The Donald Trump phenomena: The power of persuasion and countering divisive leaders

After November 8, when the US presidential elections will be held, Donald Trump may well emerge as the world’s most powerful man, even though many see him as a highly divisive person.

Trump may well be an extreme example of a leader who uses every trick in the book to polarize people and win. In business and in other facets of life, the chances are that you may come up against a Trump-like leader. What do you do then? How do you combat them and prevent them from negatively influencing the organizational agenda?

In a nutshell, you can do that by being a professional yourself, avoiding emotional confrontations and delivering results that do the talking.

But before that, it is important to first understand exactly how they, like Trump, manage to manoeuvre themselves into a winning position.

Also, regardless of our opinion about Trump, the fact that he has come thus far in the presidential campaign offers valuable lessons on the power of effective strategy and the power of persuasion in moulding public opinion.

Let me make it clear here that I do not support Trump’s style of functioning. My limited intent is to present his strategies and techniques so that we may understand the Trump phenomena—and maybe learn how to tackle it if we encounter it.

Building brand Trump

As a businessman, Trump was single-mindedly devoted to promoting brand Trump by garnering mindshare and making it valuable—whether it was through his hit reality TV show, The Apprentice, or by attaching his name to various businesses. “Many of the businesses he comes in contact with end up with his last name on them, often in large, gilded capital letters,” The Washington Post reported. “Of the 515 companies that Trump has a part in running, 268 bear his last name, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission. Yet not all of the buildings emblazoned with Trump’s last name are owned by him; for many properties, he merely licenses his name to other developers.”

Since he owns the brand, the more valuable it became, the richer he became, catapulting him into the billionaire’s list.

When he decided to contest the presidential elections, his strategy was to gain voters’ mindshare and turbocharge his campaign. Here are the contours of that strategy:

1. Understanding voters’ pain point: Trump’s vote bank compromises less affluent, white Americans who are sensing that the American dream is eluding them. It hurts them more because for all practical purposes they had won the genetic lottery—born white in America, which entitled them to enjoy the fruits of the American dream. In their perception, two major global events seem to have led to fewer jobs at lower wages, pushing the dream beyond reach: Globalization encouraged outsourcing of manufacturing activities; immigrants gobbled up a large share of the remaining jobs at extremely competitive salaries, thus bringing down the wage plateau for all (even though that view is disputed).

Trump’s promise is to restore their entitlement by “making America great again”.

2. Plans are nothing. Planning is everything: Trump has been planning to run for the presidential elections since long. In 1988, he confessed on The Oprah Winfrey Show that he would run for president under one condition—if America gets really, really bad, which according to Trump it apparently has. In 2012 he registered a trademark for his slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

3. Appeal to voters’ emotions: He does that by appealing to their self-interest through his trademarked slogan. He reminds them that by voting for him they are actually voting for themselves. He then gives them “rational” reasons to vote for him.

Meanwhile, other candidates share policies they would implement, which appeals to the rational and analytical part of voters’ brains, and not their emotions.

4. Make promise believable: Research indicates that when a brand advertises using paid media (TV, press etc.), the believability of the message is merely between 24% – 62 %. But when real people speak about the brand, the believability jumps to 70%. And if known people speak about it, the believability is 90%. While most presidential candidates have been burning money by advertising on paid media, Trump is levering “earned media”—social media, buzz, PR. Hence his message is more believable and his cost is negligible.

5. Demonstrate promise: Trump “demonstrates” that he can deliver on the promise by offering a logic which may appear flawed and fragile to many, but seems to be working: he tells voters that he made himself great by becoming a billionaire many times over and he can do for them what he did for himself.

6. Authenticity: Voters feel Trump is more likely to deliver on his promise because of the manner in which he speaks, answers questions and takes stands on issues, no matter how controversial. He appears to genuinely believe in what he is saying. In sharp contrast, other candidates come across as rehearsed.

