Understanding Donald J. Trump & Many Entrepreneurs

No-one likes me and that is Perfect! Image: CNN

To understand Trump (and a sizeable portion of the entrepreneur class) you only need one photograph and this is the one.

His level of trait Agreeableness is exceedingly low.  Sub traits Compassion and Politeness are  without question in the zero percentile.  What does that mean? If there were 100 people in a room, 99 of them would be more compassionate and polite than Donald J. Trump.  Likely,  its 1 in 10,000.  Importantly he understands this and he truly owns his low trait Agreeableness.

Courtesy of CNN

This is not a criticism of DJT, it is simply his  personality and likely a significant portion of that is genetic.  Is he so different to his father –  it would not appear so.  There is a  reason for the preservation of personality traits within the human population, those variations enhance the potential for survival of the species.

Now interestingly, those at different ends of trait Agreeableness (in particular) find it remarkably hard to understand the position of the other and this trait more than any other seems to be a determinant of political persuasion.  Low trait Agreeableness (plus low trait Openness)  and you are much more likely to be Conservative while high trait Agreeableness (plus high trait Openness), far more likely to be left leaning.

The challenge for those with high trait Agreeableness and high sub-trait compassion is that you are easy to manipulate and both the politicians and the media have become expert in your manipulation.  Why? It triggers the release of neurotransmitters Dopamine and Serotonin and it results in selling more newspapers and winning seats.  There are logical reasons for the evolution of the political environment in this direction!

Combine low trait Agreeableness and modest trait Conscientiousness (in the case of DJT it is off the charts trait Industriousness but low trait organisation) you have the perfect entrepreneur, who will never stop and who is not concerned about the consequence of action as long as their trait Neuroticism is low and DJTs is very low.  His level of trait Neuroticism, sub-trait Volatility is high but simply an act while his neuroticism, sub-trait Withdrawal is in the zero percentile.  Both sub-traits of Enthusiasm are.. off the charts.

There you have Donald, easy enough to understand.  As to outcomes, he will never stop, he speaks without preparation, he is not concerned about consequences and does not care what people say about him.  He cannot be understood by the left and never will be.  If within the sphere of DJT and you have similar personality traits to DJT, your days are numbered.  Those that survive likely are more Open, more Agreeable, more Conscientious and probably more Neurotic.

Where are you?