Trump, I totally get you as a private business owner.
I have had to be savage too when it comes to building and running multiple companies over the last 15 years. I see what you are doing and I’m watching your tactics and I know them all too well as a business owner myself. You are employing the same tactics as a Turnaround CEO hired into a company that was on the brink of bankruptcy and total demise.
Despite walking into a job as one of the most respected, stable, and successful countries in the world, your fiction fear mongering paints a different story. You are acting as though the United States of America is your private company…. And that we are your employees.
I can see how you’d be confused about the difference in leadership needed at a private company versus government. All of your experience is leading private companies and let’s be real: private companies in the US are kind of like mini dictatorships. I should know, I run a few.
Like you, I've hired thousands of people in the last 20 years and I’ve had to be savage. I’ve fired groups of people at the same time because they were actively working against me and our company mission. I’ve issued company directives and have had to make it abundantly clear to my team that in certain situations it was our way or the highway when they weren’t representing the company well. I’ve also had to exert power and influence in expecting people to work within our established set of values or choose to find another company that is a better fit. I’ve had to have the conversation of “align up or align out” more times than I can count for more reasons than I can remember. I too have made rules intentionally to push poor performers out and bring high performers in. Like you, I too have had to throw my weight around and issue directives with the intention of making people quit… And then crossing my fingers hoping that they do…. and then firing them if they don’t.
I’ve had to do this and more to make it clear that our private company isn’t always a democracy. I set the bar high and expect people to hit it and I address it when they don’t.
Whew – That kind of felt like a dark confessional from a private company leader. I kind of feel like I need a shower after writing all that. The truth is that building and running private companies can be a savage job to do it right and be successful, because in a growing business if you don’t have alignment, you have nothing.
Yes, Trump – When it comes to business, I bleed mostly red. I get you.
The truth of being Leaders kind of makes us sound like assholes though, right? See Trump, we have SO MUCH in common.
But here’s where you got confused.
The 340 million people in the United States of America are not a group of employees that you need to manage. The relationship between the President and the People isn’t a “my way or the highway” kind of thing. There is a big difference between people that choose to work for you in a company where you pay them to do a job vs people that are citizens in a diverse country that you were elected to govern… and it is a BIG difference:
Employees have the choice to leave. The 260 million people that did NOT vote for you don’t have that choice.
Employees can choose to say “no”. They can choose to tell you to F*** off. They can choose to find another job. These things have happened to both of us I’m sure… (on more than one occasion if we’re being honest)… and that is good. Because this is how balance is restored in the private sector world. This is called “checks and balances” (hard concept, Trump, I know). If leaders are unchecked Dictators, then no one will work for them, which means we will have no company (or country) to work for. It forces us Leaders to be kind and promote harmony while also making money and getting shit done. The same concept applies to governance…Harmony is part of what determines success… that is unless you are hoping for a coup (sometimes I wonder if this is your goal).
And from one savage business owner to another I have to remind you…. The United States of America is a Country, NOT your private company. The USA is really more like a non-profit with a big ass board of directors. Is this your worst nightmare? MINE TOO. It is every private company owner’s worst nightmare. Yet it is the job you just signed up for, friend.
This is a humbling experience, I know. I feel you: Having to lead people you can’t manage or fire through a company memo or executive order is hard and it requires a different skill set. It requires a more diplomatic and understanding approach. Sometimes savage business owners aren’t cut out for the job of public diplomacy and people like you and your new BFF Musk should know your important place in the economy…. And then stay there.
But you didn’t. And now here we are, so now it requires the recognition that the Country didn’t elect you as a Dictator, it elected you as a Representative…. And out of 340 million people in the country, only 77 million of them actually voted FOR you. This should give you a moment of pause. A moment of deep self-reflection. Come on, you can do it….I'll wait for it….
Nothing? Sigh.
Ok I’ll help:
Trump, it is time to face the reality that you are now running the largest non-profit government entity in the Country, paid for by the taxpayers of America…. All of them. Which means YOU are the ultimate public servant. WE, the people, are really YOUR boss, to be clear. Yep, even the transgender citizens – they are your bosses too. (Eeesh, I hope for you that they aren’t part of your annual performance review).
Side note: It's kind of a hard and thankless job working on government funds for the good of humanity, isn’t it? I know and if you ever want someone to commiserate with, I am happy to be your confidant. I would stroke your golden white hair while you cry on my shoulder and talk about how it isn’t fair. I would cradle your head and say softly “I know”. And then I would stand you up and slap you in the face and say, “Suck it up, Buttercup” because it is time to do the job you were elected to do. You now have to rise to the occasion for everyone and not just for a few.
The job of the US President is to represent everyone…. Because the people of the United States don’t have an option to leave you as their boss. They don’t have the option to quit your company and the policies you choose to enact. They must endure… and apparently if you are not a white straight man, then under your reign it means that they must suffer.
The United States of America is a Republic of the People, not a private company… but my private company would happily hire all of those lifelong public servants you just fired. Your loss Trump, our gain. Only a fool fires well intended smart people that are doing good work on behalf of their fellow Americans, even if they disagree with you.
The business world is so savage, I know… but running a Country shouldn't be a tyranny.
It is a Leadership choice that doesn't have to be made.
Change It Anyway 