Comments on: Crisis Communication: Tiger Woods http://prtini.com/crisis-communication-tiger-woods/ Collaboration, Integration, Social Good. Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:14:37 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: heatherwhaling http://prtini.com/crisis-communication-tiger-woods/comment-page-1/#comment-1808 heatherwhaling Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:52:47 +0000 http://prtini.com/?p=921#comment-1808 Adam, I don't necessarily disagree with what you're saying, but do you think Tiger could have minimized some of the rumor-mongering by issuing a statement yesterday instead of today? There's nothing in today's statement that he couldn't have said yesterday. "If you're not quick, you're not relevant" is a theme commonly used around crisis comm. I wonder how that applies to this kind of situation? By not responding, has he created an even worse situation -- even if it's just temporary -- than necessary? That said, we do love our athletes, and we're awfully forgiving of them ... whatever the truth ends up being.<br><br>Thanks for commenting. Good points! :) Adam, I don't necessarily disagree with what you're saying, but do you think Tiger could have minimized some of the rumor-mongering by issuing a statement yesterday instead of today? There's nothing in today's statement that he couldn't have said yesterday. “If you're not quick, you're not relevant” is a theme commonly used around crisis comm. I wonder how that applies to this kind of situation? By not responding, has he created an even worse situation — even if it's just temporary — than necessary? That said, we do love our athletes, and we're awfully forgiving of them … whatever the truth ends up being.

Thanks for commenting. Good points! :)

]]> By: adamkmiec http://prtini.com/crisis-communication-tiger-woods/comment-page-1/#comment-1807 adamkmiec Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:38:45 +0000 http://prtini.com/?p=921#comment-1807 So let's break this down. Tiger Woods is worth millions; nearly a billion in fact. Traditionally, he keeps things close to the vest, ignores the media, and it's served him really well. What's the upside to speaking to the media from a business stand point? Because, let's be honest that's what this is; a business situation. I don't see any upside actually. I do see a lot of downside though. Let's say he comes out and says "I hit my wife, she hit me, I left in a hurry and crashed." Immediately he loses a few endorsements. He probably doesn't lose Nike, but a brand like Gilette might drop him. If he keeps his mouth shut he loses nothing. Hmm....from a dollars and cents standpoint he benefits more from keeping his mouth shut.<br><br>I see a lot of similarities between this situation and the Whole Foods CEO situation. So-called PR Pros were saying, gosh the CEO needs to apologize...he needs to speak out, he needs to make good because they Facebook boycotts are growing by the day. Well, he didn't apologize. He didn't speak out. He didn't make good. And by doing all of that he didn't lend any credibility to the boycotters and sales (and the stock price) have never been better.<br><br>If I were advising Tiger Woods, I'd tell him, "unless you did something criminal that's going to come out anyway, keep your mouth quiet, issue a formal statement, and go win a tournament...ideally a major." Winning has a way helping people forget other things. Michael Jordan followed this playbook for years and we've seen Tom Brady do it as well in recent years. Both have a teflon like quality now. So let's break this down. Tiger Woods is worth millions; nearly a billion in fact. Traditionally, he keeps things close to the vest, ignores the media, and it's served him really well. What's the upside to speaking to the media from a business stand point? Because, let's be honest that's what this is; a business situation. I don't see any upside actually. I do see a lot of downside though. Let's say he comes out and says “I hit my wife, she hit me, I left in a hurry and crashed.” Immediately he loses a few endorsements. He probably doesn't lose Nike, but a brand like Gilette might drop him. If he keeps his mouth shut he loses nothing. Hmm….from a dollars and cents standpoint he benefits more from keeping his mouth shut.

I see a lot of similarities between this situation and the Whole Foods CEO situation. So-called PR Pros were saying, gosh the CEO needs to apologize…he needs to speak out, he needs to make good because they Facebook boycotts are growing by the day. Well, he didn't apologize. He didn't speak out. He didn't make good. And by doing all of that he didn't lend any credibility to the boycotters and sales (and the stock price) have never been better.

If I were advising Tiger Woods, I'd tell him, “unless you did something criminal that's going to come out anyway, keep your mouth quiet, issue a formal statement, and go win a tournament…ideally a major.” Winning has a way helping people forget other things. Michael Jordan followed this playbook for years and we've seen Tom Brady do it as well in recent years. Both have a teflon like quality now.

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