage check after charging an exorbitant fee and being met with opposition upon proposing its elimination, to insisting that the marathon would happen in the wake of a disaster and then saying “just kidding” at the last minute, she’s consistently proven that NYRR doesn’t have its shit together under her leadership.
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melissa
November 7, 2012 at 5:02 pm (12 years ago)

Wow, another controversial post from my favorite Tuesday blogger! Honestly, I don’t even understand how everything about the marathon got so out of hand. I completely agree that the communication after the race was canceled was horrendous. I still can’t believe people at and working the expo weren’t told it was canceled the second the decision was made. The email may have taken a lot of thought and careful wording, so even if I could understand it taking way longer than it should have. The website should have at least been updated and by now many more emails should have gone out. But let’s all agree that those coffee and bagels are not free 🙂
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Sam @ Mom At The Barre
November 7, 2012 at 5:12 pm (12 years ago)

I think she showed exceptionally poor leadership and she should step down. I do think Bloomberg played a major role in this to but I agree with another commenter that he was taking care of a myriad other things. Mary should have stepped up and cancelled this race long ago.

The communication has been terrible! They really need to do some damage control. I do think this will unfortunately affect the brand value of NYRR and the NYC marathon. I know that I am certainly not excited about running it next year.
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Katherine
November 7, 2012 at 9:09 pm (12 years ago)

I completely 100000% agree that the lack of communication from NYRR is unacceptable…all year round

I’m not saying she should, or shouldn’t be fired, but this basically reminds me of the way every start up that I’ve ever worked for, or with functions — makes big decisions with no plan of action. NYRR may not be a “start up,” but they are a small organization functioning as a big one…I think in general NYRR just needs to get their shit together. The NYC running community is awesome and we rely on NYRR — we need some love from them back!
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Christy
November 7, 2012 at 10:52 pm (12 years ago)

Dori, I couldn’t agree with you more. I’ve been a member of NYRR since 2010 and I’ve become more and more disenchanted with the organization with every race I’ve run and every scenario that has come up. This year’s marathon was an absolute nightmare. It boggles my mind how NYRR doesn’t have an entire STAFF of PR people to handle these kind of situations ESPECIALLY since NYRR gets its hands dirty in them at least twice a year, it seems. What drives me crazy is that the quality of NYRR races has significantly gone down while the cost of the races, along with Mary’s salary have drastically increased. NYRR is NOT by any stretch of the imagination, a running club. It’s a business and they need to stop pretending and make the official switch to being an organization. Rock n Roll is a business and people expect them to behave like one but NYRR continues to beg to be identified as a club but every running club I’ve ever known has maybe a $10-$20 annual fee and involves a group of people who lead runs. There is no CEO or Board of Directors and there is no cash flow involved. If NYRR wants to operate like a business, they need to do so and with all of the bells and whistles involved – including a PR team…and, after this year, a highly competent legal team.
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Julie @ Sweetly Balanced
November 8, 2012 at 10:05 am (12 years ago)

I completely agree with this!! I’m new to NYRR and actually I “think” I joined when I submitted for the lottery of the 2013 half, but never even received any kind of confirmation saying I’m not a member of NYRR… Not even sure if I am and can’t figure out how to find out!
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Therese D
November 8, 2012 at 3:01 pm (12 years ago)

NYRR now giving out medals to locals. go to this link for another example of NYRR lack of communication http://t.co/4qkwpw6t
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Megan@ Run Like a Grl
November 10, 2012 at 5:20 pm (12 years ago)

I completely agree about the lack of communication between NYRR and its members, its been getting worse too lately. Honestly they put on great races but theres so much lacking in terms of listening and relating to members. I wouldn’t be running with them so much this year if I wasn’t going for my 9+1, and next year I’ll be looking mainly for other organizations. Its just gotten so crazy!
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Megan
November 11, 2012 at 7:52 pm (12 years ago)

This is very well written and argued. Send it to the Times OpEd.
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Mel
November 14, 2012 at 10:42 am (12 years ago)

Well said, Dori! I’m not a runner myself, but I had been following the marathon drama since Sandy hit and this post definitely gave me a fuller picture of the whole NYRR controversy. This kind of glaring lack of content strategy/social media strategy (and customer service in general) isn’t excusable in this day and age. Bravo.
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