In the December 2012 issue of SportsEvents magazine, PRSA chair and chief executive officer Gerard Corbett offers his thoughts on reputational crises in the sporting industry this past year, including transgressions from iconic figures like Lance Armstrong and Joe Paterno.
Corbett said, “The best advice I can give to organizations [impacted by such lack of transparency] is, ‘Investigate, validate and then tell the truth.’ If mistakes have been made, admit it, tell folks what you’re doing about it, and then get on with it.”
While public figures like Michael Vick and Tiger Woods appeared to make a comeback from their individual scandals, not all public figures were as lucky. Corbett insists that, for the most part, people are willing to forgive. It’s when the general public feels a sense of ongoing betrayal that they are less willing to forgive a public figure’s unethical and self-indulgent behavior.
