If there's a lesson to be learned from Tiger Woods' recentpersonal disaster, it's that things happen that cannot be plannedfor—and that if something potentially explosive is uncovered, itshould not be hidden or kept from the media.

This is exactly what Tiger Woods did after his car crash in themiddle of the night. He basically hid in his house for days,refusing to talk to the police, let alone the press. The result waswild speculation, including an online story that his wife hadchased him with a golf club and had broken out his car windowbefore the crash.

The topic of dealing with the media during a crisis has beencovered by National Underwriter at several conferenceseminars, including RIMS and PRIMA. The message is to be up-frontand honest as soon as a situation is uncovered. Hiding somethingonly leads to wild speculation and eventually can ruin anindividual's or a company's reputation.

The most commonly asked question I've heard is “Why?” Why wouldsomeone who has everything risk it all? Of all the public figures,Tiger Woods seemed to have a superb handle on his career, whichincludes major endorsements and international tournaments. Hisimage has been that of a talented, “squeaky clean” nice guy whokept his cool. Now we discover that like many others, much of thatimage was a lie. And like others in this predicament, Tiger Woodsdidn't seem to realize what he was risking until it was toolate.

As with other sports celebrities, politicians, large and smallscreen-stars and company CEOs, Tiger Woods appeared to believe hewas above being caught. He even left a trail of text messages andvoice mails as evidence. And now that former girlfriends are comingout of the woodwork, reports are that he is writing checks toshut them up—and to keep his wife around.

Perhaps he could have taken a PR lesson from David Letterman,allegedly being threatened by blackmail for indiscretions withstaff members. It might have been easy to just pay the guy off, butLetterman quickly circumvented the issue by addressing it onnational television. Within a few weeks the whole thing had prettymuch blown over.

As risk managers know, some risks just can't be anticipated.When a problem is discovered, however, it needs to be dealtwith—not swept under the rug in hopes it will go away. It may beyears down the road, as was the case with Hugh Grant and EddieMurphy, but it will surface.

And because not every risk can be assessed, a good risk managerknows to have contingency plans in place for dealing with adisaster—including who will address the media.

Obviously, Tiger Woods did not apply basic risk managementprecautions to his own company. While he took care of his golf gameand made sure his image was up to par, the very foundation of hiscompany was eroding.