Talent blog: Talent and Trump

TALENT AND TRUMP

It was during our Brilliant Entrepreneur seminar in Albania that the results of the election in the US came through. Trump as president. It was a shock for most of us. Some of the participants even asked us: ‘Trump, I do not believe that he has a talent. So how could he win?’

 

This question challenged me to look at his victory from the perspective of talent. Everyone has a unique talent and so has Trump and his millions of voters.

Trump speaks their language, understands them and takes them seriously. This is his talent. He also offers a solution to the growing uncertainty: "We build a wall, lock the door to immigrants and take production into our own hands!"

From the perspective of talent development, this is where his talent gets lost. It searches the solution outside the people themselves. Trumps’ ideas are built on fear and anger. And not on trust, understanding and insight in a changing world.

In the world of today we depend - more than ever –on each other. An American can eat chocolate because elsewhere in the world a farmer has worked hard for the required cocoa. His salary is not more than 2 euros a day. This farmer too wants a better future for his children.

Talent is not about fear, isolation and polarization. Talent is about confidence; in your own strength and that of others. As a basis for connection, communication and understanding of the differing opinions of others. There is still much to do, also for yourself, close to home.

 

Talenttips

A self-training ‘contact with talent' with people who are different from you requires a lot of practice. What to do? Here are some talent tips.

Step 1. Make contact with someone who is outside your comfortable social circle: a political counterpart, an annoying colleague, someone who jumps the queue in the supermarket…

Step 2. Be genuinely curious about the other person

Step 3. Try to find a click with the other person. Do this in your own spontaneous way. See what works.

Step 4. Do this as often as you like. Does it not always work out well, do not worry. There will be plenty of new opportunities. These are the little initiatives that make the "change" that election campaigns are full about.

Just enjoy!

Yvette van Dok
Co-Motion Consult