Tiger Woods.

What do you think of when you read or hear that name?  Chances are, what you think today is NOT what you thought about 3 weeks ago.  I hate to pile on, but . . . well, actually I don’t mind piling on if we can all learn something from it.

Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the last two weeks, you know the story about the most famous golfer of all times and how his reputation (i.e. his personal brand) has been tarnished following the exposure of his multiple sexual encounters. I’m not here to pass judgment on Tiger. Afterall, who DIDN’T see something like this coming? What I want to do in this post is to see what we can learn from Tiger about managing (or mismanaging) our personal brand.  Here’s my list:

• You can’t keep secrets, no matter how much money you spend to do so.  Didn’t Tiger learn anything from Bill Clinton or David Letterman? Now ask yourself, “what would ruin MY reputation (or job prospects) if the whole world knew about it?” I’m sure there is something, and the lesson we can learn from Tiger is that it WILL get out. Thus, living an integrated life is always the best approach.
• No matter how much you try, you cannot fully control what is said about you on the Internet. If you have a past employee/employer/lover who wants to disgrace you online they will.  You can’t really do much about that.  What you CAN control is what you put out there about yourself.  Is it true? Are you transparent? Is the message you portray consistent across platforms?
• Be authentic.  My mom always told me that the easiest way to remember what you told someone is to simply tell the truth.  If you lie, you will eventually get caught.  I guess my mom was right. . . this time.

I put out this question on my Facebook page to see what my friends  and colleagues think we can learn from Tiger about personal branding.  They came up with some good stuff and I want to share it with you:

• Be genuine. If your brand is not real it will eventually fall apart. (LG)
• Make sure your brand is something you are actually willing to live. Authenticity is key. (CM)
• Everything you do becomes a part of your brand, not just the part that made your brand popular. Woods is famous because of his golfing, not because of his sex life. Unfortunately, now that he’s become a recognized international brand people have lost sight of that and consider his affair(s) to be just as important to his brand as his skill on the green. (EM)
• Woods is a reminder of how much WE seem to enjoy the cults of personality WE create, along with their human weaknesses. Nobody pays any attention to Joe Doaks’ philandering, until WE brand him a celebrity.
• Woods is in a hell of his own making, but WE are feasting on his suffering. (LW)
• Regarding Tiger Woods….After the ecstasy…..the laundry. (ME)
• There are many things that can be learned. What can be learned about branding is you are in trouble when start to believe your own PR. (RC)

Great stuff! Now, what do YOU think? Please share your comments so we can all learn together, and happy hunting.

30 Day Blogging Challenge – day 13.  Tomorrow’s post: “What Is Your Personal Brand?”