Trump's Big Mistake is Your Leadership Lesson

First, let’s make this clear. This article has nothing to do with politics. It’s about leadership. And leadership transcends politics. For instance, the World War II Germans had an exceptional military leadership, but their Nazi philosophy was utter evil. In American politics, both the Democrats and Republicans exhibit good and bad leadership. So, what I am going to say about Trump’s leadership mistakes have no relationship to his political views.?

His Cabinet selections have garnered a lot of publicity. Two factors are present in each, loyalty to him and looking good on TV. The ability to lead skillfully seems to be lacking.?

I am not going to go into the individual characteristics of each pick. Suffice to say, there is one mission they all are tasked with, that involves the “drain the swamp” undertaking, the complete re-ordering or even destruction of the intended department.?

And that is where Trump’s mistake comes in, a mistake that involves a misunderstanding or a complete ignorance of that which defines all organizations, the status quo.?

Most organizations are identified by their status quo, their existing states of affairs. If those organizations aim to achieve exceptional results, more results than what they are presently achieving, they must deal with the status quo, which usually fights change. ??

The status quo will fight efforts to change it. A classic example is IBM replacing punch cards with digital machines in the 1950s. The company gained market share in the information storage and communication industry by using punch cards. Think of IBM today if it had stayed with punch cards. The company wouldn’t exist. Yet IBM’s status quo was so intent on stopping the replacement of cards, it almost defeated Thomas Watson Jr. who was leading the charge into digital. He succeeded only because he was a skilled leader with skilled lieutenants. ????

Looking back on what was then a titanic, organizational struggle now, it seems inevitable that digital would win. But put yourself back inside the struggle, you would see the outcome was a tossup. The status quo was so powerful, so cunning, so passionate that it missed winning by an organizational whisker – even though it was absolutely wrong.?

In defeating a committed status quo, it is often better to do the new right things in the temporarily wrong ways rather than the old wrong things in the old, right ways. The status quo doesn’t care about being right in terms of organizational advancement. It only cares about remaining the status quo. Its power resides in that dynamic, because it will make an existential struggle against anyone trying to overthrow it.????

In your case, know that defeating a powerful status quo entails exceptional leadership.

In Trump’s case, few of Trump’s picks as far as I can see are leaders experienced going up against status quos. Yet when confirmed, each cabinet selection will face a robust status quo, ready for battle.

In this hour of political upheaval, as we live in the shadow of the Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times,” we will see how Trump’s people fare when up against out-for-blood status quos.?

Whatever transpires can also provide lessons to help you improve our leadership since you will continually be dealing with status quos. ???

Copyright ? The Filson Leadership Group, Inc.

The author of some 40 published books, Brent Filson’s latest two leadership books are: “The Leadership Talk: 7 Days to Motivating People to Achieve Exceptional Results” and “107 Ways to Achieve Great Leadership Talks.” A former Marine infantry platoon and company commander, he is the founder of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc., which for 40 years has helped thousands of leaders of all ranks and functions in top companies worldwide achieve sustained increases in hard, measured results. He has published some 150 articles on leadership and been a guest on scores of radio/tv shows. His mission is to have leaders replace their traditional presentations with his specially developed, motivating process, The Leadership Talk. www.brentfilson.com and theleadershiptalk.com.

Besides having lectured about the Leadership Talk at MIT Sloan School of Management, Columbia University, Wake Forest, Villanova, Williams, Middlebury, Filson brought the Leadership Talk to leaders in these organizations: Abbott, Ameritech, Anheuser-Busch, Armstrong World Industries, AT&T, BASF, Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, Bose, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Campbell Sales, Canadian Government, CNA, DuPont, Eaton Corporation, Exelon, First Energy, Ford, General Electric, General Motors, GTE, Hartford Steam Boiler, Hershey Foods, Honeywell, Houghton Mifflin, IBM, Meals-on-Wheels, Merck, Miller Brewing Company, NASA, PaineWebber, Polaroid, Price Waterhouse, Roadway Express, Sears Roebuck, Spalding International, Southern Company, The United Nations, Unilever, UPS, Union Carbide, United Dominion Industries, U.S. Steel, Vermont State Police, Warner Lambert — and more