PRACTICE OPTIMIZATION FOR PROFESSIONALS
  • Home
    • Video >
      • The Alignment Doctrine
    • Communication >
      • Elements >
        • The Golden Rule
        • The Five Essential Qualities
        • The Five Essential Questions
        • The Five Step Cycle
        • The Ten Commandments
        • The Ten Sources of Authority
      • Modules >
        • Modules A-M >
          • Avoiding amateurism
          • Change: Understanding It, Facing It, Profiting From It
          • Communication for Long Term Relationship
          • Communications Horror Stories
          • Communications that blow up in your face
          • Communicating toward success
          • Earning the Right to Be Heard
          • Gerunds, Mesolects and Other Arcane Terms of Art
          • Having a Toad Day
          • Healthy Fear
          • Hippos and Raccoons-- Deadly Underestimation
          • How I Moved From Doing What I Liked to Doing What I Loved
          • How to Be on the Same Wavelength as Your Audience
          • How to Pick Up a Porcupine-- Dealing With Difficult People
          • Key of Trust
          • Manipulation
          • Mastering the Technologies
          • Mining the Subconscious
        • Modules N-Z >
          • Quick and Dirty-- the 80/20 Rule
          • Sabotaging Your Message
          • Scar Tissue
          • Secrets of the Druids
          • Some Specific Approaches to Communications
          • Specific audiences
          • Symbolism-- the Heart of the Communicative Process
          • Talking to Yourself and Why You Should Do It
          • The Difference Between Leadership and Management
          • The Eyes Eat First
          • The Eyes Have It
          • The Lizard Within-- What Your Reptilian Brain Makes You Do
          • The Media of Communication
          • The Respect Deficit
          • The Secret of Authenticity
          • Thinking About the Kinds of English
          • Websites, Blogs and Newsletters
          • When you don't have time to plan
          • When You'd Rather Shoot Yourself
          • Who's your audience? Targeted communication.
      • About us >
        • Karen Bowley
  • Norman Bowley
  • FREE
  • Services
    • Keynote Speaking
    • Training
    • Coaching
    • Troubleshooting
    • Consulting
    • Writing >
      • Ghost Writing
      • Transitional Ghost Writing
  • Testimonials
  • Blog

How Donald Trumped the System (and How the System Will Trump Donald)

18/1/2017

1 Comment

 

As professionals who communicate, let’s talk about the elephant in the room.

As of January 20, 2017, Donald Trump is the 45th president of the United States, a position that used to carry the unofficial title of Leader of the Free World. We’ll see how that part turns out.

Trump
seems to break nearly every rule of the English language, sometimes “bigly”. He is so incoherent he can contradict himself several times in less than 140 characters. During the US election campaign he was ridiculed as a communication disaster, but today he is President. Maybe he got a little help from his friends and maybe he didn’t, but there’s no denying that he won the hearts of millions of Americans, including many traditional rust-belt Democrats, strategically taking the Electoral College.


So does this mean Trump overturned all the principles of effective communication? No, on the contrary, Donald Trump actually proved three key rules of powerful communication, and we’d all do well to pay attention.

First, he
understood that our gut responds far more powerfully than our intellect. Without agreeing or disagreeing with McLean’s and Sagan’s “lizard brain” hypothesis, we can say safely that there is a part of us which communicates at a primal level, our visceral “fight or flight” instinct. All of us respond to these signals. Some of us give them sober second thought before reacting. Most don’t.


Second, he kept his message simple. Everything was a variation on the theme “Make America Great Again”. Do you remember Hillary’s slogan? Of course you don’t.

​Third, he
knew how to keep our attention, all the time. He owned the headlines. Did Hillary? No. Did Bernie? Yes, but that’s for another discussion.


But the story is not over. Donald Trump makes three mistakes which will surely bring him down. The principles of communication are eons old, and you don’t trifle with them. Follow them and they will reward you, flaunt them and they will ruin you.

