Donald Trump's leadership style: autocratic and charismatic analysis

Donald Trump is a Good Leader

Donald Trump Leadership

The important successes of large companies have drawn the attention and interest regarding the factors that determined their acknowledged success. Most of the opinions are oriented towards these companies' leaders as the most important factors for success. Great leaders and their behavior are analyzed in all fields of activity, whether they address the political or the business environment.

There are numerous skills and abilities that leaders must possess, but specialists in the field cannot agree on the sets of characteristics that are the most important for leaders to be successful. This is because different companies and situations require different behaviors from leaders and their teams within these companies.

Although practice in the field of business and in other activities has revealed numerous different types of leadership, theory takes into considerations leadership styles like the autocratic, democratic, charismatic, narcissistic, or people oriented style. However, when discussing important world leaders, it is almost impossible to categorize them into one type of leadership. This is because most of successful leaders combine some of the characteristics of different leadership styles. In addition to this, good leaders are aware of the fact that they must adapt their behavior to each situation that requires different management skills.

The analysis of several leaders known worldwide has revealed that they tend to develop their leadership style. Initially, they develop a simpler and more experimental style that is further developed in order to establish what style is the most suitable for them, in accordance with their characteristics and skills.

Donald Trump Leadership Style Analysis

Donald Trump is one of the most important leaders known on global level. His popularity can be attributed to several aspects. His personality is charismatic and attracts people's interest. His business success relies on his innovative skills, on his managerial skills, and on the leadership style that he has developed.

Same as in the case of other important leaders, Donald Trump's leadership style is a combination of autocratic and charismatic leadership. However, analysts must make the difference between Trump's image and the real leadership style that he portrays. He has an image of not treating his employees the fairness they deserve. Also, some people consider him as being too tough and straightforward with his employees. He is considered of not making concessions to his workers. In other words, he does not have the image of an understanding leader. In such cases, this type of leaders seems to be less oriented towards people.

It is difficult to determine whether people's opinion is the right one. Employees that worked for Trump state that this image that people have of him is not the correct one. These employees consider him a strong leader, but able to understand their problems.

However, one of the most important characteristics appreciated by Trump's employees is represented by the fact that he is correct in most situations. It seems that Trump does not rush in taking decisions. He prefers to carefully analyze the situations that require him to make certain decisions. In addition to this, although his leadership style is an autocratic one, he discusses important aspects with his team. This means that he takes into consideration the opinion of the team involved in each project (Entertainment Magazine, 2010).

Another important characteristic admired by Trump's employees is represented by his integrity. This characteristic is addressed by most specialists in the field when asked what they consider to be the most important skills that leaders should possess. This is in opposition with most people's opinion on Donald Trump.

His employees reveal other facts about his leadership style that most people are unable to observe. For example, his generosity, compassion, and kindness are characteristics that Trump often reveals to his employees. However, he tries to conceal such features from the press. There are several explanations for this situation. It is likely that he wants to be seen by his competitors as a rough leader that is difficult to handle and to approach.

Donald Trump shows important skills that do not characterize many of the world's leaders. He has the ability to teach others. In other words, Trump is able to influence their professional development. His show, the Apprentice is the proof of Trump's didactical abilities. The high ratings of the show reveal people's interest in Trump's leadership style, personality, and their interest in learning something about business from one of the wealthiest businessmen.

Donald Trump's charismatic leadership style

One of the most important characteristics that leaders are considered to possess is represented by charisma. Even so, there are numerous leaders that compensate their deficiencies in the field with other characteristics. Charisma is necessary in the case of leaders because they must appeal to large masses of people. For example, political leaders must appeal to entire nations, while business leaders must appeal to numerous employees, business partners, and customers (Carmichael, 2010).

Donald Trump is one of the most charismatic leaders in the business field. His charisma recommended him for the Apprentice show, and contributed to his worldwide popularity. His situation has advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of his popularity consist in the increase of the price of his stocks, his ability to better negotiate with business partners, and to improve its position on the market. The disadvantages are represented by the constant attention of the media that can interfere with his activity.

