Incremental apologies aren’t effective

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By Lauren | December 28, 2009

It’s hard to watch what’s happening to Tiger Woods, whose situation keeps deteriorating as more and more women step forward claiming to have had relationships with him. It’s no wonder that The Star recently reported that Woods’ staff was quietly packing up his boat, ironically dubbed “Privacy,” for what could be an extended get-away. If I was in his position, I’d want to get away for a while, too.

The problem Woods faces is that his initial mea culpa is all too quickly being dwarfed by the avalanche of new revelations that have followed it. At first, it looked as though Woods was going to be able to avoid telling the whole ugly truth. At this point, however, he seems to have a difficult choice. If he doesn’t talk, someone else surely will. And once she does (okay, I’m making an assumption here), Woods will need to apologize for just that much more.

Woods’ situation demonstrates the dangers of what I call “incremental apology.” It’s a mistake public figures make all the time. They issue an initial apology without saying very much, hoping that they can avoid losing too much face. Then, details emerge, stories deepen, and they’re forced to go back and apologize again, with vastly diminished credibility.

It’s a pity that Tiger Woods, an astonishingly talented athlete who always seemed like a really nice guy, has put himself in the middle of such an absolute mess. Maybe he can ride out the storm and rehabilitate his brand when the fracas dies down. But he’d be smart to just bite the bullet, tell the whole story, and apologize for everything he’s done. Anything short of that probably won’t be enough to satisfy all of the people who are just waiting for the next stilleto-heeled pump to drop.

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