President-elect Trump Will
Emerge as a Transformative Leader
Donald Trump can emerge as a transformative leader the likes of whom the world hasn’t seen in a thousand years. In ancient times, Dacoit Valmiki transformed himself and eventually wrote Ramayana, and so it is rare, but it is possible.
Background
On election night, November 5th, I was watching Jake Tapper on CNN along with John King at the Magic Wall, and, by 11:45 pm, it became increasingly clear that former president Trump was likely to win the presidency. I am supposed to remain centered, even in the presence of the most extenuating circumstances, but, that night, I finally had to take a sleeping pill just to fall asleep. I remained restless on Wednesday and Thursday, too.
On Thursday, I watched what I believe are two must-watch television interviews the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Bob Woodward gave, one to Sarah Ferguson of ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-07/bob-woodward-speaks-on-donald-trump-presidency/104572758], and the other to Ari Melber on MSNBC [https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/-danger-trump-s-wh-return-risks-bad-instincts-and-war-says-icon-bob-woodward-223877701673].
In the first interview, Bob Woodward said Donald Trump will be governed by his instincts during a second term as US president, saying something to the effect, ‘I tell everyone, don’t give up on American democracy even now.’ Ferguson asked, “with all that you know about Trump, what gives you the reason to be optimistic?” Woodward replied, “people can change, even old men. If he, Trump, does, then he could do some memorable things.” During the interview, Woodward said, “There is something inside of me that says, don’t say everything is dark and impossible. Trump has an opportunity to rise above so many of his instincts and impulses; if he does that, he could really do something.”
Woodward added “Here is the question only history can answer. As the President of the United States, will Donald Trump rise to the occasion? If he falls to the occasion and does some of the things he has threatened to do, then we are in for one of the darkest periods of US history and world history.”
In contrast, in the summer of 2024, after Trump was shot, he said to the crowd, “the discord and division in the society must be healed. As Americans we are bound together by a single faith and a shared destiny. We rise together or we fall apart. I am running to be president of all Americans not half of America because there is no victory in winning half of America.”
On July 20, 2020, Woodward said he asked President Trump, “What’s the plan; 140,000 people have died of coronavirus. You were warned at the beginning of the year when there was only 1 death in the United States, and you said, don’t worry, it will go away.” Woodward said he kept persisting when the President said, ‘don’t worry, it is going to go away.’ Woodward added, Trump said he will have a plan in 106 days. That would be election day. Woodward said he was stunned. Over a million Americans have died by coronavirus.
On Thursday, November 7th, Woodward also appeared in an interview, ‘Danger’: Trump’s WH return risks bad instincts and war says icon Bob Woodward with Ari Melber on MSNBC, in which Woodward cautioned, “We are edging toward some kind of World War III.” Woodward also kept going back to Trump’s reliance on instinct, saying that it gives him a cover for why they are doing things. Woodward also said he, Trump, rarely has a plan.
Woodward said to Melber, “We need to answer the question, who is Donald Trump? Carl Bernstein and I interviewed Trump thirty-five years ago when he was a real estate operator, and we asked him why he is doing something, and Trump replied, ‘instinct, instinct.” Woodward also said he went back over some interviews he had conducted while Trump was president, where Trump again brought up the notion of instinct, and, in this MSNBC interview, Woodward kept referring to Trump’s reliance on instinct.
Why Trump has an Enormous Opportunity
These conversations tell us that Trump governs by instincts. We already know some of the dark things Trump has said but reflect also on his incredible successes. Defeated in the 2020 presidential election, convicted of numerous felonies, and, after two unsuccessful assassination attempts, Trump returned with resounding victory in the 2024 presidential election at age seventy-eight. Clearly, his instincts have served him well, but they have also landed him in a great deal of trouble. Still, these assets give Trump an enormous opportunity to emerge as a transformative leader, as I explain in the following paragraphs.
Intuition, my expression for instinct, refers to knowing something without the benefit of the five senses and the rational mind. Intuition is incredibly important in leadership, as it bestows upon the leader the capacity to discern truth from falsehood, but the question is how good Trump’s instincts are.