7. Embed principles of behavioural sciences into the campaign: This way, he is able to get voters to behave the way he wants without them realizing it.

•  Likability Principle—people are more likely to be influenced by people they like. His core voter base likes him because he appeals to their emotions.
• Confirmation bias—people tend to interpret information in a way that confirms their preconceptions. His voters want America, and therefore themselves, to be great. Trump’s promises resonate with their desire.  
• Mirror Neuron Effect. They empathize with Trump because they want to be like him (rich).
• Framing Effect—people react differently to a particular choice depending how it is presented. Trump has framed the question “Do you want to make America great again?” in a manner that the answer can only be a yes.
• Cognitive Dissonance—people will attempt to consistently subscribe to a view that is consistent with theirs. Trump’s trademarked slogan is in consonance with voters’ thinking.
• Contagion Effect—people get influenced by others’ moods/behaviours. Trump has positioned himself as a billionaire (read great). By voting for him, they can expect part of the greatness to rub off on them.

Why the flaws escape notice

Trump has changed the rules on many relevant dimensions, leaving his opponents perplexed.  

He has positioned himself as an expert who uses logic to buttress his arguments and backs them up with evidence. Though an analysis by Politifact indicates that 77% of his facts are proving to be inaccurate.

He gets away with that because

1. People hear what they want to hear: They do not have time to cross-check facts, particularly when the content resonates with them.
2. Diffuse the question by answering it with a question: Trump said he will build a wall between the US and Mexico. When he was pointedly asked how he will get the resources to build it, he answered by throwing a question back: How did the Chinese build miles and miles of the Great Wall of China that too so long back? And then he answered the revised question: If they could do it then, why can’t it be done now? The original question remained unanswered.
3. Cherry-pick evidence: Trump, follows biased sample fallacy to cherry pick evidence to back his claim. His threat to build the wall at the Mexican border has made him extremely unpopular with Hispanic voters. So in one of his rallieshe got a Hispanic woman to accompany him on stage. She raved about what a great President Trump would make. He looked at her and then at the crowd and his facial expression subtly asked: Do you think Hispanics have a problem with me? In that moment, Trump had demolished as myth that Hispanics don’t favour him.
4. Us versus them. Trump has made this campaign an us versus them fight by presenting himself as someone who wants to make America great again. Anyone who opposes him is labelled anti-America.

So how do you counter this strategy?

In our professional careers and social engagements we sometimes come across people who use similar strategies to divide. How do you neutralize that? Let me share a personal experience.

I had joined as president of a packaged consumer goods company and for the first eight months, my predecessor was to work with me so that I could gain complete understanding and control of my new responsibilities. Unfortunately, he felt threatened and began to behave in a counterproductive manner.

Here’s how I handled it:

1. Do not get into a direct confrontation: Figuratively speaking, such people tend to “roll in the mud” and I too would end up in the mud and emerge a loser.
2. Do not react to his provocations, but respond to situations created by him: If I had reacted, it would have made me appear defensive and at a disadvantage. Plus I would have inadvertently allowed my emotions to get the better of me. Instead, I decided to respond in a thoughtful, reasoned manner, based on logic and facts and not emotions.
3. Change the rules of the game on relevant dimensions: A cursory analysis indicated to me that my predecessor was behaving in an extremely unprofessional manner. Instead of focusing his energy on making the business stronger, he was focused on strengthening his relationship with members of the family that controlled the company. I played to my strength—which is to present myself as an extremely confident and competent professional. I arrived early and well-prepared for all meetings and responded to questions with logic, facts and insights. In addition, I implement a business strategy that got the business moving at a faster clip. As results started trickling in, I was able to position myself in the mind of key stakeholders as an extremely competent professional. The contrast was apparent to all.
4. Let results do the talking: Key stakeholders are smart enough to see who is delivering on the ground and who is merely currying favour. In a short period of time I was able to win respect by showing results.

                (This article was originally printed in www.foundingfuel.com)