Feb 22nd
CEO blogger, Michael Hyatt, is one of the people I make it a point to read on a regular basis. He’s a shining example of how a CEO can position a blog to work in favor of a large corporation. Aside from that, I just enjoy reading what he writes. Content. Style. Deep thinking. Bravery in his editorial choices. It’s all there.
Today, his post, What Does Tiger Wood’s Apology Require of You?, stopped me in my typical morning routine and made me consider the bigger picture. Tiger Woods has been the focus of intense public scrutiny, since the week after Thanksgiving, for is multiple affairs and marital problems. And yes, I believed be earned the press that he received. He messed up. Big time. No excuse for what he did. Ever.
Here’s an excerpt from Micheal’s post to chew on. By all means though, go back, click the last link and read the whole post. It will be good for you to do so. I promise.
“Last Thursday, I watched the Tiger Woods press conference in amazement. I was stunned at his candor. He didn’t sugar-coat his sin. Instead, he repeatedly acknowledged the magnitude of his wrongdoing and the scope of its impact.”
If you can’t see this video in your RSS reader or email, then click here.It is worth reading or watching the statement in its entirety. It contains several important lessons. However, these three paragraphs summed up his thoughts:
“The issue involved here was my repeated irresponsible behavior. I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did is not acceptable. And I am the only person to blame. I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in.
I knew my actions were wrong. But I convinced myself that normal rules didn’t apply. I never thought about who I was hurting. Instead, I thought only about myself. I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by. I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn’t have to go far to find them.
I was wrong. I was foolish. I don’t get to play by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me. I brought this shame on myself. I hurt my wife, my kids, my mother, my wife’s family, my friends, my foundation, and kids all around the world who admired me.”
I’ll be honest, I was moved by Tiger’s confession. It is rare for celebrities to accept responsibility for their sins, understand the full scope of the damage they have caused and express such remorse for their actions. At the end of the press conference, I tweeted:
Almost immediately, I received several direct messages from people who thought I was naive. One person wrote, “It was totally scripted. I don’t believe a word of it.” Another said, “It was a PR stunt. He’s just trying to salvage his sponsorships. He will be right back at it once he’s away from public scrutiny.” Still another wrote, “If I were his wife, I would have dumped him long ago. I could never forgive someone who had cheated on me that many times.”
Maybe they are right.
However, during this season of Lent, my church prays an ancient and beautiful prayer by St. Ephraim the Syrian (ca. 306-373). It says:
“O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, faintheartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to your servant.
Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own sin and not to judge my brother, for You are blessed from all ages to all ages. Amen.”
I have been especially struck by the last sentence. Consequently, I am trying to avoid the sin of unforgiveness, especially during this season. Jesus stated plainly: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14, 15).
Michael goes on to outline what he feels are his five responsibilities, driven by his Faith, on how he should regard Tiger’s apology. If you missed the first link, here it is again. (I’m stressing this for a reason.)
Double-Edged Sword of Transparency
This is what baffles me.
We live in this crazy age where things like blogs and Facebook and human brands have ignited a call for transparency and the admission of mistakes. That paradigm shift rings true on both a personal level (humans, leaders, CEOs, sports figures, etc.), but also in the face of entities (corporations, small businesses, religious organizations, non-profits, etc.).
Yet, more often than not, when one of the above culprits makes a decision to come clean with a sincere admission of guilt, we as a society are fast to scrutinize that effort. Why is that? Why do we affix ourselves to negativity and attitudes that lack forgiveness? Are we all perfect? Is anyone?
It seems that once a mistake is made, this old adage takes hold: “damned if you do, damned if you don’t…” It’s no wonder then that for the past 20+ years people and organizations have been sucked into the “spin” mentality of public relations, finding ways to weave meaning and dodge responsibility by simply crafting the right messages. Entire firms, mostly PR, (sorry, guys) have been built on the idea of spin.
Like Michael, I find the public’s reaction to Tiger’s admission of guilt and responsibility a bit frustrating. My opinion is simply this: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone…“
What’s your take?
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