The Summer of Trump has turned into fall, but The Donald’s race for the Republican nomination shows few signs of cooling off. With his poll numbers slipping somewhat but still high heading into the primaries, voters on both sides of the love him/loathe him equation are beginning to wonder if a Trump presidency could be a real possibility.
What might a Trump administration look like? There’s no need for guesswork. Like the rest of us, Donald Trump is entirely predictable, though not in the ways either his supporters or his detractors think.
It comes down to personality … and a little bit of rocket science.
More than 40 years ago, NASA began incorporating a unique personality model in its astronaut evaluations called the Process Communication Model (PCM).
Developed by Dr. Taibi Kahler, PCM conceptualizes personality as comprising six distinct types, each with its own perceptual frame of reference, character strengths, communication and environmental preferences, motivational needs and highly predictable distress behaviors. When hiring astronauts, NASA used Dr. Kahler’s evaluation methods to determine which candidates would have the drive and appropriate stress responses to succeed in the high-pressure environment of a manned space mission. Over the course of six shuttle missions, Dr. Kahler’s approach was used to identify which astronauts might escalate distress-related communication problems. The findings from these predictions were used to develop a comprehensive behavioral communication training system.
PCM didn’t stay space-bound for long. Bill Clinton used the model to improve his communication skills during his first presidential campaign in the early 1990s, in an effort to help himself identify with voters. Its methodology is now being applied everywhere from school curriculums to enterprise analytics. (My company, Mattersight, uses it to improve call center performance).
What makes PCM unique is the fact that it’s language-based. Simply by tuning into a person’s words, tone, tempo, syntax and grammar, you can identify which of the personality types they are:
Connector: Warm, sensitive and compassionate, this type is instinctively empathetic and has a well-developed intuitive sense.
Organizer: Logical, organized and responsible, this type is data-focused and quick to take in and synthesize facts and ideas.
Advisor: Dedicated, observant and conscientious, this type is passionate about their beliefs and values, and energized by commitment to the greater good.
Dreamer: Imaginative and reflective, this type is able to stay calm in chaos and is energized by introspection and solitude.
Doer: Charismatic, persuasive and action-oriented, this type thrives on excitement and adapts easily to new situations and environments.
Original: Spontaneous, creative and playful, this type lives in the moment, is highly expressive and thinks outside the box.
Once you know a person’s type, PCM promises to predict how they will behave and respond in virtually any situation. The clues are all there in the words, something no politician is ever short on.
“Hey, I’m rich. I’m really rich.” … “Why not think big?” … “Without energy, you have nothing.” Sound like anyone you know?
Donald the Doer
Donald Trump’s word choices are vivid, exciting and extreme. His language patterns are dynamic and purposeful. All of this reveals him to be a classic action-oriented Doer.
At their best, Doers are charming, persuasive and resourceful. At their worst, they’re manipulative, bullying and prone to insults and personal attacks. They have a deep need for incident — short bursts of intense activity and excitement — and will use taunts and provocation if necessary to get that need met. And they’re stereotypical survivors, always looking out for number one and always landing on their feet.
All of us evaluate the people and world around us differently, according to our personality type. Doers prize strength above all, and judge others based on the extent to which they possess it. Trump’s constant criticism of Jeb Bush as “low energy” is another way of calling him weak —the ultimate failing, in the eyes of a Doer.
It also evidences the Doer’s canny ability to maintain a persuasive posture even when in attack mode. Trump’s criticisms of his campaign trail opponents have varied in their tenor from mild to wild, but they’ve also aligned with voters’ main misgivings about each one, from Rick Perry’s lightweight intellect to Ben Carson’s lack of executive experience. The messages may come off as harsh, childish or nasty to some, but they’re calculated to resonate.
Trump’s high-profile refusal to take the Republican oath during the first debate and equally-public reversal a few weeks later demonstrate another central Doer characteristic: the instinct to identify and protect their self-interest in any given situation. As a Doer, Trump viewed that oath as a deal, not a statement of belief. Refusing it in the debate gave him, as he put it, “a lot of leverage.” Once it became more advantageous to take the deal, he did.
Doers make up just 5% of the North American population, which goes some way towards explaining the country’s fascination with Trump. He’s a rare bird, something people don’t see very often and therefore have a hard time looking away from when they do.
Of course, not everyone watching The Donald spectacle views it quite the same way. That, too, is a function of personality type as much as ideology.
For example, relationship-focused Connectors of any political stripe likely bristle at what they would see as his disregard for the feelings of those he attacks. Red or blue, a logic-loving Organizer will find Trump’s lack of a detailed plan frustrating. And a values-driven Advisor may disapprove of his habit of changing his beliefs and allegiances to suit his self-interest.
The Doer-in-Chief: What we can predict about a Trump presidency
Knowing that Donald is a Doer, what can we predict we would see from him, should his bid for the White House succeed? Here are a few things his core Doer personality type all but guarantees:
1) He’ll just do it
Those who are confused or frustrated by Candidate Trump’s failure to provide structured, detailed plans won’t find any relief if he’s elected. Plans are irrelevant to Doers. They assess and respond to events as they unfold, gauging where their self-interest lies in a given moment and act accordingly.
As an action-oriented Doer, President Trump would favor quick judgments and instinctive, in-the-moment responsiveness over pondering, planning and poring over the pros and cons.
2) He’ll charm, cajole and bully and threaten (in that order) to get it done
Of course, running a country isn’t the same as running a business. The structure of our government and limits our constitution places on executive power would force Trump to call on his charm and persuasiveness to advance his agenda. Like all Doers, those are qualities he has in abundance and can deploy quite effectively when the situation calls for it.
As a naturally persuasive Doer, President Trump would be highly successful at getting allies and opponents to agree with him and do what he wanted them to do.
Yet he wouldn’t be able to persuade everyone. Taking the oath of office would do nothing to change his tendency to lash out at opposition that he’s displayed on the campaign trail. It’s simply how Doers respond to criticism and obstruction.
As an attack-when-distressed Doer, President Trump would swing hard — and progressively harder — at those who didn’t succumb to his charms.
3) He’ll crisscross the aisle to get it done
Trumps strident views on hot-button issues have won him the hearts of some and the ire of others. But Doers are all about getting the deal done, and the Doer who literally wrote the book on the subject is certainly no exception.
Candidate Trump is an ideological firebrand because it’s helping him accomplish his immediate goals of maximum media attention and party base galvanization. President Trump would be a pragmatist for the very same reason. A willingness to cross the aisle, negotiate with his opponents and soften his stances would enable him to successfully negotiate in the moment, in order to satisfy his Doer’s need to get things done and make things happen.
As a deal-making Doer, President Trump would heed his own words of wisdom: “Sometimes by losing the battle, you find a new way to win the war.” That will disappoint many who believe in him now, and pleasantly surprise others who currently oppose him.
We humans are a predictable bunch, and presidential candidates are no exception. It’s far too early to tell who will be sitting in the highest office in the land at the end of the campaign. But we can know what all of the hopefuls would do if they got there. And as long as Donald Trump the Doer is on the trail, we can count on a wild, entertaining ride.
