There are so many lessons to be learned from Trump’s first major legislative defeat as President of the United States.
Trump is not a Republican and Trump is not a Democrat. Trump is the President of the United States representing the Business of Capitalism. He is the capitalist president. He is the richest man to ever occupy the White House seat with a net worth of more than a billion dollars.
He is not the traditional politician. He works out of the box, naturally. He is a winner, that is, he plays to win because it’s the only way to go. His mindset and culture is winning at no cost.
His tactic is to eliminate the competition with bully techniques. He dresses you down and calls you out. He needs to control the message. He tweets his very own message and damn the press. His is the politics of revenge. This is the way to go in the world of commerce, but not in the political arena.
Business leadership skills, campaign leadership skills, and government leadership skills are three completely different things
As a business owner, Trump is used to speaking orders and building teams to move a project forward with a timeline. The political process is quite different. It is a lot slower and it is process oriented and the team is independent and does not necessarily buy into your agenda.
As we experience more and more of the wealthy guys entering the world of politics, this is a real lesson for them to learn. So, here are Trump’s lessons:
- If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. Is the Obama healthcare plan really broke or is it party ego and/or racism saying change it?
- Take time to get the plan together with the Congressmen who have to vote for the bill. Let everybody have a piece of it because they have to vote for it. Let them own it.
- Legislators have their own kingdoms. Their kingdoms are not yours. Understand the congressional kingdoms. That’s what counts. What will the congressmen deliver to their constituencies?
- Don’t threaten or bully Congress people. They have the vote. Sell them your package. This is a process that takes time.
- Running the government is different than running a business. There are new rules to learn and a different way of doing things.
- Government is different than politics. Politics is different than business. They are different animals.
- Government runs on processes. Learn the process.
- The Congress is your team. Learn to play them. In this case, you made your move too soon.
- The press can be your best friend, or your worst enemy. Respect them no matter what. You can’t win without them. You can’t play exclusive interviews. You can’t show favoritism. Your message has to be consistent.
- Business leadership skills, campaign leadership skills, and government leadership skills are three completely different things.
- Cross the aisle. You had not one Democratic vote, while it was your own Republicans that did you in. Cross the aisle.
