What If You Lost Your Tiger Woods?
Could you and your team absorb the loss of a star player? You have to adjust expectations, be creative, and listen to customers and co-workers
by John Baldoni
Posted on Leadership at Work: June 23, 2008 10:31 AM
If Tim Finchem, commissioner of the PGA Tour, had in any degree worries prior to June 18, they will pale in similitude to the biggest worry he faces now. Tiger Woods, the game’s brightest doom and the Tour’s most important revenue generator, determination undergo major knee surgery and error the leavings of the year. That includes two more majors (signature events that draw the biggest audiences), the FedEx Cup series (a points challenge like NASCARs designed specifically to maintain season-long interest in the joviality), and the Ryder Cup (U.S. vs. Europe exhibition in which, even with Tiger, the U.S. has struggled to win).
On the deportment, Tiger is without a contemporary companion. Majors are golf’s constant measuring rod and Tiger’s won more (14) than any other player except Jack Nicklaus. Tiger draws millions to the sport on TV and tens of thousands to tournament sites; galleries and ratings swell while Tiger plays. Record crowds of more than 50,000 per day attended this year’s U.S. Open, where Woods won in a dramatic playoff.
And now all that’s gone for the year. Imagine Microsoft having to take Windows off the shelves because of 6 months. Or if not oblique when competitors lined up new variable phones by touch screens, Apple had to withdraw the iPhone. That’s what Finchem faces. Senior leaders in every walk of life face adversity. Their dignity depends upon their consummation in this exact type of pressure. So if you are Finchem what do you do? Three things!
1. Adjust expectations. Acknowledge that box post appeal is hurt and don’t pretend otherwise. Woods is a force of humor, the only reason that fortuitous non-golfers will watch the sport. Be frank about how his absence will hurt the draw at topical tournaments (that, by the way, use generated funds to support local charities). Find ways the PGA and the sponsors can make good on the expected losses.
2. Talk to sponsors. PGA Golf works by individual sponsors (e.g. AT&T, Buick or Federal Express) who horde tournaments during the time that a means of promotion. Find ways to deliver for these people who pay your pay and put up the prize money. Think creatively on the eve to what degree to keep possession of interest in the game and in positive tournaments that don’t include the big draw. Sit down with Fed Ex to figure out how to add some luster to this fledgling series of season-ending tournaments. Not having Tiger in this series will send TV ratings spiraling downward.
3. Stay close to your players. Finchem, according to a recent Wall Street Journal meeting, has made a habit of meeting independent players regularly to listen and learn. He would do well to add cheerleading to his conversations. With no Tiger in the field, now is the suitable for younger golfers to seize the stage, make themselves better known. And seasoned pros can score a tournament or major victory and originate their own come. Finchem must make the other players as compelling to come to the degree that Tiger. He must do what he have power to to publicize them and their talents.
Just as businesses learn to cope with ups and downs in their product cycles, professional golf will survive in the short-term without Tiger. In the shabby time, Finchem has couple key challenges: Hold the attract of the loyal fans and keep the sponsors blest. It will not subsist easy but now is the time for genuine leadership. The kind of leadership that Tiger exemplified in winning the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines with a damaged knee and a broken tibia—practiced skills, acute self-confidence, and a hard reservoir of viscera and essence. Which, it turns out, is not a bad digest of what Finchem must demonstrate after this.
