Leadership Styles Of Donald Trump And Barack Obama: A Comparative Analysis

A good leader represents the characteristics of trustworthy, honesty, energetic, confidence, earnestness and so much more. Such leadership traits are evident in Donald Trump who is a current president of the U.S and Barack Obama who served as the 44th president of the U.S. The 2016 Presidential elections that were held in the United States of America marked the transition process from a government that was led by a Democratic individual Barack Obama to a government that is currently headed by an American business magnate, a TV-star, the Republican Donald Trump. Donald Trump’s nomination and subsequent victory have shocked many Americans and many people around the world. Due to his debates against the Democrat Hillary Clinton being followed by the entire world, everyone was convinced that he was not going to take up the seat and lead the country. Donald Trump and Barack Obama are two strong personalities and their leadership styles differ from each other.

Firstly, Donald Trump is known for his sporadic bewilderment and superior business abilities. In addition to business skills and eccentricity, he also has an extremely nontraditional style of leadership. Donald Trump established his leadership ability by showing his business abilities. There are specific characteristics in great leaders such as Verbal fluency, intelligence, expert power, legitimate power, transformational abilities and transactional power. Trump possesses all of these. Donald Trump tends to focus on the task rather than building relationships, he simply wants the task completed as soon as possible and then continues with the next project as if nothing happened. These are the qualities that make Donald Trump a great leader.

1. Think big.

Despite what you may think of him, Donald Trump’s ambition is unmistakable. He believes in making huge real estate investments because he sees the potential in them. Although Trump landed himself in debt by overextending his investments, he made an even stronger comeback. He became known throughout the business world for his comeback. He went on to become a TV personality and even the Republican nominee for President of the United States in 2016, because he thinks big. A good leader should always think big. As Goethe once said: ‘Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men‘. If you wish to speak to people’s hearts, remember that you have to think big!

2. Energy.

Donald Trump is passionate about many things: real estate, business and ‘making America great again’. He has often said it is energy that drives passion and passion is what will make the impossible happen. Passion should be your driving force as a leader. Where are you headed and does it make you excited to get up in the morning? A passionate leader inspires energy in his followers, giving them motivation to run an extra mile, stay the extra hour and fight a little harder for the cause.

3. Bounce back.

Although he went into bankruptcy. Donald Trump had the self confidence to stand back up again. Where he is today personally and professionally (not to mention running for the presidency!)is a testament to his tenacity and ability to bounce back from failure. As an entrepreneur or a leader, you will experience failure. The important question is to not ‘how can I avoid failure?’ but how to bounce back afterwards. Your ability to learn and recover your failures defines you as a leader and sets you apart from the rest!’ (Michael, 2016)

I believe Donald Trump is a task-oriented leader, because he lets us know exactly what he is thinking and exactly what he wants. ‘ Donald Trump is very much a situational leader. One category that falls under this style is task behaviour. This is defined as the extent to which the leader gives out responsibilities to a group or individual. Obviously Mr.Trump did not get to the top by not having any help. He delegates work and experts you to perform. And he also lets you know what he expects from you. Another characteristic of Situational leadership is having relationship behaviour. He listens to his employees and is always encouraging them.’ (Bogan, 2016). These are the pulsing heartbeat of Donald Trump’s leadership style.

As opposed to Trump, Barack Obama is the first African American to have taken the office of the president in the US. He has always been a leader in a true sense, because he is persuasive and a diligent worker. Barack Obama’s leadership qualities that leave the people around him to emulate are the qualities that every efficient leader should possess. Good communication skills, a wide range of experience, a multicultural background and an affinity for change. ‘ Obama has shown tremendous intelligence difficulties to find logical solutions to tough problems. His view and thoughts of multiple ways to improve American life shows his application of intelligence. Good communication skills – Obama has been successful in expressing his feelings entirely to his audience. His speeches are highly effective and he takes the crowd in his hands. He is considered as one of the best speech givers in American presidential history. Obama was able to formulate a cross-cultural-global approach to issues concerning America and other countries while making sure that national security is not taken for granted. In his first six months on the job, his focus had been reestablishing international relationships by visiting friendly countries and even those with which America has a cold relationship. ‘Obama has his flaws, but this certainly did not erase the fact that his leadership style made him one of the most remarkable presidents of America.‘ (Regoli, 2020)

If we compare Donald Trump and Barack Obama, they have different views and beliefs on almost every issue, including individual rights, domestic policies, foreign policies, immigration and economy.

Individual rights and domestic policy:

• Trump does not support women’s rights, Obama is a supporter.
• Obama wanted to limit the right to gun ownership while Trump is in favor of gun ownership.
• Obama prefers green energy rather than fossil fuels when Trump supports fossil fuel use, withdrawing from the Paris agreements.
• Obama appeared to be open to immigration even though he deported 3 million while he was president while Trump strongly opposes illegal immigration.
• While Trump advocates a big tax cut in American history, Obama advocates higher taxes on wealthy people.

Foreign policy:

• Trump prefers bilateral agreements, Obama supports free trade.
• Obama did not want to expand the military while Trump wanted to raise capital to expand the military.
• Obama did not do enough to eradicate terrorism and violent extremism while Trump signed to different executive.

Furthermore, over the world, different types of leadership styles have existed. One specific type of leadership style is transformational leadership. It is a type of leadership that invokes change in individuals and different social systems. The goal of this type of leadership is to turn followers into leaders. Barack Obama exhibits the elements of transformational leadership while Donald Trump does not. ‘Transformational leaders are visionaries who motivate and inspire individuals to satisfy followers’ needs and wants‘. (Bass, 1995).

In conclusion, the 44th American president Barack Obama and 45th American President Donald Trump are opposed to each other in almost all issues, including domestic policies, foreign policies, immigration, economy, which is determined by their leadership qualities that are fundamentally different from each other.

Bibliography

1. Bogan, W., (2016). Donald Trump and the power of leadership, viewed 15 January 2020, https://www.coursehero.com/file/23145047/Donald-Trump-and-the-Power-of-Leadership/.
2. Bass, B.,1995. Theory of transformational leadership redux. The Leadership Quaterly, viewed 19 January 2020, p.463.
3. Denning, S., 2019. How The Shutdown Is A Win For Trump’s Authoritarian Agenda, viewed 19 January 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2019/01/13/how-the-shutdown-is-a-win-for-trumps-authoritarian-agenda/#6420e65a250f.
4. Michael, C., 2016. Donald Trump leadership profile, viewed 18 January 2020, https://www.leadershipgeeks.com/donald-trump-leadership/.
5. Regoli, N., 2020. Barrack Obama Leadership Traits, viewed 19 January 2020, https://futureofworking.com/barack-obama-leadership-traits/.