Do you have a Trump-like CEO? Watching the behaviour of the man in the White House, we shouldn’t forget that Trump has spent most of his life being a particular type of businessman.
Do you have a Trump-like CEO? They may share the following character traits:
Are they convinced that they are the smartest person in the room and the only one who is interested in succeeding (they call it ‘winning’)?
Do they see business merely as a series of deals?
Do they make key decisions without input from anyone else, dig in quickly and deeply, and then take any criticism of the decision personally?
Do they have a messianic complex, convinced that without them, everything will fall apart?
Could they do with trusting and listening a little more and going on about their own successes a little less?
Do the good people in the organisation leave because they can’t abide the Trump-like CEO?
Does the CEO look to belittle and drive out those who challenge them?
What Can You Do About It?
Let the Trump-like CEO take credit for your ideas. If you present them half-baked even better – it allows the CEO to shape them through their own greatness!
Keep on giving them productive things to do. If you give them a new idea to play with, maybe they’ll let you get on with your job.
Provide evidence of how their behaviour/ views/ decisions might be damaging their personal reputation – these people usually have a deep need to be liked.
Find ways to help them demonstrate that they can surprise the world. These bosses love proving that people have under-estimated them.
Give them an opportunity to align and interact with their peers. Then they can name-drop and gossip about them.
If they are the ‘big picture’ type, tell them how you’ll sort out all that trivial stuff with other minions. If they are detail-obsessed (for which read ‘control freak’), stay in constant communication.
Since these people like to run their organisation by focusing on the end objective, identify ‘easy wins’ that allow them to present themselves as having gotten things done.
And breathe – deeply!