Trump's Keys to Building the Right White House Team

It’s Somebody’s Circus With Somebody’s Monkeys

President-elect Donald Trump is determined to make America great again. To this end, he will take bold steps to deliver this promise. Balancing Trump’s Personality ( Influencer DNA Behavioral Style ) will require the right White House team that can cover his inherent blind-spots.

Donald Trump succeeded in winning the White House because intuitively he understands his personality and how to apply his pioneering, fast-paced, and risk-taking traits. Even if some aspects of how things get done or what he says are controversial, he understands how to use his expressive communication style to win people over.

However, Trump is likely to be pragmatic when it comes to selecting his White House team. He is driven by results, outcomes, and success and will surround himself with people who can deliver his vision. He has the ability to draw people together even if they were once an adversary, and will be able to quickly harness appropriate skills and talents to implement plans and ideas.

Donald Trump thrives on conversation and gains much of his knowledge, insight, and initiative through debate. Further, he understands the benefit of hearing other’s thoughts and opinions; for him, knowledge is power. The right White House team will need to consist firstly, of individuals who understand his enthusiasm, and secondly, be behaviorally smart regarding knowing how to manage their own and their president’s personality. Standing up to him will be hard, requiring confidence and courage.

In this team, there is only one place for a Trump personality, but those who have even opposite behaviors to Trump must be vigorous and able to add value to the White House team through balancing Trump’s personality and their own.

The ability to understand one another’s communication style is imperative to the success of the team. Each member will need insight into their behavior and communication style and know how to moderate their approach to build a team of confident people empowered to share their thoughts and ideas, in a mutually beneficial environment.

The Trump Team needs to provide balance to Trump’s personality. The green bars are Donald Trump’s personality traits measured by the Business DNA Discovery Process. The personality traits required to balance Trump are highlighted by the gaps in the summary below. He needs to hire behaviorally smart people who can fill these talent gaps.

Commanding: A consensus seeking, group orientated diplomatic person able to counter Trump’s authoritarian leadership style

People: A thinker, serious, quiet, able to listen/observe but with the confidence to point out potential issues/dangers.

Patience: A people-focused person, encourager, empathetic to others, skilled at accepting other’s differences & managing them.

Structure: A structured person, skilled at keeping others on track, focused, delivering results, keeping promises.

Trust: A person who will explain other points of view when trust is lacking. Confident to challenge micromanagement when others feel overly managed.

Pioneering: A person confident to say STOP when too much change is destroying reliable tried and tested, still relevant, processes.

Risk: A person strong enough to challenge or question high risk without shutting down innovation.

Creativity: A person excited by creativity but able to suggest balance and a more anchored approach

As for Trump’s current White House team appointments, without a formal, behaviorally smart process in place: “Is it a good way to pick a cabinet? Not especially,” says Reed Galen, who worked on several presidential campaigns and served the George W. Bush administration. “But Trump ran the worst technical campaign in modern history and is poised to become president, so what do any of us really know?”