You Might Be An Ostrich If…..
If you haven’t already initiated an independent investigation to determine whether or not you could be the next Penn State or Rutgers…you might be an ostrich.
If you know that something which has happened or is happening on your sports programs could seriously harm you in the court of public opinion and you think you can avoid being “outed”…you might be an ostrich.
If you are still cutting athletes or athletic staff moral and ethical slack that clearly violates the standards established for the student body as a whole…you might be an ostrich.
If you’ve watched coverage of recent college crises and thought, “This can’t happen to us!”…you might be an ostrich.
If you think that ethically, legally and/or morally offensive behavior can be rationalized away…you might be an ostrich.
If you think legal risk is more important than reputational risk…you might be an ostrich.
If you think the only opinions that matter are those of only one or two of your many stakeholder groups…you might be an ostrich.
If you have little or no idea what’s being said about you in social media on a real-time basis…you might be an ostrich.
If you have not evaluated your ability to communicate rapidly with all stakeholder groups (strategy, tactics, messages, methods) when the stuff hits the fan…you might be an ostrich.
And, last but most certainly not least, if you think that a college sports program is the only silo at your school that can breed incredibly embarrassing/damaging/illegal activity…you might be an ostrich.
Jonathan Bernstein
President, Bernstein Crisis Management
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com