I have another “T” word for you this month. TRUST. Last month I gave some opinions on three brands that began with the letter “T” – Tiger, Tylenol, and Toyota. While the most recent Tylenol crisis has faded from the headlines, there was an incredible amount of media coverage on both Tiger and Toyota. Both of them are certainly still in the midst of dramatic and damaging crises, the fallout from which will continue for some time.

A huge amount of column inches and video footage has been consumed by the public statements of both Tiger Woods and the Chairman of Toyota and the subsequent commentary by all manner of experts. I agree with some of these experts and disagree with others on issues of the timing and delivery of the statements as well as their content. But since I am going to hold to my promise to my subscribers to keep my e-zine an “under three minute read,” I won’t go into all of that. I just want to point out two main things about their public performances.

EYE CONTACT REMAINS VITAL

In Tiger Woods’ case, we saw an excellent example about the need for people on the firing line to keep eye contact with their audience if they hope to be believed. I drum this lesson into my clients in our workshops. If you can’t look people in the eye when you are talking to them (in person or in an interview), it means – to all body language experts as well as the man in the street – that you are not being truthful. In the carefully managed physical set-up of Tiger’s statement, he required that there be only two cameras in the room – one focused on him at the podium and another set up behind him. For the first nine minutes, thee camera on him was employed. Since he was using it to address all of the people watching him on TV, he was obviously advised to look directly into that camera when he looked up from his script. It helped him connect with the audience and made him look more credible. His message was certainly compelling. As we watched, we hung on his every word.

But nine minutes into it, the screen went dark for a few seconds. Murphy’s law was in effect, and there was a camera malfunction. The second camera kicked in, and for the last four minutes of his presentation, we never saw Tiger’s eyes. We saw his profile, his mother, business associates and friends. I don’t know about you, but my mind started to wander as I became distracted watching what those people in the audience were doing. And – most importantly – I couldn’t see Tiger’s eyes so that I could judge his sincerity, especially when he pleaded at the end for people to give him a chance to prove that they could believe in him again. He was asking us to trust that he will now do the right things, but we weren’t as compelled because we’d lost the ability to look him in the eye.

MESSAGE CONTENT IS IMPORTANT TOO

In our workshops, we talk a lot about the fact that a heartfelt apology is oftentimes needed during a crisis. I’ll fight tooth and nail against those who say an apology is always an indication of weakness and an invitation to a lawsuit. When lawyers adamantly insist that “No comment” is the only answer, I ask management teams to reconsider. I recommend bringing in legal counsel to advise them how to word their statements so that they can apologize when that is warranted, but do it in a way that minimizes the chance that the public will want to sue them. I was therefore shocked to hear Mr. Toyoda’s comments in his congressional hearing remarks. What he actually said was, “We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization. I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today, and I am deeply sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced.” Several commentators summarized his remarks by saying, “The Chairman of Toyota apologized to the driving public for putting company growth ahead of safety considerations.” This was a reasonable interpretation of his words. Let the lawsuits begin! Surely with as much time as he had to prepare for this appearance, he should have been counseled not to word it this way. Any good lawyer or crisis management consultant would have advised dropping that first sentence. He would have been much better off saying, “We made a mistake. We are very sorry. Here is what we are doing to fix it.”

REGAINING TRUST

In Tiger’s case, his wife put it best. She told him that his apology would not depend on words, but on his behavior going forward. There are no excuses for his past behavior. The only way people (his family as well as his business associates and fellow players) will know if he is worthy of their trust is through his actions in the coming days, months, and years. It will take a long time to erase the sordid images that were shown on the airwaves and internet. I happen to think he is right to categorically refuse to discuss all of those past affairs in a public venue. He should complete his rehab process, devote himself to good works through his educational foundation (working with kids), try to make amends with his wife and children, and return to golf when he is ready. The stain on his reputation will likely always be there, but if he succeeds in all of the above, we may be able to trust him again.

Toyota has a tough road ahead to regain trust. They are unfortunately in a position where a lot of people still don’t think they’ve been honest with their customers and dealers. There is currently a lot of “chatter” in the media that asserts the gas pedal assembly (with or without car mat issues) is not to blame for the uncontrolled acceleration problems, but that it is actually an electronics malfunction. Toyota engineers say it can’t happen because of their failsafe systems. They also state that an error code would always appear in the computer system. I personally saw the “Nightline” episode this past week where a driving expert was able to cause uncontrolled acceleration by simulating a short circuit in the electronics. No failsafe system kicked in as the car sped frighteningly up to 90 miles an hour while the brakes were being applied as hard as possible. No error code appeared on the computer system afterwards. So when a friend told me that she’d had her Toyota in for the gas pedal repair so she was “good to go,” I had to ask her if she was sure.

All this uncertainty inevitably leads to a serious lack of trust in the organization. For a company that built its reputation on the premise that they could be trusted for high quality with a lot of attention paid to safety issues, this could be devastating. People have many choices when they buy a car. In my opinion, no new TV advertising campaign focused on the fact that Toyota is a brand people have trusted for 50 years is going to be strong enough to drown out the as yet unanswered questions in the mind of many consumers. These folks are not going to gamble with the safety of themselves and their families. Until Toyota gets to the bottom of the problem, they will have a very difficult time regaining the public’s trust.

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

In the cases of both Tiger and Toyota, public apologies were required, and they were made. But apologizing is only the first step in resolving a crisis. It is further required of individuals and organizations that they take meaningful steps to demonstrate their remorse and to rectify the situation. In both of these situations, the depth and breath of the crises are such that their reputations will never, in my opinion, be totally repaired. These issues will be brought up time and time again in the future whenever their names are mentioned. How much this tarnish will fade over time has everything to do with their actions in the future and how hard they are willing to work at rebuilding the trust once placed in them.
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Special Note: Now that the Olympics are coming to a close today, perhaps we can all get back to going to bed at a decent hour. But wasn’t it glorious to watch all of these athletes – people who have devoted so much time and energy to preparing thoroughly for the moments when they laid it all on the line? They would never dream of appearing for their event without having spent considerable effort learning the basic skills required and then having practiced until an excellent performance could come as second nature. The same can be said for preparing for a media event, especially during a crisis when time is of the essence. If I can help, with either the basic skills workshop or some refresher training, please give me a call!