Executive Rewind: Take Responsibility for Your Own Image
The media can be excruciatingly effective at creating and reinforcing our impressions and feelings about issues and people. And, as you know, impressions have their own reality.
For instance, baseball’s highest paid superstar, Alex Rodriguez. Words tossed around in the media about him include arrogant, self-absorbed, not a team player, and so on. And when the story broke during the 4th, and final, game of this year’s World Series that Rodriguez was cancelling his contract with the New York Yankees, that news eclipsed the game itself, which became a sidebar. A-Rod, as he’s known, and his agent, Scott Boras, were vilified by the media for their horrible timing, thus validating media-driven perceptions of the all-star 3rd baseman.
A-Rod chose 60 Minutes recently to try and repair the damage and his image, admitting the announcement was ill-timed, and even caught him by surprise. He certainly was not defensive, and even said that sports writers had every right to criticize him and Boras. A-Rod definitely seemed contrite.
But he was late to the game. Too much media under the bridge, to mix a metaphor, over the years. If, indeed, he’s not the publicity hound he and agent Boras are perceived to be, the irony is he needed to use the media to establish a different impression much earlier in his career.
His attachment to Boras, probably the most disliked agent in professional sports (whom Interviewing showcased in last month’s Executive Rewind story) has further crippled attempts to remake his image.
Those who cover baseball on a regular basis doubt A-Rod’s sincerity in his interview with Katie Couric. Even though he leaves a subtle impression Boras leaked the contract story during the Series, and that he, Rodriguez, negotiated his new Yankees’ contract without agent involvement, and even claims he hasn’t spoken to Boras in weeks, if not months, doubts remain among baseball’s pundits.
For too long, it appears, Alex Rodriquez has allowed the media (and Boras) to set the agenda and drive impressions. He has only himself to blame.
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