Is everything negotiable? Strategies and risks for managers of a 'Trump-like' approach
Trump's 'negotiating approach' and the implications for managers
by Lorenzo Cavalieri*
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3' min read
3' min read
In this historical period the US president is for obvious reasons the centre of media attention. People are not only talking about his choices but also about his style of handling power, which seems to be based on a very simple concept: everything is negotiation.
Some analysts in describing his approach to major diplomatic and economic issues have used the term 'transactional approach'. An expression that recalls the essence of his attitude: relations are made up of exchanges that can never be taken for granted and for which quid pro quo can always be demanded. Everything is negotiable. Taking this logic to the extreme, if my son asked me to pass him the salt at the table, I might reply 'OK, I'll pass it to you, but you wash the dishes afterwards'.
Many have noted how the US president's posture in politics is actually the legacy of his personal and family history, a history of unscrupulous entrepreneurship. On closer inspection, in fact, the Trumpian approach to 'continuous negotiation' is easily recognisable in the habits of so many entrepreneurs and managers, in all corners of the globe.
Analysing this style can be interesting in management for two categories of people: on the one hand for those who need to make themselves more valuable at work with a 'crash course in negotiation' and on the other hand for those who already use this approach but fail to see the risks involved in managing their professional relationships with such an unashamedly transactional attitude.
Meanwhile, let us try to define the 'Trump-style' transactional management style through three basic principles:
