What exactly is the lawyer trying to say? And why isn’t he simply saying it?
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A Public Affairs Officer for the Marines, Danny is an innovative and forward-thinking executive, with a passion for leveraging effective communications to fuel employee-engagement, build community goodwill, and drive profits.
Personally, I don’t really care to know what Tiger was doing crashing his Escalade into a tree. Nor do I care why his wife Ellen smashed the back window with Tiger’s golf club. Maybe it was to rescue him… maybe it wasn’t – I don’t care.
What I do care about is the horrible manner in which Tiger is managing his communications during this time. He further fueled the situation by allowing his lawyer to dictate what he should say to the media and the police. “It’s a family matter…” is a legalistic move that will damage Tiger’s chances at mitigating this issue and moving on with his life and career.
Here’s what he should’ve done:
1) Tell the truth. Celebrities don’t get to have secrets.
2) Tell the truth. This isn’t Napa Valley and bad news doesn’t get better with age.
3) Tell the truth. Formulate a communication strategy, execute the plan, and stick with it.
4) Then, tell the truth. Get out in front of the media and tell them what happened, again and again until they get sick of the same story.
5) Relegate your lawyer to legal matters, not communications.
By relying on lawyers, you may stay out of jail, however, life can continue to be miserable…, profits can continue to tank…, and worst of all, your reputation or your company’s reputation can be ruined for life.
A Communication Counselor’s involvement is absolutely necessary during times when the media is on a feeding frenzy.
Unfortunately, the “Tiger Woods” brand has now been inflicted by the media and its audiences.
Fortunately, the American audience is a forgiving public.
Tiger: communication takes work – hire someone. SOON!
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A Public Affairs Officer for the Marines, Danny is an innovative and forward-thinking executive, with a passion for leveraging effective communications to fuel employee-engagement, build community goodwill, and drive profits.
My tongue is still suffering from blood loss from the biting I give it every time I find myself dealing with teachers from my children’s schools. 
The teachers are well educated with most holding at least a master’s degree from an accredited school. From what I can tell, most have been teaching for a minimum of 10-15 years if not longer.
So why is it so difficult to communicate with them?
I wrote a simple email to one teacher requesting information about my child’s yearbook today. Here’s the email I sent and received… (of course, you’ll need to read from the bottom up.)
Danny Chung,
You can send them to me and i will pass them to the appropriate student, A***e B**d thanks P R*****h
>>> <Danny.Chung@******.***.mil> 11/30/2009 12:18 PM >>>
Mr. R*****h,
I have submitted a form for a personalized “dedication” page in the yearbook and would like some information as to the details of when and to whom I should submit the photos.
Thank you,
-Danny Chung
As you can see, the teacher didn’t bother with a salutation, proper punctuation, nor any semblance of sentence structure. Most importantly, he fails to address my request for “details”. He simply writes back as quickly as possible with little regard for what I am requesting. This is a complete failure to communicate! And this is not an isolated incident. From the front office, to the counselors, and to the very teachers, whether speaking on the telephone or by email, this example is about as good as it gets.
This is a rudimentary skill that is clearly lacking in our public schools. How are we to expect our students to go out and get jobs if the very teachers educating them cannot lead by example?
More to the point of searching for that “dream job”, remember what you write can have serious consequences. Whether they are positive or negative depends entirely upon you.
How will you brand yourself?
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A Public Affairs Officer for the Marines, Danny is an innovative and forward-thinking executive, with a passion for leveraging effective communications to fuel employee-engagement, build community goodwill, and drive profits.