Charting The Course Issue #12 - A New Era of Leadership Clarity Required During the Trump Regime
- Peter McLean
- Jun 16
- 8 min read
Issue #12, February 2025
February 6, 2025
A New Era of Leadership Clarity Required During the Trump Regime
Readers have asked how the Trump (re-)election will affect leadership globally. It was prescient of me last year that I:
not only predicted his win and the divisions that were to pursue his election (the mere fact that I mentioned his name prior to the US election seemed to turn a couple of people away from being connected to me via LinkedIn, but it’s gonna’ be four years’ worth, folks, so deal and go trigger-less),
not only was prescient about international and local repercussions,
but I was also prescient in the light of politics, geopolitics, economics, culture and technology (read: A.I.) in my articulation of the need to “Lead With CLARITY” ™ in my Signature Keynotes.
Now, more than ever in the recent past, people of all stripes need to lead with greater clarity and effectiveness in order to navigate the new world.
And it is a new world. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a brave one. But it’s a world that is new to many of us in the West, where the institutions and mechanisms that have maintained power and hegemony are being displaced by a new, urgent personal agency and action on the world stage that we’ve not seen for some decades.
It’s not that Trump is embodying anything new. I know amongst you readers there will be fans and haters of Trump and you all probably have good reasons for your support or antipathy. I’m not going to judge those. I ask you to read the following without rancour, but to seriously consider this: What I am going to point to is realities which we must all face. We need to anticipate, adjust and act with clarity in response to those realities.
Just one recent example of the need to anticipate, adjust and act: The sundering apart of USAID this past weekend, with Musk’s DOGE cadre leading the, ahem, renovations at USAID HQ. The impact of the suspension in just one weekend of USD$40+ billion dollars’ worth of aid, incentives and programs will be felt around the world. The Independent estimates that 141 countries are directly affected by the suspension of the programs. Those programs range from the ridiculous and frivolous to the maintenance of staples of food and shelter for potentially millions. What has stunned the world and the US is the rapidity of the actions. It shouldn’t have. Trump has demonstrated before that he likes to act first and fast. His 4 years of absence from the Presidency has only given him time to sort out what he didn’t like about his previous administration, shore up political appointees as followers and now go much harder than the perceived “politics” and “optics” allowed him last time.
And Trump certainly does not like America being taken for granted or apparently rebuffed for any of its largesse or global activity. Countries that have taken those resources for granted and, even, in many cases directly acted against American interests despite gleefully accepting their generous provision, will realise that you can’t always keep kicking the horse you ride in the teeth before it dumps you.
You’ve heard American politicians and pundits proffer with every American President, “He only has so much political capital to spend before it runs dry, so he has to pick and choose”.
Well, Trump has turned that turnip on its head, borrowing "huge" from the bank of political capital, deciding there’s no point in abiding his time and “going softly into the night” but that he should go big(-ly?) and hit all his goals hard if he is “to win”.
And this is part of the political shock: in the West, we’ve certainly become accustomed to politicians making promises they have zero intention of keeping. Once they get into power, there are all manner of excuses for not pursuing their stated intentions. Trump, by contrast, is acting precisely on what he said on the campaign trail. That’s the January/February surprise to so many. It shouldn’t be. They had months and years to be ready.
That’s part of Trump’s advantage at this point. It will also, by the way, be part of his downfall.
Is Trump Another McKinley or Someone Else?
You see, Trump has been claiming affinity and inspiration from President McKinley for a tariff and domestic-primacy mindset and activity. But he’s not actually like McKinley. He’s actually more like General/President Santa Anna of Mexico. You know, the one who attacked the Alamo.
Santa Anna was an heroic and courageous figure, both loved and despised by the Mexican populace. He led invasions and aggressions from his people, raising tariffs, countering American immigration and lack of acculturation by American immigrants and non-Mexican residents (irony of ironies).
It’s a high-low-high-low roller coaster of a history, with him taking marriages of convenience, and riding on money, power, international contest, battles and more. But the impulsive deployment of his “power through strength” approach resulted not only in the America-Mexico wars, but in Mexico selling off (for what are now peanuts) the whole lower and south-western portion of the United States. From Texas to California, it was all Mexico at one point. Since the mid-1800s – think of it – only 170+ years ago – it has been an integral part of the U.S. of A.
Here's the crux: Santa Anna was leading in chaotic times of upheaval and individual effort that dictated the results. Events kept moving on a revolving loop of action, braggadocio, economic leverage, popular control, advocacy, negotiation, war, relationships that ebbed and flowed on personal loyalty and advantage. Success belonged, in their minds, to the brave and the bold.
But in the end, Santa Anna was defeated by his own ambition. He proclaimed himself the “Napoleon of the West”. Ironically, he was defeated in exactly the same fashion as Napoleon – over-reach, marching armies through bitter winters, poor supply lines, never fully securing national prosperity but borrowing or stealing or tariffing to finance everything. It’s a sorry tale that ultimately left Mexico in the damaged condition it still is in so many ways today.
