Trump was uniquely skilled

A brand expert writes to tell me I was wrong. 

Cruz could not escape ridicule by claiming "the Cancun trip was perfect."

Ted Cruz is not Donald Trump.

Three days ago this blog asserted that Ted Cruz handled a crisis incorrectly.  I wrote he should have copied Trump. Cruz faced a crisis management problem. He was caught slipping off to Cancun while his constituents were freezing in the dark. It looked irresponsible and self-serving. Trump would have ferociously asserted he was doing exactly the right thing. I suggested Cruz might have tried the same approach. 

Tony Farrell immediately wrote me to say I was wrong. Tony is a college classmate who has the experience and credentials to give authoritative advice on a brand and reputation in crisis. He had a long career as a brand manager for The Nature Company, The Gap, and The Sharper Image before going into the toughest of marketing arenas, infomercials. 

Farrell said my advice would backfire on Cruz. Trump was gifted and could pull off what Cruz could not. People would not be copying the skillset and approach that made Trump successful. It would be an iteration of the tradition of armies that update their uniforms by mimicking elements of uniforms of foreign armies held in high esteem, as if the shoulder epaulets were the reason for their battlefield success.

Farrell's comments are a warning to readers who may face their own crisis of brand or reputation. Don't think you can just copy Trump or any other idiosyncratic leader. Maybe Cruz could have tried a sincere and full apology, and said he learned from this and will do better. We have not seen a humble, contrite Cruz. Maybe Americans would like seeing a bit of it from him.

Guest Post by Tony Farrell

 I didn’t know Steve Jobs but did work closely with two Apple board members, and so followed him closely. I read Walt Isaacson’s biography soon after Jobs’ death, in 2011. (I’d not expected the book to lean into body odor so much; when finished, I felt gratitude for having never met the guy.)

The day after Jobs’ death, a close associate of his came into my office and expressed fear that too many executives would “learn all the wrong lessons” from that singular genius: Abusive behavior toward associates; dismissive of market research; blind narcissism; an imperious leadership style; one could go on. 

 Knowledgeable management experts would quibble that such crude characterizations of Jobs are superficial and inaccurate, sure. But the concern about learning wrong lessons? Absolutely valid. Non-genius business executives who take on Jobs-like behaviors—thinking his many faults are keys to their success—will simply expose themselves as clueless, untalented wannabes. 

I believe Trump is a singular genius as well. In the latter case, perhaps more a savant but, nonetheless, a con-man of epic skill. And, with those who are conned, able to get away with anything. For his core of resentful white men, Trump conveyed apparently genuine affection and empathy. Unfortunately, Trump did this, in no small part, with vile expressions of shared hatreds, fears and prejudices—something almost never seen in a successful American politician. 

Con-men politicos of lesser skill (and Ted Cruz certainly qualifies, as does Josh Hawley) who aim to curry favor with Trump’s fans by being Trump-ish—will not survive, as Trump always did. No one else but the Donald, with his brilliant con-artistry, can pull off the escape acts. This will be how Trumpism gradually fades from the scene. Ted Cruz’s excellent Mexican adventure was so entertaining; undone by his groveling apologies; so instructive and illustrative of a Trump wannabes’s failure to understand that no one but Trump himself is up to the job. (No pun.) 

Now, Trump himself is dead (or good as, being a loser) and one politician in a million. Thank God.