This capacity to discern truth from falsehood can be tested. See this article, How to Measure and Strengthen your Intuition in Forbes.
The Forbes article illustrates a device which can assess how intuitive a person is. The simple method was inspired by the use of Rudraksha mala (rosary made of the seeds of the Rudraksha tree). In ancient times, seers in the Himalayas would reportedly use it to decide if things like fruits and water were safe to consume. I had tested my guru’s intuition, finding that H. H. Gurumahan got correct answers to five consecutive questions I had posed in our first meeting in 2011. At the time, he had remarked, “I was looking for someone like you.” Tests with others have revealed that emotional excellence plays a big role in one’s ability to get correct answers.
To explain, human beings are endowed with two types of emotions: Positive emotions and negative emotions.
Positive emotions include unconditional love, kindness, empathy, and compassion.
Negative emotions encompass anger, hatred, hostility, resentment, frustration, jealousy, fear, sorrow, and the like.
Emotional excellence refers to the capacity of an individual to remain centered in the face of the most extenuating circumstances that are part of life. In the state of emotional excellence, an individual possesses abundant positive emotions at the exclusion of negative emotions.
Relatedly, Gurumahan’s Universal Peace Foundation (UPF) conducts a seven-day yoga program which goes by the name Aha Dharana (Inner Focus in Tamil), in which children in the age group of 6–12 learn to read, write, draw, find a hidden object, etc., all blind-folded. These feats tell us that the intuition of the children had shot up although intuition wasn’t specifically measured. I have seen a demonstration of the program specifically organized for my benefit. See this video clip.
Gurumahan tells us that the seven-day yoga program sees a jump in the emotional excellence of the children. He once remarked, these children will be less apt to fall prey to addiction as adults.
A few years ago, a youngster named Vanshi Chauhan appeared on Bollywood super star Amitabh Bachchan’s hugely popular TV program, Kaun Banega Crorepati (Bollywood’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire) where she read from a book the Sony Entertainment Television studio team had provided, blindfolded.
We have seen clear evidence of a high level of emotional excellence and a heightened intuitive capacity in Gurumahan on several occasions. Still, Gurumahan recognizes that intuition by itself isn’t sufficient for excellence. Strategies and technologies to design processes and transactions well and operate them in the best possible manner are critical, along with an adequate level of emotional excellence.
In 2015, I conducted a day-long six sigma training program for UPF personnel at the request of Gurumahan, that he himself attended.
The question is, who can convince Trump that, as valuable as intuition is, additional work will be required for a better and more peaceful nation and the world.
Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, may be such an individual. For one, Trump thinks very highly of Musk, calling him a genius. Musk is clearly an exceptional entrepreneur, the richest person in the world, and he is a scientist. The internet informs us that he holds a bachelor’s degree in physics. Rumor has it that Musk is being considered for a post in the incoming Trump administration to improve government efficiency.
There is something else that inspires me to have confidence in the prospects of Elon Musk having a positive influence on Trump.
Joe Rogan recently interviewed Elon Musk. In this short video clip, Musk proposed a theory that linked the colors that fast food restaurants use in their businesses to the colors of the Indian system of chakras. Musk hastened to add, what he was proposing was just a theory. Please see the article, Has Elon Musk Made a Type II Discovery? published in New India Abroad on Saturday, November 9, 2024.
From the conversation in the video clip as well as his accomplishments, Musk appears to have a heightened intuitive capacity, but he also appears to understand its limitations. His intuitive capacity appears to be enjoined by rational approaches to problem solving. He also appears to be open-minded, willing to think outside the box, or else he wouldn’t have spent time investigating the chakra system.
The societal level of emotional excellence undergoes transformation over hundreds, if not thousands of years. This transformation induces rise and decline of societies. No society is immune to the rise and decline phenomena. However, with a concerted effort, the declining trend in emotional excellence can be reversed thereby postponing decline by decades, or even hundreds of years. The ideas and concepts presented in this article have the potential to postpone decline of the United States if in fact it has commenced.
