On my way home from New York, in a shuttle bus to Newark Airport, I listened to Trump’s press conference after the midterm elections live on the radio on Wednesday.
The bus driver shook his head occasionally, and I could feel my own antipathy towards “The Donald” in my stomach when he spoke.
But was the feeling reasonable, or was it colored by the fact that I don’t like the fact that someone who consistently lies and behaves like a bully still has power?
A journalist asks how President Trump feels about losing the election?
Donald Trump answers, freely reproduced from memory:
“It’s actually a small victory. Well, it IS a victory. It’s actually a big win when it comes to dealmaking. And that’s what it’s all about, dealmaking.”
There’s nothing new in politicians claiming almost every election result as a victory. Either they haven’t regressed as much as the polls feared. Or they’ve won (although maybe they didn’t win as big as the polls predicted!).
So in that sense, Trump’s interpretation was quite normal:
That’s trick #1:
1. Make something positive out of something negative
As a business leader, you can do something similar: find the positive in every situation – even the ones that look the most negative. A bad quarterly result probably contains a corner of progress – or “we took a cost earlier than expected, so next quarter will be better than budget”.
It’s a well-known fact in politics that those who already agree with a politician accept small untruths and inaccuracies – while skeptics and opponents point out the errors and feel further opposition.
That’s why it works for Trump, because he really only needs the support of the exact number of voters needed to vote him in.
The downside of Trumpian rhetoric is that you lose credibility. Especially among the more skeptical audience.
As a business leader, you need to assess: Do you have all the important stakeholders on board? How much do you need to accommodate skeptics inside and outside the organization in your communication?
Beware of assessing people as “non-essential” stakeholders. While you can’t always make everyone happy, in the long run, you need trust to have room to maneuver. The image chaos that Trump is creating is not an example to follow.
Bad news should always be dealt with by providing an appropriate, concrete explanation and a plan to rectify the situation – even if you complement it by highlighting positive things.
2. The Judo trick: Take your attention away from what’s important
In the self-defense sport of judo, you try to use your opponent’s movement to throw him/her off balance.
Donald Trump often takes down the press with a judo move like this.
One of the best examples is from the inauguration on January 20, 2017.
On the same day, Trump announced that he was halting ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, TPP. According to economists, this would have a serious impact on the economy and certainly cost American jobs.
But at the same time, his spokesman, Sean Spicer, said at a press conference that there had been more people at Trump’s inauguration than at any previous inauguration ceremony. This was famously explained as “alternative facts” by his advisor, Kellyanne Conway.
How important was it whether Trump or Obama’s inauguration was attended by more people? Not very important in terms of initiating measures that create more expensive consumer goods and unemployment among Trump voters.
But the story about the photos of the ceremony was a story about “the president lying” – always very controversial – and it was easy to write and could be clearly illustrated with image comparisons. Therefore, the media gave it a lot of space. The picture story ended up taking up far more space than the complicated story about trade agreements, which would probably cost jobs.
The “bandwidth” of ordinary people’s access to media means that only the most “loud” and easily digestible stories reach a wide audience. That’s why the jobs story didn’t reach the “Average Joe” – because the media’s own priorities put the bystander lie at the top.
Smart? A calculated media judo throw? Maybe, maybe not. But examples abound, such as Trump’s tirades against kneeling football stars.
Trick #2 is to take the focus away from a problem by creating a conflict about something really unproblematic that is so exciting that it grabs people’s attention.
It’s difficult to use in business and leaves a frivolous image, even if you get results in the short term.
3: Enemy images: “Enemy of the people”?
Back to the presidential press conference after the midterm elections.
Here comes trick number 3: Use enemy images.
What everyone remembers from the press conference is that CNN journalist Jim Acosta would not give up the microphone and was subsequently stripped of his White House press accreditation.
In the verbal exchange at the press conference, Trump called the journalist “an enemy of the people”. This is how he has referred to large parts of the press for several years.
One of the reasons Trump divides the US more than previous presidents is that he uses strong enemy images of his political opponents.
Anyone who disagrees with him gets a very harsh verbal beating. This creates a tailwind for the strong supporters, but creates so much resistance and disgust among everyone else that the rifts become deep and almost impossible for Trump to repair within the current and possible next term in office.
But he probably doesn’t want that either, because he doesn’t need the cooperation. He needs the enemy image – it is one of the pillars of his communication strategy. That’s why it actually helps him that the majority in the House of Representatives has switched to the Democrats – then he can blame them for everything that doesn’t go his way.
Enemy images exist in most organizations, but as a business leader you need to be careful not to use them.
If the enemy is a competitor that you will one day acquire, it will be very difficult to integrate the two organizations if there is a very negative image of the competitor in your organization beforehand.
In Denmark, we have a (worn) expression, “konkollegaer”, which illustrates the relationship: Respect the competitor, they are actually your colleagues in the market.
Of course you should speak up if your competitor does something unethical, but blame their culture, their top management – not the employees who might apply to work for you (because the culture wasn’t good elsewhere?).
NB: Previous presidents have also used enemy images in their communications. However, they have typically been enemies that were far away or had marginal influence in American society, e.g. the Soviet Union and small dictatorships. Soviet Union and small dictatorships.
An external enemy creates internal unity. But be careful not to use it as a communication tool!
Remember: Actions count, not rhetoric
It’s actions and results that count. Both for Trump and for business leaders. But in the case of Trump, the good results have gradually been drowned out by a bad image among his opponents – who make up about half the population.
You should consider the same if you’ re a business leader taking a sharp public profile:
A provocative profile can hinder your results in that 90 percent of your audience will only remember your controversial outbursts. Your company’s achievements, good and bad, will take a back seat to the emotions surrounding your persona.
That’s why you should build credibility rather than chasing short communication victories.
Let the results do the talking, stand up to bad news and show respect for the competition. It gives you a credible platform to work from.
Don’t be a Donald.
Fatal 9/11 mistake: “A good day to bury bad news”
Trump’s tricks are not unusual.
In the less polished part of the PR toolbox is launching bad news while the media is filled with a very big story. If the story gets written, it’s no longer news when the media calms down.
A British press advisor in the Blair government lost his job for suggesting going public with an annex story the day after September 11, 2001.
In Denmark, a recent example: A.P. Moller – Maersk announced Nils Smedegaard Andersen’s departure on the day of the Brexit vote. This meant that far from all attention was focused on the Esplanade that day. Whether it was calculated, I don’t know: Coincidence is not the same as causality!
The connection to corporate communication:
If you’re about to break bad news – internally or in the press – you need to consider what’s happening at the same time. You can lose credibility by not giving enough space in your recipients’ “media image” if you whisper it between the sidebars while people are busy with bigger news.
And the other way around: If you want to draw attention to a news story, obviously don’t tell it while the audience is preoccupied with a bigger story.
Would you like to discuss your company’s communication strategy?
write to Jakob & Mark .
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