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How The Trump/Musk Management Style Will Affect Your Corporate Job

As more corporations mimic Trump’s management style, many corporate jobs will be impacted. 

Yes, even before the new administration formally takes over. Some corporations have already begun shifting their dominant management style away from a somewhat woke approach and more towards the management style that has been successfully used for years by both Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

This Trump/Musk management style includes such elements as intuitive decision-making, severe cost-cutting, and minimizing middle management jobs. So, if you care about your own job security or are curious about what the many tech billionaires who meet with Trump are learning about his management approach, this article highlights their unique management style.

Unfortunately, from the employee’s perspective, the style is somewhat harsh. It shares many of the same components from last century’s Theory X by McGregor. That similarity is why I previously labeled it cold-blooded management.

Elements of the Trump/Musk Management Style

The remainder of this article highlights each of the foundation actions that will likely occur at corporations under each of the major elements of the “Trump/Musk management style.” Under each likely action listed, you’ll find an explanation of how the specific action will directly impact specific corporate jobs.

Category I – The job-security-related actions that you may need to prepare for

The most impactful actions relating to job security that you can expect under the Trump/Musk management approach are listed below, arranged by order of immediate impact.

Expect an increase in companywide return-to-office mandates (RTO) – since the end of the pandemic. Both Trump and Musk have publicly stated how much they despise remote work. The physical presence of employees in the office has a positive impact on the team’s productivity and innovation. This projected value is based on the assumption that people work harder and share more. When they are physically together, their boss and coworkers can easily observe them. Given these perceived strong benefits, no one should have been surprised when Elon Musk required each of his Tesla and SpaceX employees to physically work in the office a minimum of 40 hours a week or be terminated. Recently, other industry-leading companies like Amazon, Google, Disney, Salesforce, Goldman Sachs, Boeing, and Apple have all issued similar strong RTO mandates. So, if you currently work away from the office and for a company that needs innovation. And, if you refuse to come into the office, be prepared for your job to be eliminated.

Expect a push to eliminate most middle management jobs – in place of the currently popular decision-making approach. That purposely involves the time and the expertise of so many middle managers and employees. This Trump/Musk foundation element instead emphasizes the fastest possible decision-making. Strategic decisions are made fast, intuitively, and exclusively by the top executive, with minimal consultation. After the decision is made, employees and middle managers can expect little justification or explanation for it. As a result of relying primarily on intuition to make major decisions, corporations will have little need for middle managers and others who now supply advice and formal expertise. So, if you are now a middle manager or have been striving to become one someday, you need to change your perspective and plans to speed up decision-making and “red tape delays” in a rapidly changing VUCA world. Most middle-management positions will be eliminated, while many of the remaining ones will be replaced by AI capabilities.

Executives will continue to cut costs and increase flexibility by replacing permanent employees with contractors – the Trump/Musk management style clearly emphasizes the need for both operational flexibility and the ability to reduce labor costs dramatically. The best way to do both is to shrink the size of your corporation’s permanent workforce (because they can be up to 80% of all variable costs). The Trump Corporation is famous for maintaining a small permanent corporate staff. Musk earned his employee cost-cutting bona fides at Twitter after purchasing it. He announced that he was proud to cut its workforce by 80% to reduce employee costs and increase flexibility. The Trump/Musk approach follows the Defense Department model, ensuring that most workers don’t become permanent employees. Instead, the majority of workers are only hired as contractors. And that paid status only lasts until the project they are working on is completed. So, if you are currently classified as a permanent employee at a corporation, expect more and more permanent jobs to be eliminated through a continuing number of large-scale layoffs to allow the corporation to convert more of its formally permanent jobs into more flexible contractor jobs. That will enable the corporate workforce to rapidly increase or decrease without encountering any major administrative or legal issues.

Individual employees will be expected to produce results, or they will be quickly managed out – the Trump/Musk management style emphasizes the promise of significant results to all stakeholders. However, to reach those lofty performance goals, every worker not currently meeting expectations will need to be quickly fixed or managed out. Along those lines, Meta has recently adopted a “produce or else mandate” for all employees. When it recently announced that it would accelerate the “managing out” an extensive number of the weak performers (up to 5% of its workforce). So, if you are a poor performer or someone with soon-to-be-obsolete skills, expect to be placed under a much stronger data-driven performance measurement process. That quickly releases those that are not meeting expectations. 

Administrative and routine tasks will be taken over by technology using the Trump/Musk management approach. The money spent on administrative or overhead functions is almost automatically assumed to be too expensive and to add little value. So, expect most of the jobs in HR, accounting, inventory, and other areas of overhead and repetitive tasks to be replaced by a combination of technology and outsourcing. In fact, Elon demonstrated his disdain for and lack of trust in HR at Tesla when he emailed all staff “saying that he must personally approve all new hires” (including contractors). So, if you currently have a job in any of these administrative/overhead areas. It is time to stop being so optimistic. Instead, begin upskilling into a completely different job family with a direct, measurable business impact (e.g., production or sales). Unfortunately, most administrative and repetitive jobs will follow the same out-the-door path that was recently taken by many secretaries, travel agents, Xerox operators, file clerks, and bookkeepers before you.

