Judging Tiger: How'd he do?

Corporations, the military, public agencies and educational institutions that find themselves under the media microscope during crisis are often judged harshly by the media and the public. We—the public, and the media, tend to hold them to high standards for what they say, what they do and how quickly and decisively they act to answer our questions, dispel rumors, set the record straight and solve the problems they seem to have created.

So, based on the criteria that we at BMF use to judge successful crisis communications, how did one of the world’s most widely recognized and most popular public figures…a man who is paid millions of dollars to rent his solid gold image to boost the images (and sales) of an endless array of brands and products...do in managing his own crisis and protecting his own reputation?

Using several of BMF’s 10 fundamentals of successful crisis communications and not withstanding the fact that Tiger’s private life is really none of our business, here’s our version of Tiger’s scorecard:


Prompt/Timely:

There’s no way around this one. Tiger basically botched this hole by waiting way too long, not only to issue a formal public statement but also in canceling meetings with local law enforcement. The combination of the two, left the imagining public and news media not only to draw our own conclusions but also to dig deeper into the story behind the story.

Score: quadruple bogey


Decisive:

Tiger, like a lot of corporate executives under the gun, made the fatal mistake of thinking that with the passage of time, we’d all stop caring, that somehow we’d all suddenly lose interest and move on to gawk at someone else. Time alone does not always heal all wounds. Sometimes it needs a good swift kick in the pants and some decisive, credible action and public statement to help it down the path to yesterday’s news.

Tiger seems legitimately stunned by the public’s interest and the intense media scrutiny he’s faced. In reality, how could the world’s first billion dollar athlete expect anything less?

Score: triple bogey


Honesty:

This one’s strictly a guess as no one really knows whether he told the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Media accounts have documented several more alleged relationships with other women, some of whom have stepped forward for their 15-minutes of fame and media spotlight. Since Tiger has not really addressed lingering questions regarding these alleged relationships, he’s basically telling us only half of the story, forcing us to draw our own conclusions which probably don’t work in his favor.

Score: bogey


Compassion:

In issuing (finally) a public statement on the accident and the issues surrounding the entire affair, Tiger does a good job of standing up for his wife, urging privacy for the family’s sake and in acknowledging his personal failings. There can be little doubt that he is genuinely sorry. Whether he’s sorry for something other than hitting a fire hydrant (or is just sorry he got caught) remains to be seen.

To a very large extent, in fact, Tiger seemed more intent on blaming the media and the viewing public for their high level of interest in his travails. He lashed out at the media, somehow
forgetting the love fest he’s enjoyed with them since entering the public eye. Instead, he comes across as arrogant and seems to view himself as the victim. This is not the way to win friends and influence people.

Score: double bogey


Solution driven:

The number one thing crisis planners strive for is for the issue at hand to be resolved and for the issue to “go away”. As stated above however, many times it is up to those under the spotlight
to do what’s necessary for that to happen. It’s all about taking control and setting the tone. In reality, Tiger’s actions were too little too late to salvage the situation and to preserve his reputation as Mr. Clean.

Score: triple bogey


To his credit, Tiger has done an outstanding job of building his PR “good will bank” and his account is far from empty despite these tawdry allegations and semi-admissions. The jury of public opinion is still out on this one and with the passage of time things seem likely to get worse than better. Lost endorsement contracts are poised to pile up. Lost prestige and a badly tarnished image demand immediate attention and far more from Tiger than he’s been willing to give us thus far.