Stew Bolno: Trump’s Greenland gambit

After every high-level sports competition, especially football, coaches review the game. In moments of significance, they’re likely to run the tape of key plays in slow-motion. This enables analysis and discussion of what was experienced in real time. 

That’s how it is in dissecting Davos, yet the one thing on which all news professionals and news spectators can agree, is that Donald Trump was the quarterback who drove events and direction. Therefore, it follows that we need to recognize the motivations of Trump by his actions and words. But, in doing so, we should never negate The Trumpster’s foundational knowledge and perspective in the divining of his master plan.

Every person is molded from experiences and how they impact upon personality. We can’t fully comprehend Joe Biden unless we recognize he was an elected politician for over four decades. To understand Barack Obama, one must consider his early learning as a son and stepson of a Muslim father. Pre-president, he was a “community organizer” as well as a scholarly follower of Saul Alinsky, the author of Rules for Radicals. 

Donald Trump was mentored by a father who was a real-estate businessman. Trump took his learning experience to heart and became a developer of properties in New York City and around the world. He was educated about the basics of leadership and management as a Wharton College graduate. Trump’s been in the public eye for over 40 years, applying best-practice business principles to a wide variety of situations. He’s adept at applying executive skills in a manner politicians and diplomats can only imagine. 

This background permeates his world view and approach to problem solving. It’s how he interprets his elected role as United States president as well as “leader of the free world”. By exploring his actions leading up to and including his maneuvers at Davos, we’ll better understand the objectives, strategies, and tactics he used to control the situation and impact the process of world leaders attending this annual gathering. 

Trump knows Problem Solving

The unplanned topic of the economic assemblage was Greenland. It didn’t happen by accident. Although we knew Trump had his sights on the land mass for the past year, he reintroduced interest in the island about a month before the event took place. Prior to that, it’s unlikely anyone, except Trump, expected the territory of Denmark to be the headline story at Davos. He’s the guy who brought the topic to center-stage. 

Why did he do that? My best guess; in his first term he asked his highest-ranking military officers the type of common question uttered by successful leaders to their high-level staff members; “What keeps you up at night?” or more specifically “What’s the greatest unrecognized threat to American survival and world peace?” By the time the conference began, everyone knew a little more about Greenland than they knew a month prior.

Trump knows Time Management 

When Trump first made noise about annexing Greenland, people laughed or shook their heads. I know, I was one of them. However, during the 30-day buildup to Davos all of us learned a bit more about the island of ice; its strategic location, the preponderance of natural resources, that American presidents have been aware of its significance since the nineteenth century, and that President Truman offered to purchase it from Denmark during his administration. 

The President knew the issue was important and urgent, so he threw the football into the crowd, so to speak. By the time meetings got underway, no one was laughing about Greenland, Trump, or its priority importance to the safety and protection of the Western Hemisphere. 

Trump knows Marketing 

Since the first requirement of marketing is to attract attention, Trump was assured people became educated about the potential of Greenland before the first day of discussions. If he chose to open the conversation at the event it would make minimal dent on the agenda, would cause mass confusion, and make him seem like a foolish man; one who brought an extraneous issue that disturbed the purpose of the gathering. 

Because his comments on Greenland predated the first day of the meeting, no serious person was surprised about conversations relating to the sparsely inhabited yet strategically located territory. This is one area of Trumpian brilliance; his ability to fuse goal setting and problem solving. By the end of the conference, a few days later, it appears representatives of Greenland, Denmark, NATO, and the US were on the way to hammering out a plan to act on one of the most significant challenges to the free world.

Trump knows Group Dynamics and Interpersonal Communications

An additional rationale for Trump announcing his interest in Greenland is his understanding of organizational communications, group dynamics, and how normal people function. It’s unreasonable to think there would be anything close to a resolution if he introduced the subject during the early days of the meeting. If he did, it’s highly predictable the tactful diplomats at Davos would have responded with a delay. It’s easy to imagine they would advise Trump his vision required further discussions with their advisors, team members, and peers. It would have been tabled and everyone would have returned home with no plan of action. The principals, separated by time and distance, would forget about or opt to discuss the situation at the next annual meeting. Yeah, right! (LOL) 

As the most significant person in the world during the past ten years, Trump has been at the focus of conversation for those who adore, respect, tolerate, or detest him. He’s attracted loyalists, gained supporters, antagonized his opponents, and psychologically impacted emotionally driven foes. He’s unique; but like the rest of us he’s explainable if you are willing to learn about his development, consider his mannerisms in a non-biased manner, objectively analyze his problem-solving process, and judge his results.

As president, Trump’s words and actions have been highly aligned; this defines him as a man of integrity. He’s more available, transparent, and expressive than any officeholder in modern times; this means he’s a communicative leader. He’s successfully delivered on a high percentage of campaign promises; this establishes him as an effective president. 

It’s time we accept, learn, and benefit from this obvious reality — warts and all. 

Stew Bolno is a chronological peer of Donald Trump. He’s been a student, college professor, and consultant on leadership during his 50-year career. He’s followed politics longer than that time. His recent book is “Leadership Lessons And You: From A to Z – featuring Donald Trump” and he’s written scores of essays about him since he descended the Trump Tower staircase.