Jobs that rely on foreign imports will be subject to rapid change – because of the real possibility of high tariffs on numerous imported goods that will be created by this administration’s policies. Corporate employees involved even tangentially with imported goods must be prepared for significant turmoil and the need to change direction quickly. Employees and managers who cannot demonstrate their agility and adaptiveness to executives will have little chance of job security. And, of course, if you work in the area of immigration enforcement, you will have a large number of employment opportunities.

A few less consequential changes to expect – in addition to the major actions that were outlined above. Employees can expect a dramatic change in the amount of feedback they receive. That means their corporation will not do much less soliciting, listening, and reacting to employee feedback. Employees should also expect fewer explanations from their leaders covering why they made their major decisions publicly due to Trump’s and Musk’s extreme dislike for unions. You can expect a much more aggressive anti-union approach from many corporate leaders. Finally, despite the fact that both leaders have railed against employing most immigrants. Don’t be surprised when both of them vigorously support a dramatic increase in the legal immigration of highly skilled and educated foreign workers.

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Category II – Actions that will reduce corporate wokeness

Given both leaders have vigorously argued against the current level of corporate wokeness, expect much less formal support for corporate wokeness-related programs in these areas:

Expect a reduction in the formal support for DEI programs – after years of increasing their support for DEI programs. In a few cases, that corporate support has recently come to a screeching halt. I wrote about this impending trend back in 2022 (The impending death of Inclusion). Of course, Trump isn’t a supporter of DEI. He recently pledged to end all DEI programs both in the public and the private sector. Recently, Elon Musk criticized DEI by saying, “Shame on anyone who uses it.” Perhaps as a result of Trump and Musk’s extremely public stand on this issue, several major corporations have recently rolled back their DEI initiatives. They include Meta, Walmart, Ford, John Deere, Lowe’s, and McDonald’s. Obviously, if you’re diverse or if you expect to work in a diverse team, you will need to keep an eye on the amount of DEI support provided by any corporation where you want to work.

Expect an increased tolerance for masculine aggressiveness – obviously, the “me too” campaign forced a great deal of attention and resources to be directed toward the issues raised by women employees and customers. However, it’s obvious that both of these leaders have been highly successful despite being criticized by many women and being sued for sexual harassment. Some corporations have begun to rethink their approach to both women and men. In particular, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta suggested that his corporation should embrace its “masculine energy.” And to develop a culture that celebrates aggression and the other “positive elements of masculinity.” If you are a less aggressive individual, be prepared that at some corporations, you may be less valued than your more aggressive coworkers.

Bringing up politics and championing social issues won’t be tolerated at the office – in the last 18 months, many corporations and media companies have learned the value of minimizing their political stances. Many corporate leaders have learned about the brand image damage that can occur when your employees publicly advocate their political perspectives on corporate networks or anywhere on corporate facilities. So, under the Trump/Musk management approach. You can’t expect any executives to tolerate their employees openly demonstrating any views that run counter to corporate values or the “championing of social issues at the office. “For example, when a high level of this political and social advocacy occurred at Coinbase. Their CEO bluntly told his employees that if they didn’t like the direction of the company and its executives. “That they should quit and find a company to work at that you believe in!” So, if you hold strong political/social views and values that are even slightly counter to those championed by your corporation. If you don’t want to face severe consequences, you will need to keep them to yourself whenever and wherever you are working. 

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What Makes This Trump/Musk Management Style So Attractive To Corporate Leaders

It’s rare for a US President to use a management style that is so unique and noticeable. That many other political and corporate leaders will want to copy it. However, this administration may be the rare exception because several major corporate CEOs are already adopting some of the foundation elements of the Trump/Musk management style. I would suggest this unusual adoption of a political leader’s management style is occurring because it is for the first time in US history. So many of our top leaders and cabinet officials are self-developed billionaires. As a result, many corporate CEOs view them as worth copying. Not because of their political skills. But primarily because they have produced amazing business results and because of how they think and act differently. 

Who Is The Benchmark Corporate Leader For Adopting This Management Style?

When it comes to CEOs, who deserve recognition for having closely embraced this new management style. Mark Zuckerberg of Meta deserves special recognition for implementing numerous elements of the Trump/Musk approach, including deemphasizing DEI, broad cost cutting, reducing middle managers, an appreciation of masculine traits, improving performance management, and instituting significant layoffs.

Recommended Actions

Obviously, the most important action for corporate leaders is to develop a formal process for learning from the successes and failures of the new administration’s unique approach to management. All employees, but especially middle managers, those who work at repetitive tasks, those involved in importing products, and employees who work in administrative and overhead functions, will need to maintain their awareness continually. The adoption of Trump/Musk management practices coupled with the continued availability of new technologies. Unfortunately, this will put the job security of many corporate employees at risk. So, even if the new administration succeeds in maintaining strong economic growth, You will still need to be highly adaptive and agile in order to meet the turmoil and the constant rate of change that the new administration will assuredly bring with it. 

Note for the reader

This is the latest post from Dr. John Sullivan, who was labeled “the Michael Jordan of Hiring” by Fast Company Magazine.Please help spread these ideas by sharing this with your team/network and by posting it on your favorite social media channel.

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