Donald Trump's leadership skills

Trump has made the proof of interesting leadership skills combinations. Even more, he managed to hide from the public some of the characteristics that might have determined people to consider him weak or soft. For example, communication is one of his most important skills. Communication is important in all levels of the company, especially on top management level. However, it is the leader of the organization that sets the tone in communication. Donald Trump is an efficient communicator. He has made the proof of being able to correctly assembly the message that must be communicated, adapting it to the targeted audience, and ensuring that it is received and properly understood. Thus means that he values communication and his business success partly relies on this aspect. Communication is also used in sending messages or signals to competitors. This is more difficult to achieve, because this type of communication is not a direct one and requires improved skills in this aspect.

Another skill that characterizes Trump is represented by his ability to organize. This is extremely important for all management positions. This is even more important when having to organize large international empires like Trump's. The leader's strong organizational skills are able to significantly influence the productivity of the company (Yoskovitz, 2007).

The confidence in himself and the confidence Trump inspires in others in another important ability for leaders. This is somewhat associated with determination. Leaders must not impose their decisions and strategy by force, they should determine others to willingly follow their example. This can be achieved by portraying and inspiring confidence.

Intelligence and wisdom are important characteristics that are of extreme importance for successful leaders. It is obvious that Trump's innate intelligence helped him develop professionally, build a business empire, and help other develop also. He achieved his wisdom in time, by managing different situations, by understanding them, and by learning from them.

Conclusions

Donald Trump is one of the most unconventional leaders known worldwide. Although his success cannot be denied and is attributed to his straightforward, outside the box thinking, it is quite unlikely for other leaders to follow his example, because of the unique set of characteristics he has developed. His personality and leadership style have determined numerous controversies. He is seen by some as an autocratic leader that takes decisions on centralized level, as showing little compassion, and not being able to understand his employees. Others view him as a magnetic leader that is able to communicate efficiently and to develop and implement innovative strategies.

His leadership style is criticized by some and admired by others. He is under continuous media attention, which helps him send certain messages to his competitors, but it also leads people to the wrong assumption regarding his leadership style. Although there are numerous specialists in the field that disagree with the efficiency of the autocratic leadership style, Trump's success reveals the fact that this type of leadership can lead to important successes in the business field if properly approached.

Trump has managed to exceed the results of his competitors through innovative strategies and by quickly taking decisions and adapting to the changes produced by the business environment. His ability to anticipate and speculate certain situations have helped him gain competitive advantage and maintain a strong position on the market. In addition to this, people's interest in Donald Trump reveals the fact that he has the ability to teach others. Trump has also developed several books and articles intended to explain some of his strategic moves and to inspire others into developing a suitable leadership style.

Reference list:

1. Tips on Donald Trump's Management and Leadership Style (2010). Entertainment Magazine. Retrieved February 27, 2011 from http://emol.org/celebrities/trump/niceguy.html.

2. Yoskovitz, B. (2007). 10 Essential Business Leadership Skills. Retrieved February 28, 2011 from http://www.instigatorblog.com/10-essential-business-leadership-skills/2007/04/16/#.

3. Carmichael, E. (2010). Donald J. Trump. Retrieved February 28, 2011 from http://www.evancarmichael.com/Entrepreneur-Advice/576/Styles-of-Leadership.html.

4. Donald Trump's Leadership Lessons (2008). Retrieved February 28, 2011 from http://www.lookpdf.com/10740--donald-trump-s-leadership-lessons-the-great-man-myth-lives-on -- pdf.html.

5. Patterson, K. (2010). Leadership Lessons from Donald Trump's Apprentice. Incentive Magazine. Retrieved February 28, 2011 from http://www.incentivemag.com/article.aspx?id=6825#.

6. Brown, M. (2010). Wired for Success. Leadership Advice. Retrieved February 28, 2011 from http://leadershipadvice.wordpress.com/tag/donald-trump/.