When Life Gives You Lemons

December 21, 2017

A few weeks ago, comedian Steve Harvey once again hosted the Miss Universe pageant. It went off without a hitch this time. However, you may recall, he made worldwide news when he announced and crowned the wrong winner at the Miss Universe pageant two years ago. According to Steve, it was one of the most embarrassing moments of his career. However, he quickly recovered from this public relations disaster and made lemonade out of lemons. Here are a few lessons we can all learn from how Steve handled this situation and saved his personal brand:

1. Take personal responsibility for your actions: Steve Harvey immediately took personal responsibility for his mistake of reading the cue card wrong and announcing the winner as Miss Colombia vs. the intended winner Miss Philippines. He didn’t blame anyone but himself. In our careers, we often make mistakes and we need to own them.

2. Control your message. Instead of going on a non-stop media tour to explain himself, Steve Harvey invited both Miss Colombia and Miss Philippines to the Steve Harvey Show and publicly apologized to them for this horrible mistake. During that time, each woman was given a public platform to share their respective feelings about the mix-up.

3. Humble yourself. Steve Harvey showed the human side of himself by communicating his remorse and how much sleep he lost during this time. He also showed empathy to Miss Colombia and publicly pleaded with her for mercy. A genuine apology is sometimes the only thing that can diffuse a difficult situation.

4. Make lemonade out of lemons. Steve could have run for the hills after this debacle, but he decided to face his demons and poke fun at his mistake. During last year’s pageant, Miss Philippines handed him a pair of reading glasses before the official announcement to ensure he read the right name. During the Christmas season, he posted on Facebook “Happy Easter.” He also made fun of himself with jokes such as, “You don’t want me to read this do you?” and further leveraged his mistake in a T-Mobile commercial that first aired during the 2016 Super Bowl. Click here to view the T-Mobile commercial

So, the next time you think you’ve done something that feels like the end of the world, or you are faced with a life obstacle, just think of how Steve Harvey handled his worldly mistake.

What additional recommendations do you have when faced with life obstacles? Let me know.

“Life handed him a lemon,
As Life sometimes will do.
His friends looked on in pity,
Assuming he was through.
They came upon him later,
Reclining in the shade
In calm contentment, drinking
A glass of lemonade.”

Clarence Edward Flynn, The Rotarian