Impression Management & Dave Ramsey
On November 6, 2019, The Nashville Scene published an article by journalist, Steven Hale, titled “Deposition: Yes, Dave Ramsey Pulled Out a Gun in a Staff Meeting.”
The article went on to explain that in a 2014 piece published in The Daily Beast, a former employee had alleged that Dave Ramsey had pulled a loaded pistol out of a gift bag to teach a lesson about gossip.
In the November 2019 article in the Nashville Scene, journalist, Steven Hale wrote, “Well, that crazy anecdote has now been confirmed, under oath, in a deposition by a longtime Ramsey employee.”
In that article, The Nashville Scene linked to the entire transcript of a deposition from a lawsuit that the Lampo Group (the legal name of Ramey Solutions) was involved in at the time. In that deposition, Nashville attorney, Daniel Horwitz asked longtime Ramsey employee, Jack Boone Galloway, Jr, “Has Dave Ramsey ever pulled a gun out of a bag to try to teach a lesson about gossip?”
The attorney representing the Lampo Group objected to the question but told Galloway he could answer.
Galloway responded by saying, “Yes.”
I remember seeing that article shortly after it was published and I read a lot of the comments mentioning it on social media. The overwhelming consensus of the tweets and FB comments, that I saw, were pushing back against pulling out a loaded gun as an object lesson. They argued that it crossed a line.
Shortly after that article was published, there was a staff meeting at Ramsey Solutions, in which Dave Ramsey addressed the outcry. I had a chance to hear his response.
Here is a portion of it (there is mention of sexual violence in this audio):
Ramsey represented the pushback as atheists and liberals who were upset that he carried a gun. He never once mentioned that their outcry had been about him pulling the gun out as an object lesson.
He also said that someone on social media had accused the company of covering up rapes. I did see one individual post on Twitter and on FB an allegation of covering up a rape. I have no knowledge of this alleged incident, but I have some serious concerns about it, nonetheless.
Ramsey also told the employees that if they ever had to say that sometimes he was a little “kooky” they should resign. He didn’t want them there:
“But what amounts to is is that people that are angry about politics. They're angry about atheism versus people of faith. They're angry about evangelicalism versus progressive forms of Christianity.”
“If you ever reach the point that you agree with some of them, um, and you're not proud to be here, I completely understand. I'm not mad at you at all, but don't work someplace you think the CEO is a nutcase”. . . “that says something about you. It doesn't say anything about me.”
“Don't stay in a place you're ashamed of the people. Uh, that would be silly on your part. So please, please don't do that. Please quit. Get out of here before I find you. . .”
I found the gap between what was actually being said and how Ramsey represented it, to be fascinating. I wondered if his very intentional use of language was a way to attempt to protect the image of the organization and himself.
I asked impression management expert Dr. Wade Mullen if he would listen to the audio and share what he observed and comment on what might be happening. You can listen to our conversation here. I also had a follow-up conversation with two former Ramsey Solutions employees. They shared what it was like to sit in on meetings like this one and what it’s like to listen to this now that they are on the outside. You can find that episode here.