The Hidden Structure Behind Donald Trump's Leadership

You may be in awe of President Donald Trump. You may think he is awful. The purpose of this post is not to evaluate Donald Trump’s politics or policies but to examine how he does what he does. As a leader, Trump has made an impact in real estate, entertainment, media, and politics. That impact is based on a distinct approach to leadership.

Beyond Impulsivity

Dr. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a professor at Yale University who studies the practice of management. He is also founder and CEO of the Chief Executive Officer Leadership Institute, which draws thousands of CEOs for off-the-record peer-to-peer conversations. He has advised U.S. presidents of both parties, including Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Donald Trump. Trump in fact offered Sonnenfeld the job of founding president of Trump University, an offer he declined.

In his latest book, Trump's Ten Commandments, released in March of this year, Sonnenfeld describes his 25-year relationship with Donald Trump as “advisor, friend, critic, and accessory.” After a quarter century observing Trump, he contends that Trump's leadership approach is less impulsive than it appears.

Hub-and-Spoke Model of Leadership

Sonnenfeld observes that Trump utilizes a hub-and-spoke mode of leadership, whether in his real estate business or in the federal government. In this model, all authority emanates from one person. It is a leadership style typical of early-stage enterprises. Many family-dominated companies adopt this type of structure. Hub-and-spoke provides maximum creativity/flexibility for the leader. Typically, as a company grows in complexity, the hub-and-spoke model yields to a bureaucratic structure, in which authority is delegated downwards.

In his first term as President, Trump brought in Cabinet officials who were politically aligned with him. They also had the respect of the rank-and-file within their departments. Many of the cabinet members became aggressive and articulate spokespeople for the organizations they led.

In his second term, however, Trump brought in Cabinet officials who were politically aligned with him but were chosen for their lack of respect among the rank-and-file. The officials have no power base of support within their departments. "They are perceived as overwhelmed, amateurs," says Sonnenfeld. Their only source of power comes from Donald Trump. Such a selection process reinforces the hub-and-spoke framework.

Subverting Institutions

Sonnenfeld contends that Donald Trump is most comfortable playing individuals off each other. When leaders collectively organize, Trump is not comfortable. He would rather not deal with institutions, whether the U.S. legal system, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Business Roundtable, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), or the European Union. For example, in his first term, Trump terminated the North American Free Trade Agreement. In its place, he made individual deals with the leaders of Canada and Mexico while sometimes playing one against the other.

Subverting institutions, explains Sonnenfeld, reinforces the hub-and-spoke system.

Repeated Lies Create Confusion

"Trump will repeat false assertions relentlessly and with certainty," Sonnenfeld observes. At one level, the constant repetition of falsehoods creates confusion; people begin to question their own judgment. The goal, Sonnenfeld says, is not validity. The goal is confusion.

In creating confusion, Trump leaves his audience without the attention span to focus on issues Trump wants them to avoid. Sonnenfeld cites Trump’s insistence that the Biden-Harris administration created an inflationary environment and caused the economy to drift downward—when inflation and downward drift actually began during the Trump administration. Trump was so relentless, Sonnenfeld notes, that the Harris campaign decided it wasn’t worth the time or money to refute him.

Trump the Man Versus Trump the Public Persona

Sonnenfeld sees Donald Trump as having a public persona characterized by anger and resentment. He uses the persona to align with stakeholders who feel angry and resentful about their lives. False accusations about the election being stolen, for example, feed into their resentment and anger.

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Yet, says Sonnenfeld, Donald Trump “can be genuinely funny” and capable of “mocking his own outside public persona.” One of the few instances of Donald Trump mocking the Donald Trump persona surfaced in a 30-second television commercial for cozone.com, in which Trump seems to be poking fun at his deal-maker and womanizer personas.

The core thesis of Sonnenfeld's book is that President Trump's approach to leadership is not impulsive. It is based on a structured approach that you may or may not agree with. We found it unexpectedly fascinating that Donald Trump the man can sometimes laugh at the Donald Trump persona he has created.