Ricky Made Me Do It
In his October 4, 2019 statement to the House Republicans, the Donald established a new low for presidential leadership. A week later he took it deeper with his betrayal of the Kurds. But for now, let’s study the October 4 event.
When confronted about his July 25th phone call with the Ukrainian president, Trump shrugged and said, in effect, “Ricky made me do it!” According to His Magnificent Wisdomness, the Ukraine wasn’t even on the Donald’s mind, until his crafty Energy Secretary, Rick Perry, set him up and arranged the call and told him what to say. Poor Donnie. Wicked Ricky.
Now, even if you accept the truth of the assertion, it doesn’t diminish the poverty of Trump’s leadership.
Why?
Because the very first Law of Leadership is that you never, ever, ever throw your people under the bus. Ever. Sure, there are occasions where you have no option but to deal with bad behaviour in public, but even then it should be done in a limited and measured fashion, and with as much grace as can be mustered. And never a word more than necessary.
But mostly, the unpleasant business of dealing with an employee’s mis-steps should be done with as much privacy and discretion as possible. Especially, you never sacrifice anyone else in the organization to excuse yourself.
Even the cook at Bobby’s Diner understands this principle. But the Donald doesn’t.
So, not surprisingly, on October 17th Rick Perry announced his resignation, the thirty-ninth White House official so far to quit or be fired. Go figure.
Do your people know that you’ve got their back?