Why We Fall For Narcissistic Leaders by Adam Grant

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This is a guest essay for the New York Times (12/29/25) by Dr. Adam Grant, who is a contributing Opinion writer, and an organizational psychologist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

"Readers of a certain stripe will assume this is an article about President Trump. He is, after all, the man who has boasted, “I alone can fix it” and “I know more about ISIS than the generals do,” who exaggerated his wealth, refused to concede that he lost an election and described the brutal killing of a Hollywood couple as being somehow all about him. But my point is not about Mr. Trump per se; it’s about why people are attracted to him and so many others like him as leaders in politics and business right now."

Read the entire guest essay here.

Fighting Culture Wars

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The Trump administration wants to be: withdrawing from the military’s conventional arenas, like preparing for possible conflict with rival great powers and instead fighting, with overwhelming shows of swaggering force, the kinds of battles prioritized by online reactionaries. It wants to be fighting those culture wars in other theaters as well, promoting right-wing politics across Europe and encouraging a clampdown on migration not just in the United States but globally.

It's a sad place we are in.  

As David Wallace-Wells's opinion piece for The New York Times (12/10) says:  "Hence a “president of peace” presiding over 22 attacks (and counting) on boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, unilaterally pushing regime change in Venezuela and treating migrants living peacefully and for decades within the borders of the United States with such violence and cruel indifference that it has inspired rebukes from the new American pope and the conference of American bishops, long seen as an implacably conservative force in U.S. politics."

Don't You Love Thomas Friedman's Opinion Pieces?

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In Thomas Friedman's latest Opinion piece for The New York Times (8/19/25), he says:  

"I am really trying to be fair in analyzing the Trump-Putin-Zelensky-Europe drama that has been playing out the past few weeks. I am trying to balance President Trump’s commendable desire to end the murderous war in Ukraine with the utterly personalized, seat-of-the-pants, often farcical way he is going about it — including the energy that everyone involved has to expend feeding his ego and avoiding his wrath, before they even get to the hellish compromises needed to make peace.

For now, the whole thing leaves me deeply uncomfortable."

Dear readers, find out why.

Pleasing an Audience of One: DJT

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Gifting all of you this article from The New York Times and reported by Ana Swanson (from Washington).

Many employees believe Mr. Lutnick is focused on an audience of one: the man he refers to as “DJT.” Mr. [Howard] Lutnick often speaks of the president’s intuition, wisdom and prescience; has boasted of having regular Friday night dinners with Mr. Trump; and describes any day that he speaks to the president as a “good day.”

Access entire article here.

We all hope Mr. Trump takes a less aggressive approach to tariffs for the business owners who have built their businesses around international business.

What Would a One-Party America Look Like?

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Paul Krugman has been an Opinion columnist since 2000 for The New York Times and is also a distinguished professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He won the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on international trade and economic geography.

Here's what he has to say about a one-party America.

Let's Make a Deal Freight Rail Companies!

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Early on the morning of Thursday, September 15, 2022, freight rail companies and unions reached a tentative agreement to avoid a strike that could have begun on Friday, September 16, 2022. The agreement now heads to union members for a ratification vote, a process that could take a few weeks. Workers have agreed not to strike while the vote is tallied.

The deal ended an impasse between the rail industry and tens of thousands of workers across the country, averting a shutdown of a critical network that could have made it virtually impossible to transport the vast numbers of products — from oil to grain — that are carried on trains in the United States.

As The New York Times article says, "rail freight is the centerpiece of the global supply chain, which has already been disrupted by the pandemic, with cargo ships, trains and trucks facing continued difficulties transporting goods. A strike would slow down the circulation of goods within the United States and with overseas trade allies."

USA Trump's Cling to Power is Over

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According to The Atlantic (1/5):  The president of the United States is out of options to fulfill his authoritarian dreams.

And the latest (1/6), USA President-elect Joe Biden will now govern with a Democratic Senate and a Democratic House. 

In case you missed other developments, here's more on the violent assault on the USA Capitol.

Today in Global Small Business: 'Black is King' by Beyonce

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Basey banig weavers build a name for Filipino export products.
• LIVE updates from The New York Times on COVID-19 
• Quote of the week:  "It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get." – Confucius
• The upside to embracing your own madness.
• 'Black Is King,' a new album by Beyonce, will celebrate Black resilience and culture, and premiere globally on Disney+ on July 31, according to a press release. 
• Whoa, look out, Starbucks says it will pause advertising on social media platforms including Facebook.  They are not the only one starting to take this path.  Could be impactful.

Will Your Global Small Business Outlast This Crisis?

