You can learn a lot about leading an organization by watching the news.
The Tiger Woods episode should remind all of us once again to respond fast to the news media, tell the truth and get on with. Dragging it out as he did added several days to a story that could have been over in two news cycles.
President Obama’s approval rating continues to decline. As a strictly non-partisan independent, I see him doing exactly what George W. Bush did right after his second election, but from a different philosophical point of view. Obama, like Bush, seems to be throwing all kinds of mud at the wall hoping like hell something sticks. Obama, like Bush, seemingly has a different agenda or country he’s travelling to every day. The message has blurred and focus is diminishing. (Retrievable, of course.)
Employees in many companies call this “program of the day.” Saying to themselves, “First management is talking about such and such. Next they’re talking about something else. We just tune it out because eventually it’ll all go away.” Isn’t that what’s happening?
For business leaders, the lesson is the same. Create your “story.” Tell it through what you say and what you do. Keep telling it over and over through your walk and talk. And then when you think you’ve told it as many times as you need to and you’re sick of telling it, tell it one more time.
In that respect, running for office and governing in business or politics is very much the same.