Tag: Virtue

Deconstructing Tiger Woods

A recent poll ranked Tiger Woods as the most unpopular athlete in America.

Just 5 years ago, Woods was one of the most popular athletes in world.

I had been a big Tiger Woods fan, but when I learned of his serial infidelities, I admit I wanted to see him play badly. I wanted to believe, as I’ve always wanted to believe, that character affects performance.

Ironically, now that Woods has not won for two years, I’m not sure I was right.

We know now Woods had no more character in 2009, when he won 6 times, than he did in 2010 when he was winless. It’s only been since Woods’s true character has been exposed, accompanied by the public humiliation, that his game tanked. That only suggests a link between public humiliation–not character–and performance. Continue reading “Deconstructing Tiger Woods”

On Discretion

Discretion is of late an unheralded virtue.  To give the virtue its due, I herald it here.

The definition of “discreet” is “[m]arked by, exercising, or showing prudence and wise self-restraint in speech and behavior; circumspect.” (The American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Ed.).

Here are some aphorisms on discretion from the Bible, some from me and one from a portly Brit:

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“As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.” (Proverbs 11:22).

“A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.”  (Proverbs 19:11).

“When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you…” (Proverbs 2:10-11).

“Imprudence speaks then thinks; discretion thinks and remains silent.”

“Discretion is a friend to the wise, but a stranger to the foolish.”

“He who exerecises discretion exercises wisdom.”

“Tact is the unsaid part of what you think.”  Winston Churchill