My friend Gwen Darling issued the challenge in her latest post “When Playing a Round Becomes a Career Hazard and I can not help myself but try to take the challenge on head-on. What is the challenge? Take the Tiger Wood’s situation and apply it to my topic, which is career acceleration. Gwen, please know that I couldn’t live with being labeled a chicken! Here goes, I hope I do as well as Gwen did with her post!
I understand that there is a long line of people judging and vilifying Tiger. Many of you may be in that camp. It is very easy to jump on the moral bandwagon and gang up on Tiger for his admitted infidelity. Many people I know do this same kind of ganging up on our co-workers, our boss, a vendor or other person that makes a BIG mistake or error in judgement at work. There was an equally large number of people doing the same to Bill Clinton when he “did not have sexual relations” in the Oval Office years ago including Newt Gingrich who I will get back to in a minute.
You can put me in a whole different camp. I feel the bigger opportunity is to rush to the assistance of the offending party. I feel incredibly sorry for Tiger, his wife Elin, and their children. Tiger is in deep do-do. Everything that he values besides golf could very easily come crumbling down. I know Tiger is embarrassed and very ashamed.
But you know what, I’d bet my BMW that if Tiger’s father was still alive, I am sure that Earl Woods would be in my camp. He would rush to Tiger’s side and although he would firmly communicate his disappointment privately, he would offer whatever assistance he could to help Tiger repair the damage he has done. He would commit himself to doing nothing else until he helped Tiger emerge from the mess he created.
Look, everyone makes mistakes and errors in judgement. Some mistakes are REALLY big ones. Was Bill Clinton’s judgement error really big? If you ask Newt Gingrich, he may now plead the 5th because at the very same time he joined the angry mob to throw stones at President Clinton, Gingrich was having an affair of his own! It may be that it is human nature to be highly critical of the morally fallen, but that does not make it right and it surely won’t help you accelerate your career. In my first and probably only Biblical quote in my blog, “let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.”
So I ask you, what if the next time someone really messed up at work, instead of jumping on the bandwagon to crucify the person further you committed your energy to helping them repair the damage they have done to their career and to the company. What if you helped them out of the deep hole they had dug and helped protect them from the clubs and arrows of the angry mob?
I will tell you what will happen because I have made a career of jumping into the worst messes that you can imagine at my employers and my clients. You will become very important to your company and/or your clients. You will develop deep relationships that last a lifetime. You will accelerate your career because your leadership in times of crisis will be observed by many.
I wish there was some way I could help Tiger and Elin, but I don’t even know them personally. So the best I can do is stay away from the angry mob. I will keep supporting the companies that stand by Tiger for as long as they support him. They have all made millions and possibly billions of dollars of Tiger for years. I will not continue to support those companies that dump him like my former employer Accenture. Tiger led me to buy Nike balls and Nike golf shirts because of his golf and his performance, not because of his (lack of) personal demons.
In summary, my career acceleration advice from Tiger’s situation is to do what Earl Woods would do for Tiger. Change your mindset to realize that there could be great opportunity for you to help your company and another individual when a large public mistake or gaff is made. Avoid the bandwagon of spear throwers, especially if you are gaffing in private at the same time.
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Joe,
I applaud you for accepting the challenging and tackling this delicate subject!
What you are asking people to do is definitely the most compassionate approach, as you are right — we’ve all made mistakes(and will continue to)! Where this gets tough is when personal experience/bias creeps in – then it becomes very very difficult to rise above those personal feelings and rush to the assistance of the offending party. Who knows – maybe the decision-maker at Accenture just went thru a financially and emotionally devastating divorce due to a spouse’s infidelity. Tiger has certainly proven one thing – you just never know what battles are truly being fought in a person’s “private” life.
Thanks for a very thought-provoking post and the guidance to take the high road, Joe. The next time I really mess up, I’ll know who to call!
G.
I think that most of the advertisers dropped Tiger AFTER he announced he was taking an indefinite hiatus from golf. This is a tough economy and when Tiger isn’t on TV, winning, doing miracles, etc. then that’s just a bad business decision. I have to tell you that the rumour mill, BEFORE all this, has it that Tiger was not very friendly to his fans – I know someone who spent $35K at a charity event for a round of golf with Tiger. It was not long after his knee surgery so I would not expect much. But he would not even SIGN AN AUTOGRAPH. Oh pooey on the certification and authentication process – someone could have arranged for that. And one more thing – if this was one affair, even two or three, that’s one thing. What is coming out, he had so many partners that he could have put his wife and children’s health at risk with unprotected sex. I understand the point you are trying to make – tie this into the work place but you need to find someone else worthy of saving. I too feel for Tiger, he needs help. Rumours are indicating he might even have an addiction. What he has done is SO AWFUL and OUTRAGEOUS that he deserves no mercy. You just wait and see, because I don’t think you are aware of everything I know (from friends and connections).
Gwen and Nancey – Thanks for your comments!
I think that Tiger has real issues that he must deal with. Domething deeper than what is being reported led him to be so reckless. I hope that there are at least a couple people in his inner circle that are willing to ignore the stone throwing so they can help him.
I would hope that if I ever sunk that low the people that I had helped (in Tiger’s case made millions of dollars for) over the years would be more inclined to help me than crucify me.
I understand that my opinion is controversial and does not follow conventional wisdom, but again, the point I am making in the post is that this approach has helped me and people that I coach accelerate our careers far faster than those that have followed conventional wisdom.
I love Joe’s approach as a friend or colleague or father. In that role, helping Tiger get through this family/personal/career maelstrom is the first priority. As for Accenture, Gillette, Nike and the rest, they have a business decision to make and their priority is going to be the best interests of their shareholders. Phil Knight at Nike, probably a friend as well as a sponsor, has his interests aligned and takes the long view. He has said that when Tiger’s career is over and one looks back, this will be a minor bump in the road. Moreover, Nike has tied its golf business to Tiger’s golf genius – its clubs, balls, sportswear – and Tiger remains the best golfer in the game. Accenture on the other hand, in its advertising, has linked its image to Tiger’s focus and integrity, not his golf, and that linkage is now problematic, to say the least. Nonetheless, when I look at Nike and Accenture’s different responses, I think to myself that Nike shows loyalty and Accenture is the front runner who bails on its partner at the first sign of trouble. I’ll take Joe’s, and Nike’s response.
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