The first week of the Trump restoration has recalled the times when a company has gone through a reorganization or had a management shakeup. Companies run on the decisions made by the people inside the company and those decisions are the result of the habits of mind, the company culture. Even the big decisions tend to follow a predicable course once you understand the culture.
When there is a reorganization or a new management team comes in, it feels like a shock to the system because it is a shock to the system. The new ways of doing things rattle the old culture because the new ways or the new people conflict with the old ways and those old ways must give way or those old ways must break the new people and the changes they are trying to implement.
Watching Trump act as the new CEO, sitting at the old CEO's desk, cavalierly signing executive orders while stunned media asks questions, it recalled those experiences with corporate shakeups and takeovers. In 2016 he was the guy hired over the objections of the senior managers. In 2024 he is the new owner. It is an entirely different atmosphere now compared to then.
All of this has recalled an old idea of America as a corporation. The business of America is business, because America is a business. As such, a way to understand her is through the lens of business. That is the show this week. It is an alternative history of America as a business and a history of the managerial revolution through the lens of the old expression, shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.
This Week's Show
Contents
Intro
Alternative History
The Macro Business Cycle
The Managerial Cycle
Not All Businesses Fail
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