The Trump in every leader

DONALD TRUMP cheerfully breaks all the rules of good leadership, as codified in management books and taught in business schools. The modern CEO is supposed to be a consummate team player, modest and self-effacing, committed to equality and diversity, good at handling risk and adept at dealing with the press. Mr Trump flies around in a private plane with his name emblazoned on it. He humiliates job applicants in his television show, “The Apprentice”. Four Trump-themed businesses have declared bankruptcy since 1991. He refers to women as “pieces of ass” and boasts about how well he gets on with “the blacks”. NBC and Univision have stopped broadcasting his “Miss USA” and “Miss Universe” competitions over his comments on Mexican immigrants. He has also faced a firestorm of criticism for his misogynist comments on a Fox News journalist, Megyn Kelly.

But is there a little bit of Mr Trump in all powerful people? This question kept occurring to your columnist while reading a new book, “Friend and Foe”, by Adam Galinsky and Maurice Schweitzer. The two academics are among the pioneers of a technique called “power priming”, that helps people feel more masterful. They find that, once primed for power, even the most reticent people experience significant changes in their behaviour.