There’s been a lot of resistance in the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory – many young people have taken to the streets in America and come out on college campuses protesting against the democratically-elected President-elect. ‘Not our president’ – there is a strong feeling in this demographic that this shouldn’t have happened.
Yet…
Everything happens for a reason.
Whether we believe in that or not, asking the question…
‘What is perfect about this?’
…helps to reduce resistance to the reality of a situation and opens up opportunity. The Chinese character for Crisis as JFK reminded us is composed of two symbols. One meaning ‘danger’ the other ‘opportunity’.
So what is perfect about Trump?
Clarity
What Trump has done for many young people is provided clarity on what they don’t want.
Trump has revealed to many millennials what their core values are by standing for a very different value system. And clarity is a great galvaniser of action. Once we know what we want, it becomes clear what actions we need to take to create the vision.
Trump is a perfect model for that. Whatever we may or may not like about his value system he has been willing to get into the arena and fight for what he believes in. No-one has probably been more vilified than him in the last 18months yet he hasn’t let critics determine his destiny. He has put himself out there and risked failure for what he believes in. In that sense, he can teach the millennial generation some sound principles of leadership.
Up until this moment, the most politically apathetic generation in history (on election turnout) have been seemingly willing to tolerate the power structures of government and get on with life. What might be perfect about Trump is that millenials might feel they have no choice but to step up and engage in the political process.
However ‘shoulding’ on Trump like we have seen on the streets, ‘This shouldn’t have happened, we shouldn’t have Trump as president.’ ….is a cop out, a waste of resources.
‘You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete’ Buckminster Fuller.
Opportunity
Instead this is a great opportunity for the millennial generation to show leadership for what they do want and dare to ask the big questions of a system that is not serving the values they believe in.
Wrestling their democracy back from corporate money and the political establishment will take committed action. Trump has shown them that anything is possible if you are willing to get in the arena for what you believe in.
In the same way that the anger of the Founding Fathers at the imperial attitude of the British political establishment gave them the courage to stand up for what they believed in and create radical change.
Yes it can
Trump as President was a laughable idea 18months ago. It wasn’t a serious proposition. It couldn’t happen until it probably wouldn’t happen and then it did happen.
Yes, he had millions of pounds behind him which is needed to play the current political system in the US but at the same time the Arab spring has showed the world that power structures aren’t as strong as they appear when faced with the will of the people and low-cost technology to mobilise that power.
It can happen, the opportunity is there. The question is will millenials now follow their new President’s example and create their own ‘Trump’ moment?
Perfecting the present and moving forward to create new outcomes is a coaching process. If you are experiencing resistance to the current reality in an area of your life (complaining and shoulding are your clues!) then you are welcome to download my ‘Perfecting the Present’ pdf for free here.
Leave a Reply