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What Is Your Temperament?

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