Combating Trump Masterclass

It’s obvious through a lens of influence why so many leading candidates fail.

Politics is a game of influence.

Of course many of us would like to believe it’s about substance.

In the same way we want to believe guests on late night talk shows aren’t just actors promoting something.

No-one playing basketball on a football field should expect to win.

Trump proved with no political experience that powerful influence was all he needed to win.

Powerful slogans. Powerful messaging. Powerful debates.

Like Schulz who failed to even get started, Bloomberg proved the opposite.

No slogan.

No messaging.

No influence.

No debate.

Game over.

fyi, because I think we can all benefit from this, the Masterclass for Combating Trump is free.

Of course the political cycle is well in the swing of 2020 campaigns.

With many people tuned into all those hopefuls chasing their most ambitious goal.

But what about the rest of us?

How many of us are focused on our own 2020 campaign?

Where Do You “Invest” Your Time?

Certainly people will “invest” millions of hours in the 2020 political campaigns.

And they already have.

Like debating football statistics, or reading celebrity gossip, countless hours have been spent tuned into candidates who’ll never win.

But how many hours do we invest in our own 2020 campaigns?

Many of us humans are content to spend our lives watching others chasing their dreams.

Yet those of us focused on our own dreams want a 2020 campaign too.

Rallying Yourself And Others

A reason I wrote the book on Trump was to be clearer on exactly how he won.

Going deeper into Barack Obama’s campaign I was focused on the same.

Something powerful I noted in top political campaigns is…

First and foremost the candidates use their campaigns to rally themselves.

A political campaign is a massive undertaking, and being clear on why your campaign matters, massively motivates you.

From there of course, a political campaign is all about how you bring other people along with you.

In most of our goals the same is true.

Certainly if you’re a CEO or leader, your winning campaign is ultimately about your team and customers.

But even if you’re not a leader, almost always your goals are about deeply impacting others around you.

So what does it take to rally yourself and others?

5 Things

There’s lots of ways to look at your goals for 2020.

And seeing them through the lens of a political campaign can give you some interesting angles.

Here’s five foundations of a political campaign that you can use too.

1. A Powerful Slogan

The absolute most obvious element of Obama and Trump’s winning campaigns was a powerful slogan.

Hope. Change. Yes We Can. 

Bar none might be the best slogans a candidate has run. (side note: ask yourself, do any of the current candidates actually have a powerful slogan?)

Trump’s We Don’t Win Anymore and Make America Great Again rank right up there too.

These slogans were used to rally massive movements and take over the country!

And you can use the same powerful device too.

What’s your slogan for 2020?

Really, if you had a slogan to capture what you’re setting out to do, what is it?

Mine is Do What You Want.

Closely followed by Fck Yeah!

A client is using, “Now is my time.”

Another says to her team, “In 2020, we’re Driving It All The Way.”

What do you say?

And how do you make it a constant mantra you echo all day every day?

2. Compelling Vision

The hallmark of great leaders is having a compelling vision.

And being able to communicate it too.

As I write about a lot in the Trump book, pain is a powerful way to sell and activate your base.

But it’s an optimistic compelling vision that drives leaders to victory.

And we’re not just talking goals here.

We’re talking VISION!

What you see. What you feel. What you get yourself and others completely bought into.

What’s a compelling 2020 vision for you?

How do you best capture it?

Perhaps you have many visions, and that’s all good.

Do you see them on a series of screens in your mind? Do you print them up and stick them on the wall?

Do you have a phrase that you use to keep capturing your vision in words?

Wherever you’re at, how do you develop this vision for you?

3. Dominant Messaging

The power of a slogan is that you can constantly keep repeating it.

Hope. Change. Yes We Can.

Were such powerful ideas Barack kept repeating that his movement echoed too.

But that’s just the headline.

What’s the messaging that comes after it?

I write a lot about Trump’s messaging in my book, because you saw him constantly unpacking the same ideas.

On the pain side, ideas like—We don’t win anymore. We don’t win at the borders. We don’t win at trade, etc.

And on the optimistic side too—We will win, win, win, win, win…

Think about the power of messaging for a football coach rallying his team.

And consider how you might use powerful messaging in your context too.

What ideas are most impactful?

How do you distill them down into ideas you can repeat over and over again?

My client keeps telling her team, Look at what we’ve done in the last 10 years and see 2020 we’re driving it all the way.

What might you say to yourself and others in powerfully driving your 2020 campaign?

4. Attention

The first chapter in my book on Trump is about the way he powerfully grabbed attention.

AOC has built such a dominant franchise the same way.

Driving a powerful campaign requires first grabbing the attention of constituents and moving them along with your messaging.

And you might think of your 2020 campaign the same way too.

As a leader, how do you really grab the attention of your team?

Of your customers?

To get the attention of the market for what you do?

Otherwise, no matter your goals, who must you compel in driving your 2020 vision?

How do you grab their attention? And keep grabbing it?

See, this is the thing, having a powerful slogan, compelling vision, dominant messaging really matters…

But it’s useless if you don’t keep bringing attention to it!

It’s like goals.

On January 1 many people will pretend to set goals for the new year they call resolutions.

Not only will most of those faux goals be forgotten by January 15…

But many who keep their goals will fail to look at them again until the end of the year.

The power of goals is in the way you constantly use them to motivate your best mind and actions.

So, how do you keep bringing attention to your 2020 campaign?

Do you proclaim it, repeat it, in some way?

Write it down where you and perhaps your team look at it over and over again every day?

What other ways might you keep bringing attention to your 2020 campaign?

5. A Test

“Put someone in the lane next to me, “my buddy, a professional runner says, “And I run faster.”

“Put me on the clock and I shoot faster,” says one of my shooting trainers.

You study your butt off for an exam because you’ll be tested on it.

And you get the best from yourself and your goals when you are serious about testing yourself.

A powerful motivator for all 2020 candidates is that they are constantly tested on their performance.

Polls.

Votes.

Donations.

If they’re not passing the tests, their campaign is over.

What about you?

It’s one thing to do these 4 things above, and another to be willing to hold yourself to it.

What’s your test?

How do you keep yourself accountable and hold yourself to it?

What Else Might It Take?

If you’re serious about driving your 2020 campaign, how else might you come at it?

What other things might you develop?

To rally yourself?

And rally others?

How do you best establish your campaign for making 2020 your year?

This week I re-read my book on Trump and listened to a bunch of tracks from the Masterclass… (which you can download free)

Which reminded me that just a small number of the right elements can powerfully drive your 2020 campaign.

 

I saw in Vermont they elected this goat, Lincoln, as Mayor.

Unclear by his name if he’s a Democrat but he certainly has a much better chance than most the 2020 candidates.

I enjoy a fun fight and I’m really looking forward to the Democratic primaries.

It’s going to be hilarious to watch them try to out-PC, out-left each other.

And, then, when they figure that’s a losing strategy…

Eat Each Other 

They’ll start off all nice like their anti-bullying bullying, but soon the field will descend into attack politics.

Like Bernie and Hillary, they’re all playing nice until they’re not.

Recognizing they fail by playing Mr. / Mrs. / Non-binary Good Guys / Gals / Them they’ll start chewing away at each other.

I’m thinking at least we wouldn’t have to listen to the goat poorly attack his rivals.

The only thing it would eat is the stage and perhaps gnaw away at a pant-leg here and there.

And certainly Lincoln might also have a chance against Trump.

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