Growing up, we had to look up to people like Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey and basically anyone who had “made it” out there in the world. Some had Michael Jackson, while others had Mandela to look up to. The point was that if you wanted to be successful, you had to look up to and pick up a few things from these people who had made all the impact in the world. There’s a very high chance that Daniel Radcliffe may have even considered Donald Trump as his at some point when he was growing up.
Now, in a 2017 dominated by Donald’s triumphs, there’s a chance that many a childhood mantra are being second-guessed – if they haven’t been thrown out the window already. Donald Trump, who’d been a winner of some sort himself has now shattered everything we ever learnt about the path to success by becoming President of America while totally damning all the rules.
Here, we have been thinking about all the mantras that now have almost no meaning because, having gone totally against the grain, Trump still managed to win(because even if we tell ourselves he’s the worst and he lost the popular votes, he’s still the President). Here are the 7 that stick out to us:
1. The more you give, the more you receive
It was Bill Gates who said As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others”. We grew up believing that to whom much has been given, much is expected. And so, to aspire to be rich meant that you had to be ready to give time, energy, money and love to those who have not been bestowed with as much.
Trump, however, a billionaire with a slew of property in New York, Nevada, Toronto, Seoul, and so many other places around the world as well as businesses that altogether make up his billion dollar empire has a had a very shady philanthropic history. While he’s often called himself an “ardent philanthropist” but there have been damning rumours that he may have lied about the figures he boasted about.
There’s the more reliable fact that he has refused to refused to declare his taxes returns for several years. If it is true that it is because he has failed to dutifully pay his taxes, nothing can make him less of a giver than that.
2. Level 5 Leadership
The concept of level 5 as developed by leadership expert, Jim Collins leadership says that a leader needs to be able to combine an extreme personal humility with intense professional will. A level 5 leader is one that lives simply and maintains a high capacity for thinking.
We do not have to go through Collins’ compelling list of the skills and personality traits necessary for this kind of effective leadership to know that Donald Trump has no use for any of it. At least he didn’t need to exhibit them to become the President of the free world. The one that hurt us the most is that Collin made us believe that we had to give credit to others while assigning blame to ourselves to reach the White House. Why have we been taken the fall for others all our lives then?
3. Readers are leaders
Do we even have to go over this? The President of America doesn’t read. I mean, the guy is not even acquainted with his own country’s Constitution! And he somehow became the President. Like what were all the one million laws of this, that and what not for then. This so-not-woke man just became President of the United States and he’s been so rich for years without “having the time” to read! You think we are joking? Let Megyn show you…
When she asked him to name the last book he’d read, Trump went on to say, “I read passages, I read areas, chapters, I don’t have the time.”
4. Be flexible
This one is so annoying. While we have lived our lives believing in the importance of making sacrifices and compromising at the cost of doing everything we want and how we want to because we were told that success is a combination of sheer will and knowing when to compromise, here’s Trump that has not once attempted to reach a compromise with his friends talk less of his haters. Not even once after almost two weeks of successfully turning the entire world against his infant Presidency.
5. Respect everyone
They asked us to be respectful of everyone irrespective of age, size, class, ethnicity, tribe, race, or gender because no one knows who they’ll need along the way. Well, Trump either needs no one or this rule is not as water-tight as we have been made to believe.
6. Embrace failure
You know how we have been so buttered up to accept failure as part of the process? Yes, that’s all gone to dust now because “We will not fail.” Trump’s success is one that does not consider the option of failing. All through an election that was “rigged against him” Donald Trump managed to keep up this world view. He was not going to fail and even if he, alone believed it, it was enough for him. We were the ones disadvantaged by the misconception that winners fail. Winners do not fail. Not Trump.
7. Use outside observers. (Take criticisms).
This no longer even makes sense. Trump has ensured that he only moves with and listens to people who think the way he does, those who echo his vision and Kellyanne Conway, who job is to explain explain Trumpspeak to the rest of the world in what sounds like English but is really just Englies. Anyone else is bad and for doing this alone, we are already #FakeNews.
The usual thing will be to take what the critiques say, weigh it and take what works from it but success in Trump’17 is a little too egocentric for that. Afterall, who has time for the “overrated” haters?
Trump has just come in with his bad self to change the rules like…
Creative mind. Enthusiast. Learner. Multipotentialite. And here, an assistant editor.
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