I particularly smiled at the French newspaper Liberation’s front page – a stark white headline on a shadowy Trump image reading “American Psycho”.
As time went on in the US election campaign the impossible became more possible. Particularly in a post-Brexit world, there was an awakening that President Trump was a likely reality.
And so it happened. The people of America voted, and we are about to see a reality TV star and billionaire property tycoon call the White House home, hold the reins on the @POTUS Twitter account and lead one of the largest economies in the world.
The brand ethos of Celebrity Cruises is to open up the world. We sail to all seven continents and embrace that our ships have 60 nationalities onboard in a harmonious community where everyone is welcome. Finding the wonderful in the world around us, however different, is what our business, and I, am all about.
The words of Angela Merkel highlight how I now feel about the new US President. That “values of democracy, freedom, and respect for the law and the dignity of man, independent of origin, skin colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or political views” were the platform on which she, and Germany, would offer Trump close cooperation.
Put simply – behave like a statesman and the leader of the free world, and bring together the people around you, and we will listen.
But is Trump listening? He is a man on a mission. We may not agree with his statements and inappropriate comments, but his actions did have the desired effect. They coaxed a nation into getting behind the most unexpected leader ever.
As anyone else in business knows, making claims that don’t stack up is not a long-term sustainable solution. Your customers find out, they get disillusioned, and they go elsewhere. There might be short-term gains, but you’ll be without a business pretty quickly. Trump has four years to make a difference, and for the nation to decide if they can stick with him.
Watching Trump in the build-up to the election, it often seemed like he just wanted to achieve the win and hadn’t really considered the reality. The repeated chants of “make America great again” seemed like a self-help mission to assure himself that he could “make Trump great again”.
Then I heard his victory speech. He had listened to his advisors and stuck to the autocue. He spoke knowing he now had incredible responsibility.
The election result announcement didn’t shock the financial markets as much as was predicted. Maybe Trump will be good for business. Maybe his sheer confidence in his own abilities and his bullish nature will be a good thing for the spending public. Certainty is good for clients.
Working in travel shows us that the unexpected happens, that you have to be open to new ways of working, and that you grow by learning from other cultures. Will Trump take notice?
