Why Organizations Fail

It does little good to relive Donald Trump’s latest offensive tweets (after all, you never know what he’ll send out at 3 a.m.). The truth is that Trump doesn’t use Twitter to communicate; he uses it to cyberbully a nation. The results have been toxic—respect for America is down around the world, he’s sowed seeds of doubt about the nation’s electoral process, civil servants, courts, and, of course, the media. According to Ezra Klein on Vox: “Six months into his term, Trump’s policy achievements are few and thin, but he has coarsened our politics, shown the power of shamelessness, undermined our faith in each other and ourselves, modeled behavior we would punish children for exhibiting, and implicated all of us in the running fiasco of his presidency. He has diminished the country he promised to make great.”

Trump’s bullying tactics cannot be denied. Charles M. Blow took it a step further in an op-ed in the New York Times, when he pointed out that Trump’s ongoing rants reveal exactly how he defiles the office of president.  “Rather than rising to the honor of the office, Trump has lowered the office with his whiny, fragile, vindictive pettiness. The presidency has been hijacked.

What Trump is doing to America goes on every day in organizations led by bully bosses. What really jumps out for me is how insecure they really are, hiding behind a dangerous veneer of abrasiveness. Their biggest fear is being exposed as frauds who prey on people's fear—using hate as a weapon.

Andrew Faas is the author of From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire

Illustration credit: BIGSTOCK 

The Bully-in-Chief Up Against a Wall

In today’s New York Times article “Pause This Presidency,” columnist Charles M. Blow makes a compelling argument for putting the Trump administration on hold when he writes,

“The American people must immediately demand a cessation of all consequential actions by this ‘president’ until we can be assured that Russian efforts to hack our election, in a way that was clearly meant to help him and damage his opponent, did not also include collusion with or coverup by anyone involved in the Trump campaign and now administration.”

As an expert in human dynamics and adult bullying it has been my observation that bullies are masters at manipulation, deception, deceit and denial, and are in many cases—delusional. What we woke to on Saturday morning was all of these and more on public display by the current president as he tweeted his newest conspiracy theory about his predecessor.

The application of those nefarious traits by the Bully-in-Chief confirms for me the possibility of a cover-up of immense proportions.  In my January 13 post, “Predicting What Trump Will Do Next,” I wrote that bullies are particularly dangerous when their back is against the wall. This is because they will do anything to maintain power and control. Clearly this tweet was a stab in that direction.

But the danger isn’t over. I predict that Trump will willingly abuse the presidency up to, and including, martial law if he feels threatened.  According to a CNN/ORC poll, 65 percent of Americans say an independent special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate Russia’s involvement in the election. This should be heeded—and fast! This is a serious case of obfuscation that will lead to more devastating actions if left uninvestigated. I don’t wish to be an alarmist, but having researched hundreds of cases of adult bullying, I have witnessed how bullies take drastic measures when their backs are against the wall.

Can we really afford to wait any longer?

Andrew Faas is the author of From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire

Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons