No media interview would ever last as long as the grilling Mike Ashley faced from MPs earlier this week but important lessons can still be learnt from his appearance.
The Sports Direct boss rarely speaks to media and was extremely reluctant to appear before the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee – until they threatened him with being in contempt of Parliament.
The hearing, which you can see here, looked into practices in his business, in particular conditions at its Shirebrook warehouse, amid reports of staff effectively being paid below the minimum wage and warnings for spending too long in the toilet, excessive chatting or taking a day off sick.
So how did Mr Ashley cope with this grilling? What can other business leaders who may need to face a similar committee meeting learn? And what lessons can media spokespeople learn, especially those who may face journalists in a crisis media management situation?
Avoid short answers
Mr Ashley began his evidence with a series of short responses which did little to dispel the impression of a man who really did not want to be there.
In reply to an opening question about the status of a review into working practices at Sports Direct he simply said ‘work in progress’ and when asked when it would be completed he replied ‘never’.
The problem with one sentence or even, as in this case, one word answers, is that they simply invite more questions. They can also, as they did in this case, make you appear defensive and combative.
It doesn’t matter whether you are appearing before MPs or being interviewed by the media, short answers that give control to the interviewer should be avoided.
Fortunately, as the hearing went on, Mr Ashley warmed to the task and slowly started to deliver fuller answers with much more energy and enthusiasm.
Body language
It is important to get your body language right from the start in a media interview – it takes the viewing public less than 30 seconds to decide whether they trust the interviewee or not.
Mr Ashley looked more like a sulky teenager than a business leader in the opening stages sitting wearily in his chair, rolling his eyes and refusing to acknowledge the committee chairman’s light-hearted remark about his Newcastle United tie with even the faintest of smiles.
As with his answers, the body language developed and became more expressive as the hearing progressed.
In fact, later on his constant hand movements became quite distracting for the viewer. It’s a fine balance that needs careful consideration and individual coaching. What works well for one person, situation or topic may not work for others.
Repeating the question
Particularly in the early stages of the hearing Mr Ashley had a tendency to buy himself a little thinking time by repeating the question he had just been asked.
There is nothing wrong trying to buy yourself some time in an interview, but if you do it regularly you run the risk of irritating the audience.
Also, if you are simply repeating the questions you may end up repeating the negative language used by the questioner. Is this something you really want to do?
You will notice that politicians often try to gain some thinking time by saying ‘I’m glad you asked me that’ or ‘that’s a good question’. This is an alternative approach that, so long as it’s not overused, can work well. The key is to develop a number of tactics (pausing is another) so that you don’t overuse any one approach.
Strong sound bites
Mr Ashley became more passionate as the hearing progressed and with that passion and enthusiasm came some strong quotes.
He opened up and sounded human and honest, admitting failings and areas which could be improved.
He sounded like a man talking to his friends, a good trait for any spokesperson.
Here are a few quotes that made him stand out as honest, passionate and in control:
“There will be occasions when Sports Direct deserves the cane”
“I’m going to put my foot in my mouth and I’m going to say what is in my heart.”
“The buck will always stop with me. I’m the original founder and am responsible for its biggest failures and its biggest successes.”
Control
As the passion entered the responses a lack of control also began to emerge.
This was not just shown in increasingly rambling responses, but also in his clear disdain at the some of the questions he was asked, particularly by committee member Paul Bloomfield.
Here some of the negative body language which had been evident earlier on returned and Mr Ashley seem close to losing his temper.
There is a difference between being forceful and getting into an argument, whether it is with an MP or a journalist. Getting into an argument and showing you are rattled will not help you fight your corner.
No comment
Right at the very end the committee chairman tried two, as he put it, questions going ‘off on a tangent’ relating to BHS.
Bizarrely, Mr Ashley's PR advisor Keith Bishop, sounding more like a solicitor in a police interview, advised ‘no comment’ answers.
That advice felt at odds with the overall tone of the hearing and is certainly something that should not be said in a media interview even if you are not expecting the question. Using the phrase in an interview will encourage the reporter to pursue that particular line of questioning and suggests you have something to hide.
Pleasingly Mr Ashley ignored the advice.
Media training
At one point Mr Ashley threatened to ‘clam up’ because he did not think a particular series of questions were ‘fair’. He then added that he could not be media trained – we would beg to differ.
In our view all spokespeople need to have had recent and realistic media training and it clearly would have helped Mr Ashley in this instance.
Despite having his PR adviser sat next to him throughout the hearing Mr Ashley at times appeared ill prepared for the questioning and potentially strong messages were at times lost amongst rambling answers.
Media, impact and presentations training would also have helped him address some of his other failings here such as avoiding short answers and poor body language.
Media First are media and communications training specialists with over 30 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers.
Click here to find out more about our highly practical Media training courses and presentation training.
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