A lot of sports on my mind lately, which isn’t surprising given the NCAA basketball tournament happening now. Yet, the biggest stories have happened outside of collegiate sports. Two stories in particular, in fact.
I’ve long held the belief that sports and business are like peas and carrots. Most people believe that sports ARE business, which is true. Sports are big business. But when I say sports and business are like peas and carrots, I mean that people who play sports at even a remotely high level transfer a certain skill set to business a little more easily than others. I’ve detailed many of those virtues before, here. Sometimes, people in business can learn from what they see from elite athletes and transfer that learning to business. Now, one could make the incredibly accurate point that there are many things we should NOT emulate from athletes. All the tabloid fodder and drama. Lack of awareness in certain situations. Lack of leadership. The list goes on.
But every once in a while, there are clear teaching moments for me. Or maybe not teaching moments, but “reminder” moments. Like:
1) The Denver Broncos signing of Peyton Manning, and Manning’s subsequent press conference.
If you want a public relations playbook, look at this example. You have one of the all-time greatest QB’s in Manning signed by a new team, spurned by his old team. The new team was perhaps the greatest story in all of sports last year, led by Tim Tebow and their playoff run. Manning gets signed, to replace Tebow no doubt, and holds a press conference as is standard. He gave several minutes of graceful commentary,which is lesson one. Humbled comments, from one of the best QB’s of all time. Then, the “Question and Answer” session after Manning gave his comments. Inevitably, someone asked him about the QB he was replacing. Again, gracefully, he talked about how much respect he had for Tebow, how much of an impact he had made on the game, and how much he held Tebow in high regard.
Nothing to see here. Move along, please.
It was really masterful, and not because it was a PR ploy. One listens to Peyton and believes that he believes what he’s saying. No drama. No tabloid headlines. No bad-mouthing. Just a great QB giving answers that have likely been rehearsed but don’t seem rehearsed. He answered the tough questions and moved on. Again…the word graceful comes to mind.
It is a great lesson for those of us in the public spotlight. A lesson that you can come across as a normal person even if you’re making $20MM a year, are the greatest ever at what you do, and can still show humility when the sharks are swarming waiting to trip you up.
Good for Peyton Manning. And good for Tim Tebow, who is classy and will handle the changes with class even though he will likely be traded.
2) Hank Haney, former coach of Tiger Woods, and his new book.
This one is a cautionary tale.
The coach-player relationship is a lot like the doctor-patient one. There is a lot of trust involved. There is a lot of things said and done that aren’t supposed to be public knowledge. I’m sure that is what Tiger Woods believed, too.
Well, now comes the new sure-to-be-best-selling book from Hank Haney detailing his relationship with Tiger Woods. Because, why on earth would anyone buy a book about Hank Haney? They wouldn’t. But Hank Haney telling stories about Tiger Woods training to be a NAVY SEAL and talking about what Tiger was like in private? People will buy that.
I can’t tell you how much Hank Haney churns my stomach. He wrote a book, and wrote the book detailing what happened “behind the ropes” with Tiger who is perhaps the most elusive and evasive champion of the modern era. His private life, through his own doing, has made its way into the public court of opinion despite his most ardent intentions. That’s Tiger’s fault. What I disagree with is how others, who were once trusted, are taking advantage of that. Do I feel sorry for Tiger? No. Do I think Hank Haney is turning his access to Tiger into opportunity? Yes. Do I think it is inappropriate? Yes.
I don’t particularly like Tiger, and don’t particularly root for him. But the lesson here is that his was a business relationship with his coach that also turned personal because of the amount of time spent between the two. That relationship fell on hard times. The coach squealed. Be careful who you associate with, as always. You never know when people will just flat-out turn on you. The flip side is that there are those relationships that are rock solid. I think we can all classify which relationships fall into the “flimsy” camp and which ones fall into the “solid” camp. Sure things change over time, but by and large, we have relationships that we know will either be doctor-patient and those that will be on the back page of the New York Post.