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KEIRSEY CHRONCLES : VOLUME 1, NUMBER 2
TRUMPED: Fired or Hired?

An Examination of Leadership and 'Follower-ship'

"You're fired!" It's no surprise that Donald Trump, the current hot icon for American business, tried to see if he could trademark that phrase. Of course, anybody who knows of Trump knows about his audacity his legendary ability to promote his enterprises. Trump is probably today's most visible example of the Promoter Artisan . He says it best in the first paragraph of his best-selling book - "The Art of the Deal:"
  "I don't do it for the money. I've got enough, much more than I'll ever need. I do it to do it. Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks."
As David Keirsey puts it in the Promoter Artisan's portrait in Please Understand Me II:
  "Promoting is the art of putting forward an enterprise and then of winning others to your side, persuading them have confidence in you and to go along with what you propose. Of all the Artisans, ESTPs seem especially able to advertise or publicize their endeavors in this way, and to maneuver others in the direction they want them to go."
"You're hired!" is Trump's final phrase in TV show The Apprentice, in which he puts a group of people through a series of business challenges to see which one is the best qualified to run one of his organizations. Part of the value of the show is that people get to see Trump's commentary on why he fired each of the candidates and hired the apprentice. He talks about his ideas on leadership, and his experience and expertise in building and running his empire. But temperament theory tells us that there are four different kinds of leaders, and Trump's way is not always the only way for success in leadership or apprenticing (a kind of 'follower-ship').

Donald Trump is a good example of a person who had a long apprenticeship, under his father, who was also a builder. Trump started going with his father to his jobsites at the age of ten. His father, Fred Trump, was a different temperament: an Inspector Guardian. Donald greatly admired his father, and said that his father was the biggest influence on him. Like his father, Trump, of course, wanted to become a prominent businessman, and at a young age Trump decided he wanted to be in the big leagues of Manhattan, rather than operate in Queens and Brooklyn as his father did.

In the "Art of the Deal," one of his advice points he learned from his father is about containing costs:
  "I believe in spending what you have to. But I also believe in not spending more than you should. When I was building low-income housing, the most important thing was to get it built quickly, inexpensively, and adequately, so you could rent it out and make a few bucks. That's when I learned to be cost-conscious. I never threw money around. I learned from my father that every penny counts, because before too long your pennies turn into dollars."
Let us briefly examine some of the lessons that can be gleaned from the show, The Apprentice, as related to temperament theory.

First, nobody can be a superman. Each person has strengths in some areas, weaknesses in other areas. Leaders are dependent on followers, and even Donald Trump is human. We all have strengths and weaknesses as leaders and they are usually related to temperament. Moreover, a strength in one situation can be a weakness in another, and vice versa. And of course, the same analysis applies to followers. In the world of work, most individuals will spend more time being a follower than being a leader, and often one must be both.

Secondly, leaders must listen to subordinates. The fact that Trump's two main assistants in the show appear to be of the Guardian temperament indicates that Trump understands at least one of his strengths and one of his weaknesses. His strength is his decisiveness and his weakness is monitoring. He uses his assistants to monitor what is going on, and can quickly tell him their assessment and help him discuss the issues. He trusts their judgment. It's not that Trump couldn't monitor things himself - it's just not his primary talent.

Being competitive is the hallmark of the Artisan Temperament. The Apprentice is tailor-made for Trump's kind of leadership. On the other hand, Trump understands there needs to be a balance between competition and cooperation. For example, some candidates were fired for failing and being too passive (in Trump's eyes) and some were fired for failing and being too aggressive. Andy, the debate champion from Harvard, was seen as too weak in a boardroom debate and was fired. Pamela, who was very decisive and aggressive, was fired because she made the wrong decisions that affected her team's performance.

In noting his decision to keep Kelly as one of the final two candidates in Apprentice II, Trump said in effect: "Kelly has had experience in the military. I like the fact that he has a lot of experience in leading and following. If you haven't learned to follow, how can you lead?"

Trump had a difficult time deciding between Kelly and Jennifer. Despite an overwhelming opinion of most of his subordinates that he should choose Kelly, Trump was reluctant to choose him over Jennifer. Most likely Trump was attracted to Jennifer's aggressiveness and competitive passion, despite her failures of leadership in the tasks. He was not completely convinced that Kelly had the right natural instinct for leadership - that fire in the belly. But finally, he decided Jennifer did not have enough leadership experience or the right instincts.
  "More than anything else, I think deal-making is an ability you're born with. It's in the genes. I don't say that egotistically. It's not about being brilliant. It takes a certain kind of intelligence, but mostly it's about instincts."
Trump's instinct was to go with Kelly.

More often than not, temperament determines what people can do well, but many times individuals cannot recognize what they do well, for they are blinded by other factors, such as ambition, status, or control. Trump knows that it's important to match talent to task. This is the first rule of leading according to temperament. Trump knows implicitly this is the key to success, and he has stressed several times that leaders must use each of the team members effectively.

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