The Point: He’s been called brash, egotistical, politically incorrect, and a host of other things on his ascent towards the lands highest office (The President of the United States). Donald Trump has rubbed some people the wrong way, and caused others to stand-up and cheer for his anything but politically correct pursuit. Think what you will of Donald Trump, but ask yourself if going “Trump” wouldn’t make you a better leader? In this post we’ll take a look at going Trump and 3 tips to help you be a little more politically “incorrect” in your efforts… Enjoy!
Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, Ask What You Can Do For Donald Trump!
The phenomena in American politics known as Donald Trump continues to grab headlines… On air encounters with journalist (Megan Kelly and Jorge Ramos to name a few), capacity crowds in attendance on his grass-roots campaign tour, buzzing the Iowa State Fair in his helicopter… these are all ways in which he has distanced himself from other running candidates and outpaced them all in the polls. Whatever your political views are, it sure is making for one entertaining viewing party, even with over a year to go before Election Day!
Part of the “charm” of “The Donald” is his rather braggadocios leadership style. The opposite style of leadership leads one to be boring, weak, perhaps even “frozen” and certainly not followable by others. In leadership development programs and executive coaching sessions I typically encounter the leadership challenge of how can you “toot” your own horn, but not in a manner that causes negative thought/feedback/action from stakeholders. So herein are 3 communication skills training for leader tips you might find helpful if you’re considering going Trump:
Going Trump Tip #3 – Use a Narrative
You want to express your qualifications, expertise, and most importantly perspective on where initiatives should go. Using a narrative about where you’ve been and previous success (and failure) moments can go a long way towards “framing” a subject and ensuing conversation. Remember to highlight the positive aspects of the leadership challenges you’ve encountered (but bringing in negative aspects will firm reality for your stakeholders).
Going Trump Tip #2 – Enlist Others
I had a conversation during an executive coaching session where the coachee wanted to know how they could get others to recommend them. There seems to be two schools of thought: School 1 has the expectation that others will gladly recommend/affirm your accomplishments. School 2 has you asking others to recommend/affirm your accomplishments. School 1 is great, but rarely occurs without asking (in other words, go with School 2!) Getting others on your same page and having them tell your story is a powerful display of social proof at play (it’s just not you that thinks so, others do as well).
Going Trump Tip #1 – Take Action
Action speaks louder than words. You can tell everyone that you have the best vision/plan for the future… You can share how you desire bigger/better things… You can even describe in detail (or at large) how you will get there! However, if you’ve never actually been there/done that through action (or actually doing) few will follow. Keep in mind, success is great to be able to report out on, but if you are truly pushing the envelope you will have many failures to report out on as well.
SUMMARY
In this post we’ve taken a look at the leadership challenge of going Trump and provided 3 tips if you are considering taking the leap yourself (and why wouldn’t you?)
Sam Palazzolo