Thursday, February 2, 2017

THE ART OF THE (AMERICAN) DEAL

In his book, the Art of the Deal (which I have not read), I understand that our new President laid out his approach to his business dealings in black and white for all the world to read and learn.  He HAS brought this business style to the governance of the Nation, it should be no surprise to anyone that this would happen.  It's novel and has been unfortunately quite confrontational and divisive; the jury’s out as to whether it will be effective.  I thought I'd summarize his view points and (add some commentary) for anyone caring enough to read further. 

  • Aim high, push, push, push to get what you want. Sometimes settle, most times you get what you want (causes a quandary in government as leaders need to find the best solution that harms the fewest people while benefitting the most people, which oftentimes is not necessarily the most economical or highest financial yielding solution). 
  • Go into a deal negotiation anticipating the worst (present worst outcome of Presidential decisions is death of American citizens through military engagement or a nuclear holocaust, I hope he recognizes these unique constraints not applicable to a business approach).
  • You can't be too greedy (if you're not willing to use armies to settle disputes, the only path to long-term peace is compromise which requires leaving something on the table for everyone).  
  • Toss a lot of balls in the air (sign lots of executive orders, shake things up, call people out and then be there to pick up the pieces or promote the parts that benefit a particular position).
  • Know your market (I think he's still working that out at 350M [40M of which live in poverty] the US population doesn’t constitute "one" market but many.  His claims of the largest and best, if rooted, provide prima facie evidence of him having a market).
  • Use your leverage, have to come from a position of strength (hence all of the rhetoric and antagonism of foreign leaders).
  • Enhance your location (America has the best dirt in the world, can’t get much better).
  • Get the word out (constant controversy is his marquee, employs lots of hyperbole and drama for ratings).  
  • Fight back (we see this daily from him and his entire staff on every issue that he does not get his way on, to the point of alternative-truths to justify positions).  
  • Deliver the goods (you hear him tout every accomplishment or pseudo-accomplishment, claiming that they are his and his alone).  
  • Contain costs (to the degree that you can still provide services to the greatest number of people in true need)
  • Have fun (the most important of the tenets which is presently unrequited, or perhaps his winning of the Presidency was his fun). 

So, it's not surprising that Trump has taken his unique approach as President and there will be more of it down the road.  The World needs to adjust to this style; we know exactly where he's coming from.  


It dawned on me today that in his many speeches, Trump says that he wants to make America STRONG again, PROUD again, SAFE again, and GREAT again…I think that if he worked to make the American people HAPPY again, the rest of the pieces would fall into place as a byproduct of that effort. Good governance is the best deal for ALL of the people, it’s a huge adjustment for a guy who focused his life solely on negotiating the best deal for ONE of the people.