The ending of the Detroit Tigers baseball game last night has turned into a social media phenomenon. Why? Because someone made a huge mistake that had big consequences.
Quick review: Umpire Jim Joyce blew a call on the last out of a potentially perfect game. He flat out missed it. His call cost a young pitcher a chance to join baseball’s immortals, and he forever put himself on the list of the biggest sports bloopers.
But what did Joyce do? He owned up and admitted that he committed an error. Big time.
There are a few lessons in this story for marketers and brands, especially when you play in the social media space:
• First, be ready to address your actions—good or bad—when a situation comes up. Have a plan.
• Second, take responsibility. Joyce didn’t blame the “process” or promise to “look into” the matter. He said he made a mistake, he’s human, and took all the blame. Case closed. Had he avoided the situation or delayed in any way, the story would have become bigger.
• Lastly, people can be forgiving when you are honest and vow to do better. Short of calling on Superman to reverse the rotation of the Earth, and changing his call, that’s all Joyce could do.
What other lessons do you think came out of this botched baseball call?
Watch video of the blown call:
Tags: advice, apologies, cmd agency, community, conversation, entertainment, espn, marketing, social media, sports
Mistakes are going to happen. Anyone in [print] sales has dealt with a shop error and an angry customer at some point. Most of us know that the quickest way to calm an angry and venting customer is to immediately take responsibility for the mistake. The sooner the anger is dissipated, the sooner you can begin to fix the problem. This is your opportunity to shine. Very few folks remember every smooth transaction. But a job that has gone sideways is a chance to separate yourself from your competition and leave an indelible impression. Joyce will be remembered just as much for his actions and words today as his call last night.
I am not a baseball fan, but I have found this story compelling for a couple of reasons. As you said in your post, Joyce owned up to his mistake and vowed to do better. Class act.
The other side of this story is the mature and graceful way that Armando Galarraga reacted to the situation. I read about this exchange in an article in Yahoo! Sports about the next day’s game.
To quote from the article, “With Jim Joyce scheduled to work home plate for the day, Galarraga then carried the lineup to the tearful ump and shook his hand. Joyce remained emotional and responded with a thankful pat to Galarraga’s arm.”
You can read the whole article here: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Armando-Galarraga-receives-a-Corvette-consolatio?urn=mlb,245508
My point is that with the right amount of humility and honesty, both umpire and player have turned this unfortunate event in to really upstanding public relations. Contrast this with many of the displays of tastelessness and bad sportsmanship in other sports stories, and this just makes you feel good.
Thanks for sharing, Gary.
Gary: Great blog post. After seeing recaps via ESPN and other news channels – he made the right decision by admitting his mistakes. Most news coverage has shown visuals of a supporting teams, fans and coaches – and only the kindest remarks. His decision reaffirms that when playing the game of “business” or baseball, honesty remains the best policy.
Honesty and integrity – and taking responsibility – are so important in business. Our co-workers, our staff, our customers aren’t dumb. They know when we screw up and owning up to it goes so much further in building trust than trying to hide it or place the blame on someone or something else. I once worked for a CEO who asked “how will we message this to staff?” whenever there was bad news. The answer is that we tell them. And when there are things we can’t tell them, we say that too. People understand confidentiality – and they respect transparency and honesty. If we want to build relationships with the people in our work spaces and in our lives we have to have integrity.