Two recent high-profile scandals, leaving those at the centre out-of-pocket and with their reputations in tatters, have reinforced the keystone of good crisis management: tell the truth, tell it all, tell it fast.
Let’s start at home with the continuing saga of the Chiefs and Scarlette. This was a reputation management case study in what not to do. The fall-out was immediate, and the reputational damage continues as the saga widens.
Putting aside any moral judgement around whether the Chiefs should have hired an exotic dancer at their Mad Monday function – and how she alleges they treated her – the Chief’s management and their sponsor made fundamental errors in their responses.
One initially took a moral public position on stripping as a profession; the other candidly suggested Scarlette was somehow contributing to the alleged poor behaviour as she chose to take her clothes off “in a room full of young men”.
Unsurprisingly, these responses were in themselves newsworthy – and they helped carry the story over many news cycles, despite both the coach and sponsor later apologising. Had they acknowledged that the incident had occurred, immediately insisted on a comprehensive inquiry, and made it clear any such alleged behaviour would not be tolerated, then the poison would have been sucked out of the sting.
The name of United States swimming star and Olympic pin-up Ryan Lochte will now forever be associated with the words ‘over-exaggerate’. Let’s ignore for a moment that there is no such thing as ‘over-exaggerating’ – you either tell the truth, or you exaggerate – Lochte’s fall from grace has many of the same hallmarks as that of the Chiefs.
There is no doubt the details of the incident are clouded, with recent claims that maybe the security guards involved were asking for “reparation payments” for bathroom damage the U.S swimmers now don’t appear to have been responsible for (as previously suggested).
His current situation could have been significantly mitigated had he not made a short-term (reactionary) decision to make up an (exaggerated) alternative reality about what happened. Whatever the end facts are, many now simply won’t believe him.
Imagine the difference to his credibility had he told the truth and apologised. “I was intoxicated. I made up a story, and I am sincerely sorry. I was an idiot, but the suggestion I was involved in destroying a public washroom is incorrect. We never went into the washroom. I damaged a wall poster and that was plain dumb. It won’t happen again.”
Humans have a great capacity for forgiveness. If someone admits a mistake and makes a genuine apology, more often than not we will accept it and move on – particularly if we believe it won’t happen again.
Instead, he clung to a meaningless phrase (‘over-exaggerate’) which was neither an admission of guilt nor explanation, and then repeated it almost every minute during a lengthy interview that made international headlines. (And no doubt became the subject of countless ‘over-exaggeration’ comedy montages.)
His tone and manner during the interview had to be believable. They weren’t. Whatever the circumstances, he needed to come across as human and honest. His performance didn’t achieve the latter, and that is what he now will be remembered for.
This 12-time Olympic medallist has lost millions in sponsorship according to media reports, with many of his sponsors, including Speedo and Ralph Lauren, quickly dropping him
Sadly, his Olympic achievements have been overshadowed, and his (reputation) legacy is in tatters.