What If You Lost Your Tiger Woods?
Could you and your team absorb the loss of a star player? You have to trim expectations, have existence 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, delegate of the PGA Tour, had in any degree worries prior to June 18, they behest pale in comparison to the biggest worry he faces now. Tiger Woods, the game’s brightest star and the Tour’s most important revenue generator, command undergo major knee surgery and fall the remainder of the year. That includes couple additional 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 sport), and the Ryder Cup (U.S. vs. Europe exhibition in which, even through Tiger, the U.S. has struggled to win).
On the course, Tiger is without a contemporary peer. Majors are golf’s true 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 when 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 for 6 months. Or if right whenever competitors lined up new mobile phones through touch screens, Apple had to wean the iPhone. That’s what Finchem faces. Senior leaders in each walk of life face adversity. Their greatness depends upon their performance under this exact type of pressure. So on the supposition that you are Finchem that which do you do? Three things!
1. Adjust expectations. Acknowledge that box office appeal is hurt and don’t make a show otherwise. Woods is a force of nature, the only reason that casual non-golfers will sentry the sport. Be frank about how his absence will hurt the draw at local tournaments (which, by means of the way, use generated funds to support local charities). Find ways the PGA and the sponsors can make cheerful on the expected losses.
2. Talk to sponsors. PGA Golf works with individual sponsors (e.g. AT&T, Buick or Federal Express) who host tournaments as a means of promotion. Find ways to deliver for these people who pay your salary and put up the prize money. Think creatively about how to maintain interest in the game and in individual tournaments that don’t include the big drag. 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 down.
3. Stay close to your players. Finchem, according to a recent Wall Street Journal interview, has made a habit of meeting unconventional players regularly to give ear and learn. He would transact well to add cheerleading to his conversations. With no Tiger in the theatre of war, now is the opportunity because of younger golfers to seize the stage, make themselves better known. And seasoned pros be possible to account a tourney or major victory and create their own draw. Finchem must make the other players as compelling to follow of the same humane with Tiger. He must do what he can 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 diminutive note the rate of, Finchem has two key challenges: Hold the private interest of the devoted fans and keep the sponsors happy. It wish not be 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 deep reservoir of guts and heart. Which, it turns out, is not a serious summary of what Finchem must demonstrate now.
From: What If You Lost Your Tiger Woods?
