The “eyes” of the Tiger

So I will try not to tread on ground already covered in the few hours since the Tiger Woods Presidential Address.  But as someone who professes to do crisis management for a living here are some of the highlights.

– It is very difficult to come off genuine and natural in such a controlled environment.  The handpicked audience, single lecture, two-camera (one of which failed about two-thirds of the way through, btw), blue background set the tone that was hard for most to get over.  More on this in a minute.

– He was obviously coached to use the “pregnant pause” before each apology and to look straight into the camera when talking about his wife and kids.  This comes off more as fake than genuine.

– It seemed to me that the only time he truly felt emotion it was more in anger for those who hounded his family than it was for sadness over the events.

– It was obvious that he is in a self-help program of some sort since much of the language could be borrowed from their teachings.

– It took way too long to specifically address his affairs and infidelity as he used the phrase “my behavior” many times before saying the word “affair.”

– Woods went way out of his way early in the speech to remind people about all the philanthropic work he does.  He may have couched it in an apology to folks who work for his foundation, but don’t be fooled that reminder was extremely intentional.

– He was smart (you can make an argument about how sincere this was) to thank Accenture and his fellow players.  He’s been trashed by the folks on the tour for holding this newser during the match play event this weekend.

I will pass on things like “he should have said more about that night,” or “I want to know more about the affairs.”  that’s his business.  I will also pass on all those who think the Buddhism thing is contrived, maybe, maybe not.

What will stick with me most is the orchestrated use of the main camera until it bugged out.  You need to be a pro to pull off that look straight into the camera.  Some can do it well and make it come off naturally, some can’t.

Tiger can’t.

When he looked right into the camera with his eyes it screamed to me “THEY TOLD ME TO DO THIS TO MAKE A POINT SO NOW I’M DOING IT.”  It was almost a mixed blessing for him when the main camera failed two-thirds through.  That way it wouldn’t have turned more people off than it did.

A key indicator of the “eyes” factor is my wife was unable to watch the feed but listened to it in the car.  When we met up for a lunch meeting, she told me how great she thought Tiger did and how he covered all the points in very effective way.

In true Nixonian fashion, Tiger might have talked the talk, but the camera and eyes never lie.