Telling Lies And Making Enemies As A Management Strategy - Does It Work?

I spent the last 30+ years as an administrator and a manager of a nonprofit organization. My experience - the work was hard, the hours long and strategy always important. Whether it was new or additional funding, budget constraints, labor relations, program services or fair and honest communications, a clear and consistent strategy was always necessary.

One of the things I learned over time, sometimes the hard way, was that truth telling and friend making was absolutely necessary. We've all been tempted to tell that little white lie or to possibly bend the truth a bit but what I found over time, was that it was better to not respond at all if you couldn't respond honestly. I also found out that I was much better off with a bigger list of friends then enemies. It's true that no matter how hard we try there will always be some people who end up on the enemy portion of the ledger but that should be kept to a minimum if you want to get anything done.

All of this revolves around what seems to be Donald Trump's approach to management. I have to say I'm pretty shocked at his way of doing things. My organization impacted a thousand or so lives. Donald Trump's actions as President of the United States could and will impact many millions of people and lives.

Lying has an interesting way of catching up with you. Sometimes people get caught in their own lies. In some of the worst cases, people tell so many lies that they truly begin to believe them as their own version of the truth or perhaps 'alternate facts'. It's a very dangerous game for any leader to wage a war on the truth. People look to leaders as truth tellers. People want to believe their leaders. They may not, but they certainly want to. Once a leader lies, credibility begins to diminish and when credibility diminishes the people you lead loose faith. There is no question in my mind that Donald Trump has told some pretty serious lies. There are tapes and transcripts to show them all so I won't go over them here. Something that is perhaps more serious, is that he has people working under him who defend words and actions of his that can be proven to be false. The reality is that people will catch up.

There is a similar but perhaps more dangerous scenario when it comes to enemies. Enemies need to be managed.  The more you have, the harder it becomes. You become their agenda item. You can fend them off for awhile but they sit, waiting in the wings ready to pounce the minute they see an opening. I watch Donald Trump trying with authoritarian tactics to control a growing list of enemies. Intimidation and bullying are some of his tactics. Minimizing their importance is another. But the list grows daily and it grows and grows and grows - the media, the Intel Community, world leaders, individuals of all sorts. Soon it will be like a cancer that can't be cut out.

I expect the chickens will come home to roost and Donald Trump will find himself undone by too many lies and too many enemies in the end. The question is, how long will it take and how much damage will everyone experience along the way?