By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you deal more effectively with the media. Reading time: 2:56

The newly appointed vice president got caught with his foot in his mouth during a media interview. All the TV cameras and radio microphones were gone. Only one reporter in the room was left. He closed his notebook and began to exit.

But just then the reporter pulled a Lieutenant Columbo tactic – “just one more thing he said.” And the vice president took the bait and subsequently hung himself out to dry.

The press can be tough. Wielding microphones like guns and firing off questions in a barrage, reporters can behave much like detectives. At least that’s the way the then four year old daughter of golf legend Arnold Palmer saw it when her dad was besieged with a mob of reporters. The littler girl wondered to her mother: “Why does daddy have all those detectives asking him questions?”

Every CEO can relate to that onslaught. Sometimes the spotlight that comes with a leadership role can seemingly blind a newly-minted CEO and even burn a frustrated CEO out of a job. Continue reading “Taming the Media Tigers” →