Photo found at www.boston.com

Henry Blodgett has an interesting post on the Olympic committee’s take on the unfortunate death of the Olympic luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.  After an investigation, they are laying the blame on Nodar.   As Blodgett puts it:

“In other words, Nodar’s death had nothing to do with the fact that, because of the track design, he was going 90 miles per hour (15 mph faster than older tracks), had only a few milliseconds to “make correct entrance into curve 16″ after exiting Curve 15 (which the lugers have dubbed the 50-50 curve on account of your odds of exiting it without crashing), and then flew out of a track that, with a small nod to safety, could easily have been covered with netting, Plexiglas, or higher walls and not flanked by immovable steel poles.”

We see this often when crises happen.   The company or organization immediately promises to “conduct an investigation,” and then the unfortunate victim is somehow blamed, rather than any responsibility incurred by the organization.   I’m not a luger nor have I ever seen the track up close.   I know it’s a dangerous sport.   I also think that if you’ve made it as far as the Olympics, you’re pretty much the gold standard and just about as perfect an athlete as one can be.   Errors would be few and far between.

It makes me wonder how many more organizations might be willing to own up and take some blame if there were no lawyers, no fear of culpability in terms of financial pain.    PR strategies aren’t perfect, but this response seems to be a little too much on the “let’s distance ourselves from any wrongdoing so as to avoid lawsuits.”

"Young Frankenstein" 1974

The PR blogs are abuzz with differing opinions on how Tiger should have handled his 2:30 a.m. car fiasco.  Fraser Seitel, a crisis management expert and author of “Practice of Public Relations,” wrote an open letter to Tiger on Nov. 30th listing 5 critical PR moves Tiger should make right away.   Seitel represents one side of the PR debate, one with which I agree:   Go public, do it yourself, do it Tuesday, get it out, learn from your mistake.

Another view, represented by elite PR specialists such as Brian Solis, feels that Tiger should take time to compose his response before going to the media, and has a right as a private citizen to do so.

A third perspective is that Tiger owes no one an explanation, has committed no crime, and by coming forth he is “breaking into jail.”  You can see a good rundown of differing opinions on my fellow blogger Len Gutman’s post, The Trouble With Tiger.  

Well, as we all know today, he finally spilled the beans, and our worst fears were confirmed.   He admitted to “transgressions” without going into detail.     So what’s my armchair quarterback analysis?

I think David Letterman is a good example of how to handle a really bad situation.    When his affair with the intern came to light, he went public immediately.    American culture in particular seems to be more forgiving of the sin when the admission of guilt comes early, rather than being withheld.    When the celebrity retreats and dodges questions from the media, we become like the wild pack of villagers storming the walls to find Frankenstein.   We’re almost Monty Pythonesque in our quick ability to forgive and forget if the culprit steps forward and takes his beating.   Can’t you see it?   Frankenstein steps outside the wall, tells the crowd, “Hey, I did choke a few people to death, and maimed a few others, but I was feeling really bad that day and I’m going to take a sabbatical and get in tune with myself.”  And the crowd murmurs, “Oh well, in THAT case…” and fades away.   

Handling public relations crises means understanding human nature and human behavior.  It means realizing that no one who conducts an activity or profession under televised scrutiny, whether it’s politics, sports, or movies, is truly a “private” person.    It’s completely disingenous to claim otherwise.    The fame and fortune tied to those careers have the downside of 2:30 a.m. mistakes that become widely known.  

We wince for Tiger.   We know he has played the game with sportsmanlike character.   The least that someone of his stature owes us is quick acknowledgement so that they can tell the story their way, as best they can, in a 24×7 world.  I’m rooting for you, Tiger.   Today’s announcement was a step in the right direction.   A tad slow, but a good step.

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