President Trump as Manager: Reflections on the First Year

Abstract

Prior to becoming president, Donald Trump was widely known as a successful business executive. As a candidate, Trump promised to run government like his business. His supporters and critics, however, disagree about how the president has performed as a manager. In this article, we review President Trump's performance as a manager during his first year in office. We examine three dimensions of his approach—transition preparation, staffing, and management style. Notably, we find that the president's halting transition limited his effectiveness in the first year. Unlike previous presidents, President Trump chose neither a politicizing nor a centralizing strategy to gain control over administrative policy making during his first year. We also note that President Trump prefers a competitive and freewheeling decision‐making environment but is struggling with the consequences of such a structure. The article concludes with an assessment of the first year and prospects for the president moving forward.