I’m so sick of it. I’m sick of this legalistic, academic, bureaucratic mentality that is destroying our nation. My radio-show producer and I had an end of show argument on the air this week where he ‘schooled’ me on Donald Trump’s ignorance to national security and states' rights. It was an excerpt from the lies and hysteria the Democrats spewed all week in Philadelphia.
In an O’Reilly Factor interview on Fox News, Bill O’Reilly was instructive to Trump stating that minimum wage was “already a state issue.” ‘Producer Joey’ as I call him seized on the exchange stating that Trump had no clue about states' rights. He then shifted to the Republican, CNN debate where Hugh Hewitt asked Trump about the Nuclear Triad. His on-air point, during my show, is that no individual is qualified to be president who doesn’t understand what the ‘Triad’ is. Is this the presidential pop-quiz?
We’re not electing a person for their academic knowledge. We’re electing them for the judgment and leadership skills. We assume that they will appoint experts to advise them.
Presently, we have one of the most knowledgable, book-smart, well-educated people that may have ever occupied the White House: President Obama. However, he lacks good judgment skills and generally makes everything he touches worse. What benefit is all this book-sense and academic-recall if your leadership or execution skills are so lacking you can’t apply any of it?
Hillary Clinton has presented the case that Trump’s real estate success does not translate to the presidency. Given the fact that I’ve operated multiple real estate companies and I cover politics, I completely disagree.
Leaders are not ‘know-it-alls,’ they can’t answer all of your academic questions and they likely are not very good at answering pop-quizzes and gotcha questions in a political debate or business meeting - at least not in journalistic, bureaucratic, academic, political terms. The fact is, they have advisors to help them gather the appropriate intel and knowledge needed to make a good judgment on complex matters.
Regardless of the size of your business, you have to possess sound judgment and discipline in order to have lasting success. When there are setbacks, your character and leadership is tested. Neither Clinton nor Obama bring any economic/business experience to their roles thus why their leadership character is questionable.
I held weekly management meetings at my company. My regional managers, chief financial officer, operations manager and primary office manager attended those meetings. At times, my legal counsel would attend. In others, we invited what we called the ‘agent ambassador’ or an ‘employee ambassador’ to attend and share their opinion on non-managerial operations and challenges. Their role was to represent the interests of the employees and independent contractors. They all had opinions; most were competing opinions. Consensus in those meetings frequently proved to be wrong.
As the president of the company, my role was to listen to everyone, ask them questions and challenge their opinions. In the end, it was my responsibility to make a judgment on every situation and ask my staff to implement it. The best leaders (who experience the most success) know what they don’t know, understand their weaknesses and surround themselves with people who are far more informed and effective in those subject-areas.
By contrast, President Obama is the smartest guy in the room - Clinton the smartest woman in the room. They can impress you with answers to all the academic questions, pass every history lesson ‘pop-quiz’ and impress critics with their vast knowledge. But, I’ve yet to see either of them solve a problem (Iraq, ISIS, crime, terrorism, race relations and the list is extensive).
I failed my first real estate license exam. Obama? He would never would fail a test; I’m sure of it. But, in my first 18 months, I sold 100 homes earning several hundred thousand dollars as a 23-year-old college drop-out. The test (that I failed) was too academic, bureaucratic and illogical. It was ultimately a test of memory, not ability or ethics. It represented our societies’ biggest failure: We judge people based on their ability to check boxes and comply with legalistic lists - not their ability to use judgment to solve problems and make a positive difference.
Real Estate development and sales is about solving problems many times every day. You must be calculated, stable, possess good judgment and remain highly disciplined to endure successfully. Get off track? You fail.
I don’t care if my president walks into the oval office on day one understanding every aspect of government, military, security or politics. I only care that he has enough sense to know what he doesn’t know. If that is the case, he will surround himself with people that will serve as informants and advisors so that he can use his judgment to make the proper decision in critical moments.
We need a president that has good judgment, discipline and common sense - not one with a photographic memory. When the world hung in the balance of President Kennedy’s decisions during the Cuban Missile Crisis, his textbook knowledge is not what prevented a war. It was his final decisions resulting from his top advisors’ competing opinions, combined with his judgment that kept us from a third world war.
We built this country with good men who ran businesses and were elected to reflect the values of their constituents in Washington D.C. in her to their country. Somewhere along the way, we’ve decided to migrate toward career politicians, with no practical business experience and very little common sense, to make important business decisions for our nation.
We have the best military in the world. My business experience tells me that I have no military experience. I would listen closely to the generals’ advice. I’m sure Trump will as well - unlike Obama, who knows best, on everything.