This is what we need to see clearly: What is happening with Trump is NOT that he, as the lone individual, is upending the world order. What he’s doing is undertaking actions that expose that the world order is already upended. It was just being placated and eased over in “polite” discourse and long-winded polity.
That’s why Santa Anna happened in his time. His rise, his actions and impulses were a reflection of the great lack of law, structure and positive outcomes in that part of the world. What’s happening with the US and the world is that the underlying structures, which have been strung far out past their moral, economic and national usefulness to their own peoples, are now being directly challenged precisely because they were already coming apart.
That’s why I say Trump is embodying nothing new. He’s simply one of a long line who have positioned themselves to be able and willing to drive their agenda during a time of change.
Reactions and Responses
Trump should be understood in context. The danger for all people, you will appreciate, is bidirectional:
1) Thinking if they just emulate Trump, they’re on the path to success.
2) Thinking if they just react against Trump, they’re on the path to success.
You can see this playing out live in international responses to tariffs, threats to take over Greenland and the Panama Canal, Gaza, and so on. Some countries are panicking, reacting rashly and upping his ante. Others are responding with carefully determined, calm and targeted responses that are yielding positive results for them.
But I have not been addressing you readers in the U.S. so much. You know that some of you will see good and some see bad in the Trump administration. You are on a bigger roller coaster than the rest of us. Whether you trust in or reject Trump or have a hedging regard for the possibilities of his presidency, I urge you to do this: Be balanced and inquiring in your approach. Don’t be shoved about by news or rumour or half-quoted snippets, or X posts or whatever. Be careful about the messenger and carefully evaluate the fruits.
The Leadership We Need
What these situations require of all of us is to lead with greater clarity than ever.
In my “Lead With CLARITY” ™ Keynotes, one of the points I make is the need to “Learn Your People”. That means to understand them – all of them – including those who work for you, those you serve and those with whom you interact. Don’t assume that you know. A paper-based score is not going to tell you. Know their capabilities, their weaknesses, what moves them, what helps them, what obstructs them and how you can work with them to achieve. Know them.
I also address how you need to “Aim Higher Together”. The figure who believes that he or she is an island to the rest of the world or that he or she is, as our former Australian PM Tony Abbott might have said, “the suppository (sic) of all wisdom”, is delusional. You need others and they need you. Work together to develop the Vision and approach.
One more thing…
Regarding AI, which is another pressing matter:
Technologists and futurists, Trump and his tech gurus, China, whomever, are all investing trillions in AI as the great solution to end all solutions. Believe me, as a “former” computer and sci-fi geek I admire the tech. But valuable a tool as it may be, AI isn’t the all-conquering solution many think it is. The failures will only increase the greater its use.
Leadership, service, intelligent forethought, wisdom, working together to find common cause and a higher purpose are what will deliver greater outcomes in all our fields of endeavour.
Consider: If those trillions were spent on the people to deliver the outcomes anyway, how much more could that money achieve?
NEW KEYNOTES
My latest Keynote, "Lead With CLARITY™", will inspire and motivate your people and audience towards greater, more productive leadership in all endeavours and industries. Inquire with me for your session, event or conference or if you want to discuss other ways in which I can further your success.
ON THE HOME FRONT
We recently adopted a puppy. He’s a Westie-Poodle (half West Highland Terrier, Half Toy Poodle), heading for 6 months age in mid-February. We ended up naming him Westley – for those who know ;)
Westley is endlessly adorable and very smart. For example, within a short period, he worked out how to navigate the house so that even from the outside he could locate where someone was likely to be positioned in a room and request entry.
But with great intelligence and, well, puppy-ness, comes great responsibility. So we are having to responsibly lock away everything that he could harm.
So far:
He's ripped up the first few pages of a French dictionary,
He's chewed up and wrecked the functions on a TV remote,
We have to keep most shoes and footwear well out of his reach,
If he's not on the lead in the house, he's a danger to the furnishings.
But also:
He charms everyone he meets,
He knows how to give you the sweetest "puppy" look and make you melt with a tilt of his head,
He knows how to indicate on the lead when he needs to go out or wants to go for a walk,
He does not run away, but is careful to stay close by the house when let off the lead,
He knows who will give him food and generally when and knows how to ask them,
He knows how to get a cuddle and some affection when he needs it.
Oh, and he seems to be able to talk, too!
He's already learning how to anticipate, adjust and act. And he has GREAT clarity regarding his needs and who will provide for them.
Learn from Westley. Lead with Clarity!
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Lead With Clarity & Results! Inspirational Leadership Keynote Speaker, Motivational Speaker, Strategy Speaker, Management Consultant, Executive Coach, Executive Leader
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