The Wall Street Journal and Washington Times both published articles on Wed., Dec. 2 about Tiger Wood’s management of his personal crisis – the car accident and reported affairs. Both articles provide readers with an excellent reminder of the importance of communicating in a timely manner and being as transparent as possible during a crisis.
In the Washington Times article titled, ’Woods Facing a Public Relations Bogey, Writer Tim Lemke contrasts how other athletes such as Alex Rodriguez and Michael Phelps have come clean and responded quickly to serious personal mistakes. As a result, they were able to significantly mitigate the damage to their reputations and careers.
Writer Dana Mattioli provides a similar perspective in the Wall Street Journal article, ’Tiger Bungles Crisis Management 101. She shares an example of how the executive management team of JetBlue failed to respond in a timely manner to a crisis around an ice storm which left passengers stranded. As a result of the lack of response from JetBlue, there was significantly more outrage from passengers and the CEO was forced out of his job just three months later.
Whereas when Maple Leaf Foods, a Canadian food-maker, faced a listeria outbreak, its CEO responded immediately by apologizing in ads and in interviews with the media. In this case, Maple Leafís response was considered a success and the CEO kept his job.
As a PR professional who has provided counsel around situations in which companies have unexpectedly found themselves caught up in crisis, I found both of these articles to be spot on in their recommendations. In the case of Tiger Woods, it is yet to be seen how his lack of acknowledgement of this situation will impact his reputation and career.
However, in the heat of the moment, when people are embarrassed or fearful, it is not always easy to remember the importance of quickly acknowledging mistakes, but it is often the right thing to do.