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USA Today says:

"Congress will decide whether your small business lives or dies. That’s not an exaggeration. What Congress does now, in the stimulus bill agreed on by the Senate and White House (but not yet passed by the House) to combat the coronavirus outbreak, determines whether millions of small businesses, including yours, will outlast this crisis."

Business Insider says:

"What to know about the $300 billion-plus for small businesses in the stimulus bill, and how founders will be able to apply for emergency funds."

Forbes says:

"A deal was reached in the Senate early this morning to inject approximately $2 trillion dollars into the U.S. economy, after days of negotiations and two failed votes.  The third and final economic stimulus package includes funds for direct payments to individuals and financial assistance to businesses.

The provisions for small businesses total $350 billion dollars, short of the $500 billion that Speaker Nancy Pelosi detailed in the House’s version of the stimulus package yesterday.  The bill will now move to the House for approval."

The New York Times reports:

"The largest economic stimulus measure in modern history would authorize direct payments to taxpayers and loans to small businesses, and create a $500 billion corporate bailout fund."

World Commerce Is Slowing Down

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As Peter S. Goodman for The New York Times puts it:

As President Trump intensifies his trade war with China, and as factories slow in major industrial nations, world commerce is deteriorating rapidly, a perilous development that threatens the health of the global economy.

He goes on to say that most economists feel a global recession remains unlikely, even as growth slows.

What's your take?  See what others are saying.

Learn About Your Heritage? Ask Your Country

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Frank Bruni, an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, writes a wonderful piece on his newly appreciated heritage.

To Ireland, a Son's Journey Home

Does Globalization Cause Income Slowdown?

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David Leonhardt, Washington bureau chief of the The New York Times references Derek Thompson's response in The Atlantic to David's list of 14 potential causes of the great American income slowdown.

Check it out here.

2011 Year in Review

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The New York Times provides:

2011 Year in Review slide show

If nothing else, it will make you smile.

Make An Effort to Improve Our World

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Nicholas Kristof writes an interesting opinion piece for The New York Times:

How to Change the World

Worth a read.  Worth an effort to improve our world.

Welcome to the Great International Education Race

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There is a well-thought out scramble for students, professors, prestige and prosperity that is changing the face of university education around the world.

For decades the United States attracted more than a quarter of all foreign students in college or graduate education. Recently that has begun to change. While the continuing boom in study overseas — an explosion largely unaffected by the economic downturn — means that the number of foreign students going to the United States has continued to grow, the U.S. share of the foreign student market has fallen to just 18.7 percent, according to the most recent report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Meanwhile countries like Australia, Russia and New Zealand have all seen their share of the market rise sharply.

Read all about the rapidly changing international education landscape here.

Meet the New Breed of South African Entrepreneurs

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South Africa (pictured) has long been looked upon as an unstable business environment. Not for long. Meet the new breed of South African entrepreneurs who are optimistic that they can change perceptions and climb the industrial ladder.

Read all about it here.

This related resource may be of interest to you as well:

South Africa: Overview

Enter China With Eyes Wide Open

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Insightful piece with James McGregor (not pictured) of APCO Worldwide. He's a journalist turned consultant, and has been following the China story for 20 years.

Take a look at his interview, "Q&A: Doing Business In China," conducted by Emily Rauhala at The New York Times.

Check out his book, "One Billion Customers: Lessons From the Front Lines of Doing Business in China."

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

Thomas Friedman: Just do it

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In case you missed Friedman's column in the April 17th edition of The New York Times, here's a snippet before I give you the link to the real deal:

EndoStim was inspired by Cuban and Indian immigrants to America and funded by St. Louis venture capitalists. Its prototype is being manufactured in Uruguay, with the help of Israeli engineers and constant feedback from doctors in India and Chile. Oh, and the C.E.O. is a South African, who was educated at the Sorbonne, but lives in Missouri and California, and his head office is basically a BlackBerry. While rescuing General Motors will save some old jobs, only by spawning thousands of EndoStims — thousands — will we generate the kind of good new jobs to keep raising our standard of living.

Read the entire contribution here:

Just Doing It

Clueless on How To Increase Your International Sales?

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Great feature by Ian Mount for The New York Times and we are happy to be included in it (thanks Ian!).

Small-Business Guide
Tips for Increasing Sales in International Markets

Will China Give In?

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One of my favorite thought leaders (Nobel Prize winner), Paul Krugman, explains how he thinks about the current China syndrome, and why he believes that most of the responses that he hears from fans are missing the point.

He focuses on three questions:

The macroeconomics of Chinese currency intervention, the fallacies of elasticity pessimism, and the political economy issue of how to deal with Chinese intransigence.

Capital Export, Elasticity Pessimism, and the Renminbi (Wonkish)

Agree or disagree?