Over this past weekend US forces cornered ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who, was killed in the raid. The next day, Trump attended the fifth game of the World Series in Washington D.C., probably expecting to be cheered for at least this one good thing his administration had done, the elimination of a notorious terrorist leader. Instead he was met by a stadium filled with boos and jeers, signs that called for his impeachment, and chants of “Lock him up!”
Pundits moaned about the bad behavior and suggested that the office of the presidency deserves more respect.
But this incident wasn’t about propriety so much as it was about communication channels. And there are lessons here for business leaders.
Trump has not only debased the oval office, he has debased normal communication channels for national leadership. I don’t remember the last time the press secretary has held a briefing, Trump virtually never appears in front of reporters and takes questions, and he refuses to be interviewed by any journalist who isn’t already a loyalist. Instead he prefers Twitter, using it as a bully pulpit and a way to belittle and slander others. So in turn, the American people have no choice but to respond directly to him via Twitter with challenges, criticism and insults. It is an ugly mess, but one of his making.
His public appearances are almost all rallies filled with supporters, and he and his handlers strive to turn even non-partisan events into propoganda opportunties by carefully curating who can attend and filling the front rows with sycophants. Trump recently attended an event at a historically black college in South Carolina, for example, but the White House chose the attendee list and students and faculty were not welcome. (Which may explain how there wasn’t anyone to push back when he claimed to have made more progress for African Americans than any time “in the history of our country.”)
Since Trump chooses to live in a bubble where he only hears how wonderful he is, which arguably prevents him from understanding the needs and concerns of the American population he supposedly leads, it was entirely appropriate for the World Series crowd to show him that his fantasy of universal adoration is a crock. Lacking other options, those baseball fans were interacting with Trump via a communication channel of his choosing – he wasn’t invited to attend that game, he opted to come – and the only channel (other than the ballot box) that they had available.
Those pundits are acting like the World Series event was a benign appearance by leadership deserving of polite acknowledgement by the crowd. The crowd, on the other hand, understood it to be a dialogue, and it was their turn to speak.
Business leaders should take note. If you fail to provide ongoing two-way communication opportunities to your people, if you fail to give them a voice in surveys, town halls, small-team interactions, and newsletter comment sections, they will find a way to be heard. If you continue to see business communication as a collection of broadcast platforms where your voice is the only one heard and the only one that matters, eventually the workforce will meet you on your ground and take over those broadcast platforms in one way or another. Or they will find other ways to speak up, perhaps via interactions with customers, the press, and prospective employees. Use bully pulpits at your peril.