by Adam Grant
When Donald Trump talked about deploying the military against “the enemy within,” critics sounded the alarm—again—about his increasingly authoritarian rhetoric. Many see his escalating threats as proof of a growing thirst for power. But history suggests that another factor may be at least as relevant: mounting frustration at the compromises that political life demands.
Trump pitched himself to the American people as a business tycoon, someone who knew how to close deals, vanquish competitors, and create jobs. He said those experiences would make him an effective leader. Yet it turns out that what makes people successful in business is a risk factor for failure in politics.
Corporate America rewards achievement strivers—people who love to aim high, work hard, and overcome obstacles. To see how those tendencies played out in the White House, psychologists scored presidential addresses on how often they referenced achievement. Years later, achievement-striving presidents got lower greatness ratings from historians, who also judged them as poorer decision makers and less politically skilled than their peers.
A prime example is Jimmy Carter. Although as a private citizen he had succeeded in revitalizing his family’s peanut farm, in the White House he struggled to control inflation, fuel prices, and escalating conflicts in Iran and Afghanistan. As the University of Michigan psychologist David Winter explains, the achievement-minded “president actively strives to accomplish things but becomes frustrated, dislikes the job, and ends up defeating himself.”
Winter wrote that looking backward in 2010, but he could have easily been looking ahead at Donald Trump. (more…)
