Published on: October 28, 2026 at 11:19 am
US President Donald Trump’s leadership style, which flouts conventional political norms, is a factor in his political ascendancy. While traditional leadership models preach the virtues of humility and empathy, the ways Trump wields power—and people’s reactions to them and him—demonstrates that society routinely rewards the exact traits Trump embodies: norm-shattering behavior, transactional relationships, zero-sum negotiations, demands for loyalty above all else, and an unwavering projection of narcissistic confidence.
Ultimately, Trump’s polarizing public persona is not an anomaly but rather a case study in how leaders actually gain and maintain authority—and how they get people to forgive or forget their sins—not just in modern politics but also in business.
Academy of Management Scholar Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford University wrote several books on leadership and power—including Power in Organizations, Managing with Power, Power: Why Some People Have It—and Others Don’t, Leadership BS, and 7 Rules of Power—all before Trump began his second term, but Pfeffer said that the key findings certainly apply to Trump.
“Trump follows all seven rules of power, and particularly rule number seven, which says that if you are successful and powerful, what you did will mostly be forgiven and forgotten. He illustrates that very clearly,” Pfeffer said. “You see this in the case of the late Lindsey Graham, who thought Donald Trump was horrible until Trump got elected president, after which Graham completely flip-flopped and became one of his biggest supporters in the Senate.
“You see this also with the technology leaders cozy up to Trump and sit there like lapdogs. They believe that their responsibility is to the shareholders and their companies’ financial well-being, and that the best way to enhance that financial well-being is to make a campaign donation to Trump, pay for his help, or pay for his inauguration—and then he’ll leave them alone,” he said. “It is a fascinating phenomenon.
“I teach a power class at Stanford, which is a pretty tough class, and people talk about soft power, which the US used to be known for, whereas Donald Trump is the best example of hard power and how effective it can be. I mean, there is nothing soft about the Trump administration and its approach to people who disagree with it.”
