UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP PRACTICES IGNORED BY TRUMP

Because Trump may run again, I wrote this brief commentary to show how the beliefs and practices he demonstrated as President compare with a number of well-accepted beliefs and management and leadership practices of most successful leaders. So, if he runs again — and is elected, we will all know what beliefs and practices to expect.

In case you are curious, the identification of universally accepted management and leadership beliefs and practices described below were based on my 28 years as a manager in the military, community college, and university, forty-plus years teaching management and leadership to experienced administrators in graduate courses, and speaking engagements to several hundred audiences of experienced managers from non-profit organizations in forty-plus states and Canadian provinces and the reading of hundreds of articles and books.

The following 14 capitalized beliefs and practices are presented in random order. A leader following universally accepted management and leadership practices:

• BELIEVES IN USING PROVEN EXPERTISE AND EXPERIENCE AS A PREREQUISITE IN HIRING whereas Trump placed loyalty and fealty to him over experience or proven expertise.
• KNOWS LOYALTY IS SOMETHING A LEADER HAS TO EARN but Trump believed unconditional loyalty was a condition of employment and demanded it from day one.
• BELIEVES IN SELECTING PEOPLE WITH DEMONSTRATED CHARACTER (usually defined as being trustworthy, honest, and empathetic.) Trump’s selections often exhibited none of these characteristics but made good TV appearances.
• KNOWS THEIR POSITION CARRIES WITH IT TREMENDOUS POWER but they avoid using it to get things done themselves and discourage their direct reports to also avoid using it where possible in favor of persuading others through the strength of their argument. In contrast, Trump personally relied exclusively on the power attached to the presidency to get things done and criticized any manager who hesitated to “just tell them to do it.”
• BELIEVES IN INCLUSION. Defined as involving persons affected by a decision before acting on it whereas Trump rarely consulted those affected by his decisions.
• BELIEVES IN FACTS AND SCIENCE. Trump showed an almost complete disregard for both, especially when he disagreed with them. He was known for not asking for, or ignoring, available data including that furnished him in the President’s Daily Briefs.
• BELIEVES IN EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT ORGANIZING IN ORDER TO CONSERVE PEOPLE AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES. To my knowledge, Trump never said the words effective or efficient and his actions clearly showed he had no understanding or concern about each.
• BELIEVES IN EMPLOYING SYSTEMATIC FORMATIVE EVALUATION TO CORRECT EARLY MISTAKES AND SUMMATIVE EVALUATION TO DETERMINE IF A PROGRAM OR PRACTICE, ONCE STARTED, SHOULD BE CONTINUED. Trump was known for making arbitrary decisions about both starting and ending programs or practices without considering either data or input about their effectiveness.
• KNOWS THAT TIMELY, CLEAR COMMUNICATION TO THE PUBLIC AND APPROPRIATE PERSONS IS ESSENTIAL TO ANY SUCCESSFUL ENDEAVOR. Trump and his administration had a well-deserved reputation for restricting and withholding information and for unclear utterances that required days to decipher.
• BELIEVES IN DELEGATION AND THE NEED FOR DEVELOPING AND USING A STRONG SUPPORTING TEAM whereas Trump had no regard for either of these practices.
• BELIEVES IN EARLY RECOGNITION AND ACTION ON PROBLEMS. Trump usually either ignored a situation until he believed a problem existed or for saying a problem existed when there was none(migrant caravans).
• BELIEVES IN PROMPT DECISION-MAKING AFTER EXAMINATION OF CAUSES AND VARIOUS SOLUTIONS Trump’s preferred approach about decisions was to avoid, postpone, or refer them to others — often waiting until things reached a crisis stage (covid19), then making a decision without soliciting, listening to, or using expert advice or input.
• BELIEVES IN CAREFUL PLANNING INCLUDING GOALS AND ACTION PLANS whereas Trump showed no interest in both of these unless they pertained to something that affected him personally, like raising money.
• BELIEVES IN DELEGATING AUTHORITY AND HOLDING PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE In most cases, Trump refused to delegate authority and attempted to micromanage one of the largest governments on the planet like he had managed his family owned business where it was well-known that to keep your job, you did what he told you to do. While he held others accountable, he did not grant them necessary authority; he took all the credit when good things happened; and he blamed someone else when something went wrong even if it was his fault.

As the above clearly shows, Trump’s actions (which were always a better indication of his true beliefs than his words) demonstrated either ignorance about, or lack of agreement, with universally accepted management and leadership beliefs and practices.

The fact that our country survived him and his sycophants as well as it did is a testament to the thousands of knowledgeable, dedicated, hard — working men and women who chose to honor their oath of office, do their jobs, and work for the American people, and not do what a lying, self-centered, power-driven autocrat wanted them to do.

Although the actions of some of them cost them their jobs, historians will ensure their reputations, their actions, and their names live on .

Thank you for reading this! I write because I think readers will find what I write informative and thought provoking. Happily retired, I now have the time it takes to take an idea, do the research needed to fully understand it (and not embarrass myself!), make the first outline, then the first draft, then start the rewriting, and, finally, the editing. Then it goes to several friends, including a Ph. D. in English. Then, it’s back to rewriting and editing. Then it goes out to possible readers. What you just read was the result of that process. Despite their help, I assume full blame for any mistakes (and there have been some).

If you are still reading and you found what I wrote worthwhile, you might want to look up my other Medium articles.

One last note. I write to make readers think and because I enjoy it — not to make money. Any income derived from my writing is donated to the local library as part of my annual contribution.

Thanks!

Jim Hammons
“Think Piece” Commentaries