The Alarming Truth About Leadership in the Trump Era

What Hangs in the Balance by Philippe Johnson

"What Hangs in the Balance is a thoughtful and sobering study-in-contrasts of good leadership vs. Trump leadership and what hangs in the balance for our country if the latter wins out."

The fundamental principles of effective and inspirational leadership are all but absent in the presidency of Donald J. Trump, according to Philippe Johnson in What Hangs in the Balance.

A retired U.S. Air Force officer with years of advocacy for principled and ethical leadership in public service, Johnson makes a compelling case for competent leadership by analyzing the negative side of the leadership coin — what not to do — as manifested by President Donald Trump’s conduct and tweets during his first term and beyond. 

A Leadership Book Unlike Any Other on Trump

Not just another “Trump book,” What Hangs in the Balance takes a different angle by examining his brand of leadership in juxtaposition to well-established, tried-and-true principles of effective leadership. As Johnson says early in the book, “even flawed and ineffective leaders can provide valuable leadership lessons.” And for 688 pages, Johnson has a lot of lessons to unpack, which he does through analysis of Trump’s own words — in hundreds of social media tweets — as well as his actions.

Johnson’s narrative is organized around seven overarching leadership principles, competencies and traits “necessary to inspire integrity and promote successful organizational outcomes,” that are then juxtaposed against Trump’s “leadership deficiencies and their consequences.” This is not a political book, and Johnson does not weigh in on specific policies, but rather he provides a detailed evaluation of Trump’s leadership example with practical takeaways on how to incorporate such basic leadership requirements as accountability, character, honesty and respect for others into any public or private organization.

By including a large sampling of the 25,000 tweets Trump sent out during his first four years in office, Johnson reveals the shocking state of written and spoken political discourse that has been “dumbed down over the last two centuries.” The organization of chapter topics is fluid, with key leadership principles explained in each under headings such as “Communication Befitting a Leader,” “Respecting the Dignity of Others” and “How Not to Undermine Your Organization,” as just a few examples.

Hard Lessons from a Presidency in Chaos

Indeed, a theme throughout What Hangs in the Balance is what not to do as a leader — and Johnson has “receipts” in the form of Trump’s own words. In a chapter discussing the core leadership traits of discipline and self-control, Johnson calls Trump’s first presidency “a nonstop illustration of what happens when one is unable to exercise a requisite modicum of self-control.” The tweet examples he provides then reveal the dangerous, dishonest or deceptive ways Trump embodies the opposite of discipline and self-control. And so on, and so forth with each section that Johnson reinforces with pithy quotes and situational examples from great thinkers and statesmen, including Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, JFK and Nelson Mandela. In a few instances, Johnson humorously imagines how a tweet by Jefferson might read today. 

The Real-World Consequences of Failed Leadership

Johnson covers a broad swathe of Trump’s presidency and the major inflection points, such as the “big lie” that he did not lose the presidential election to Joe Biden in 2020, a dishonest refrain that ultimately led to the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Indeed, one of Johnson’s most powerful observations is the “irreparable harm” to American democracy Trump has engineered through his continual sowing of distrust for American governmental institutions and electoral processes via his actions, words and tweets. 

What Hangs in the Balance is a thoughtful and sobering study-in-contrasts of good leadership vs. Trump leadership and what hangs in the balance for our country if the latter wins out.