L7 Leading and Developing People  Workshop-3 Leadership and Leader Development Case Study The ‘Great Donald Trump’ phenomenon: a radical leadership style? He wants to deport millions upon millions of undocumented immigrants. He wants to bar Musli

L7 Leading and Developing People

 Workshop-3

Leadership and Leader Development

Case Study

The ‘Great Donald Trump’ phenomenon: a radical leadership style?

He wants to deport millions upon millions of undocumented immigrants. He wants to bar Muslims from visiting the United States. He admires various foreign strongmen and dictators, and has even retweeted a quote from Mussolini. This gold-plated buffoon has in turn drawn the enthusiastic endorsement of leading racists from across the spectrum of intolerance, a gorgeous mosaic of haters, each of them quivering excitedly at the prospect of getting a real, honest-to-god bigot in the White House.

Frank (2016)

Gird yourself for another bruising war of words as the third wave of Republican debates approaches on Oct 28 2015. Donald Trump and his no-holds-barred leadership style promise to march onto our screens and grab us by the throat. Given that The Donald has been picked as the Republican nominee, the whole world has begun thinking the unthinkable – that Trump might actually become the President of the United States. 

In a recent study, support for Donald Trump ran strong among white, working-class people, even among self-identified Democrats, but not because they are all pining for a racist in the White House. Their favourite aspect of Trump was his ‘attitude’, the blunt and forthright way he talks. As far as issues are concerned, ‘immigration’ placed third among the matters such voters care about, far behind their number one concern: ‘good jobs / the economy’.

People are much more frightened than they are bigoted, is how the findings were described by Karen Nussbaum, the executive director of Working America. The survey confirmed what we hear all the time: people are fed up, people are hurting, they are very distressed about the fact that their kids don’t have a future and that there still hasn’t been a recovery from the recession, which every family still suffers from.

But rather than offering our usual ‘I can’t believe he just said that’ response to Trump’s verbal jousts, it is worth debating and analysing his underlying leadership style. Despite our love of hearing someone brazenly speak the truth to power, if there’s even a hint that he may become the President, it’s crucial to examine the depth of Trump’s seductive message. Is he a bombastic innovator who’s offering something new for America, or is he a narcissist who’s got his sights set on advancing his own brand? Or, is he something in between – someone in the mould of former GE CEO Jack Welsh or iconic Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca, businessmen who both brandished a big vision and inspired others to conquer the seemingly impossible?

Adapted from:

Frank, T. (2016) Millions of ordinary Americans support Donald Trump. The Guardian. 8 March.

Caldicott, S. (2015) Debating Donald Trump’s Radical leadership style: Innovator or Narcissist? Forbes. 25 October.

Questions

1.     Do you think Trump is a leader, and why?

2.     From the followers’ point of view, how do you explain his success so far? And evaluate the ‘Great Donald Trump phenomenon’ using relevant leadership theories.