His first mistake
is that he doesn’t listen. All great communicators listen. The Gipper listened. You may think you don't need to listen because you are smarter than the rest of the world, but in the grand scheme of things the rest of the world will not agree with you. There is a God, but his name is not Donald.


H
is second communication mistake is related to the first, and it is that he does not show respect. When someone speaks to us without respect, we resist the content of their message, even if we are terrified of them. We may respond outwardly as necessary to avoid being hurt, but we will not let them into our hearts. Ultimately, if a tyrant does not own our hearts, he will fall.


The third
failed pillar of communication is coherence. Undoubtedly Donald is brilliant, but because he lacks respect and moral compass, it doesn’t matter to him what he says. As a result, he just spews a stream of sales barf. He doesn’t make sense because he's not about logic. He’s not trying to convey sense, he’s trying to sell. His language is the verbal equivalent of a shell game-- no matter how hard you try to follow, everything is moving so quickly that you’re just bedazzled. He’s not trying to tell you, he’s trying to sell you. He’s the circus barker, the snake oil salesman.


What does all this mean? It means that
unless he can change the rules in time to save himself, Trump will ultimately fail. Provided that America remains a democracy with a free press and the rule of law, his failure to listen, to show respect and to speak coherently will erode his base, one disgruntled American at a time, until the day comes when the crowd agrees that the emperor has no clothes. Then, in the old American tradition, he will be tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail, and nobody will mourn.


If I’m wrong about the democracy, free press and rule of law part, God help us all.

But I don't think I'm wrong. I believe the rules of communication are immutable, even if the results may take some time.


1 Comment
Michael Durrer
20/1/2017 03:25:34

Trumped ignorance translates into a short life, either through impeachment or something else.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Norman Bowley teaches the Alignment Doctrine and the Client Code-- secrets to building the professional practice you and your clients deserve.

    Archives

    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    February 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
    • Video >
      • The Alignment Doctrine
    • Communication >
      • Elements >
        • The Golden Rule
        • The Five Essential Qualities
        • The Five Essential Questions
        • The Five Step Cycle
        • The Ten Commandments
        • The Ten Sources of Authority
      • Modules >
        • Modules A-M >
          • Avoiding amateurism
          • Change: Understanding It, Facing It, Profiting From It
          • Communication for Long Term Relationship
          • Communications Horror Stories
          • Communications that blow up in your face
          • Communicating toward success
          • Earning the Right to Be Heard
          • Gerunds, Mesolects and Other Arcane Terms of Art
          • Having a Toad Day
          • Healthy Fear
          • Hippos and Raccoons-- Deadly Underestimation
          • How I Moved From Doing What I Liked to Doing What I Loved
          • How to Be on the Same Wavelength as Your Audience
          • How to Pick Up a Porcupine-- Dealing With Difficult People
          • Key of Trust
          • Manipulation
          • Mastering the Technologies
          • Mining the Subconscious
        • Modules N-Z >
          • Quick and Dirty-- the 80/20 Rule
          • Sabotaging Your Message
          • Scar Tissue
          • Secrets of the Druids
          • Some Specific Approaches to Communications
          • Specific audiences
          • Symbolism-- the Heart of the Communicative Process
          • Talking to Yourself and Why You Should Do It
          • The Difference Between Leadership and Management
          • The Eyes Eat First
          • The Eyes Have It
          • The Lizard Within-- What Your Reptilian Brain Makes You Do
          • The Media of Communication
          • The Respect Deficit
          • The Secret of Authenticity
          • Thinking About the Kinds of English
          • Websites, Blogs and Newsletters
          • When you don't have time to plan
          • When You'd Rather Shoot Yourself
          • Who's your audience? Targeted communication.
      • About us >
        • Karen Bowley
  • Norman Bowley
  • FREE
  • Services
    • Keynote Speaking
    • Training
    • Coaching
    • Troubleshooting
    • Consulting
    • Writing >
      • Ghost Writing
      • Transitional Ghost Writing
  • Testimonials
  • Blog