As entrepreneurs, what lessons can we learn from President Trump?

So, whether the liberal world likes it or not, The Donald has been elected the President of the United States. It is the will of the people of that country and the silent majority has spoken, rightly or wrongly. The focus of this article is to draw out lessons from the man himself – after all, as entrepreneurs and businessmen and women, I firmly believe that every individual who has achieved something has many lessons to teach the rest of the world.
He has kept his word – This is probably unfamiliar territory for professional politicos or the DC pack, who is so used to jargon, more jargon and playing politics on the Capitol Hill – keeping one’s word has been by and large unheard in these power circles. But The Donald is not from the DC political landscape – he is the proverbial outsider. He has a track record as a businessman and knows the value of keeping one’s word. He is merely putting into practice what he has known to work. Keeping one’s word goes a long way in sealing one’s reputation and ensuring consistency so needed in the business world.

‘‘I have made the tough decisions, always with an eye toward the bottom line. Perhaps it’s time America was run like a business
                                 – Donald Trump

He has gone to work from day one – The man never looked back from the first time he sat in the Oval Office. He has chosen to go to work and probably set a record as the first President in history to get so much done in so little time. He has not wasted time with ceremonial things but assured the people that he intends to work hard at getting the country back on track. In business, we need to deliver especially when there tends to be more empty rhetoric than work. We need to develop a mindset that has the discipline to get work done – very relevant if you are working for yourself.
He has got his team in place – He knows the value of the right team. Whether it makes political sense or not, he knows that he needs to have his team in place; they must be people he can trust, who can deliver the right information and the right suggestions that can make or break the presidency. Everyone knows how the wrong team can cause even the most popular leader to fall. He has built a team who can assist him ably in his work.
He has chosen to do the right thing not always the most popular thing – In today’s connected world of ratings and politically correctness, it is easy to get carried away with choices that maybe popular but not always right for the greater good. The Donald has chosen deliberately to make those choices although they may be painful – in the long term, the painful choices can turn out to be the best choices made.
He takes decisions – Decision-making, rightly or wrongly, is a key aspect of leadership. So many leaders can be indecisive, which can reflect badly on the countries they run or the businesses they head.  Making a decision is important towards running a country or a company. You base your decisions on facts, the needs and in keeping with the expectations and the outcome. You should not vacillate between making a decision and not making one; you take your decisions based on the inputs available and the output expected.
He is in command – Like him or hate him, he has so far shown that he is very much in command. He understands the need to stay in control, to be in command. That’s what he got elected for; to be in command and give leadership to a nation that was losing the narrative on a too politically 
correct landscape.
He has not lost the plot by getting side tracked – So many leaders take the helm over with millions of promises but find themselves side tracking on various issues before long. The Obama administration for one, was increasingly becoming more occupied with politically correct gestures such as ensuring gender neutrality in toilets and encouraging young children to understand transgender issues when the USA needed to address greater problems than that – unemployment, increasing lawlessness and student unrest. It is very easy to lose the plot by getting distracted – however such distractions must not keep you from the big picture.
He has stuck it out – Even when his claim for presidency was ridiculed, he never gave up. Never for once said he was withdrawing; he had a vision and he believed in what he could deliver. He had a game plan – he knew it would work. Often, the best game plans are the simplest ones. With all of Hillary’s statistics worked out to perfection, she lost because she lost the big picture and lost the thread.
The fact that Donald Trump was a successful businessman before he became the President of the USA should not be lost on any would-be entrepreneur. It takes courage, determination and talent to become a successful magnate as he has done. In my book, anyone who has achieved so much has something he can teach the rest of us. Like him or not, it would serve us well to learn lessons from the man.
“I have made the tough decisions, always with an eye toward the bottom line. Perhaps it’s time America was run like a business.” – Donald Trump
(Nayomini Weerasooriya, a senior journalist, writer and a PR professional, can be contacted at [email protected])