Tiger Woods Apology and Body Language
I was contacted yesterday by channel 3 in Philadelphia for my analysis of the Tiger Woods apology. They wanted to know, as apparently a lot of people did, the answer to the following questions:
- Was it a genuine apology?
- Did he feel remorse?
- Did he appear to have learned his lesson?
- Was the apology preplanned, choreographed and rehearsed or was he speaking from the heart?
Unfortunately at the time of the call I hadn’t seen the entire apology and couldn’t really provide an educated opinion on Tiger Woods performance, and make no mistake about it, it was a performance.
Tiger Woods is more than a man and a champion golfer; he is a business that generates millions of dollar annually. It is important to Tiger Woods himself, the businesses that profit from Tiger Woods and the sport of golf that this matter gets put behind him as quickly and painlessly as possible. This apology, which was months in the making, was a major part of the publicity campaign designed to do this. The apology needed to be perceived as sincere.
In case you missed it, here is his apology in its entirety:
It goes without saying that a man with Tiger Woods resources would have professional public relations people craft the speech, test it against focus groups and then have Tiger rehearse it until he could reliably present it in its best light. The content of the apology, the actual words he spoke, were exactly what the media and sports commentary had opined he needed to say. It was the nonverbal part of his message, his body language that told a different story.
The speech was delivered at a very slow, deliberate pace, was largely in a monotone and there were very few little gestures or movement on Woods part. The slow pace of Woods voice was the most immediate thing I noticed. While the slow delivery can be a sign of shame and embarrassment, it can also indicate that the speech is rehearsed and deliberate. Tiger Woods appeared to be speaking slowly to ensure he properly delivered the speech with the required nonverbal elements…eye contact, appropriate signs of remorse and voice inflection at the right moments.
There was very little emotion of any kind in Woods’ speech or mannerisms. There was an attempt to appear sincere when he actually delivered his apology when, just before saying, “I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior” (0:37) Woods looked down, sighed, dropped his shoulders and appeared to look contrite. When the apology was over he immediately returned to his emotionless monotone, a sign that the nonverbal behavior was choreographed.
I can just hear his PR handlers during the practice sessions coaching him to look down, lower his shoulders and give the nonverbal signs of sorrow, regret and shame. Tiger Woods is a great golfer but not much of an actor and he failed to convince me that his apology was truly heartfelt.
It was hard not to notice a certain tension in Woods delivery. Contrary to his words, Woods did not seem to be truly apologetic but rather upset that he had to go through this public circus and especially that his family was involved. There was a tension underlying his delivery that took away from the apology’s sincerity for me.
The most noticeable display of emotion came when Woods was defending his family and setting boundaries about what he would and wouldn’t talk about. A deeply private person, Woods did a great job defending and praising his wife and placing the blame solely on him.
Tiger Woods mother did show signs of true shame, sorrow and regret. In the beginning of the apology she had a downward gaze, closed body position with her arms displayed in a blocking position. In addition her lips were compressed and downturned, all signs of defensiveness, low confidence and anxiety.
Conclusion
I believe Tiger Woods apology was genuine but not heartfelt and that he doesn’t really feel any remorse for his actions. He does regret the results of his actions and the affect it has had on his life and business dealings.
Tiger will be spending some time repairing his image and will return to golf someday, but the likelihood of a repeat of his actions, based on the fact that I believe he really doesn’t regret or feel shame for his actions, is highly likely.
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