This article is inspired by ancient Indian wisdom, corroborated with scientific principles. Indian Americans have an opportunity, and perhaps a responsibility, to embrace the concepts herein and pas them on to their American friends and colleagues and their own families.
With all this, it is clear that I have a way to go. Not long ago, Gurumahan had conveyed through Raja Atmamayan, Dr. Deshpande has done as much as he can with science; the rest of the journey is internal. It is like he is traveling from Thirumurthi Hills, in Tamil Nadu and his destiny is Thirupathi in Andhra Pradesh. He has reached Bangaluru in Karnataka and he can see Thirupathi, but he still has to set foot there.
What is the Task
This article has established a tentative link between intuition and emotional excellence. My work of several decades in industries and academia has established a link between emotional excellence and performance in the external world, creativity & innovativeness, health & wellness, interpersonal relationships, and less discord and violence. This work has led to two books and many articles.
The US India relationship is the most consequential for the twenty-first century. India is the wheelhouse of ancient discoveries and the home of the practices of internal/emotional excellence that will prove precious for the United States as it strives to remain the preeminent superpower while the United States can offer technologies, equipment and strategies to India that can propel India to the status of a developed nation. The trade is even and worth trillions of dollars.
The pursuit of higher levels of emotional excellence is not an intellectual exercise. The required positive changes must come from within, and this requires an enhancement in the focus of attention with such practices as contemplation, meditation, and prayer. Since emotions can be measured, progress can be audited.
Enhancement in the focus of attention can not only strengthen emotional excellence, it can also lead to discoveries. Type I discoveries are those which amount to connecting the dots in the ocean of existing knowledge. Type II discoveries are those that cannot come from existing knowledge. In Sanskrit, Type II discoveries go by the name Shruti, meaning revealed. Both Type I and Type II discoveries will be required if we are to solve some of the most intractable problems facing humanity such as global warming, renewable energy, desalination, etc.
I have communicated these ideas to Mr. Musk at Tesla, Inc. It is hoped that he will see the merit in these concepts and take them up with Trump. Adoption and a demonstration of these ideas at the national level is a pathway for President Trump to emerge as a transformative leader, and the world would be better off for it.
Acknowledgments
This article is written with the blessings of H. H. Gurumahan (www.universalpeacefoundation.org). Gurumahan has been going into three weeks of meditation with no food, annually, for the last thirty-three years for world peace. The editorial assistance of Tony Belak is gratefully acknowledged. The author thanks Raja Atmamayan in Coimbatore, who was kind enough to translate this article in Tamil for Gurumahan and obtain his blessings.
About the Author
Pradeep B. Deshpande is Professor Emeritus and former Chairman of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Louisville. He is also President of Six Sigma and Advanced Controls based in Louisville, Kentucky. Pradeep has published several articles on six sigma in reputed journals like Chemical Engineering Progress and Hydrocarbon Processing and newspapers and magazines like The Economic Times, Business World, and The Hindu Business Line. With the help of a reputed B-School in Pune, Pradeep helped establish National Six Sigma Excellence Awards for Indian corporations. Airtel received the inaugural award. Pradeep is a recipient of several international awards including the Donald P. Eckman Award in Process Control Education given by the International Society for Automation (ISA) and is a Fellow of ISA. Prof. Deshpande has been nominated for a Padma Award, one of the four highest civilian awards given by the Government of India. pradeep@sixsigmaquality.com.
Further Reading
1. Pradeep B. Deshpande, PhD and James P. Kowall, MD (Neurology, Internal Medicine, Sleep Disorder Medicine), PhD (Theoretical Physics), The Nature of Ultimate Reality and How It Can Transform Our World: Evidence from Modern Physics; Wisdom of YODA, amazon 2015.
2. Pradeep B. Deshpande, Six Sigma for Karma Capitalism, amazon 2015.
3. Select Papers of Prof. Pradeep B. Deshpande, Medium, July 9, 2024 (https://medium.com/@pradeepbdeshpande/select-papers-of-prof-pradeep-b-deshpande-f9302fb680bf).
4. When Six Sigma Delivers Sub-optimal Performance, Medium, November 7, 2024 (https://pradeepbdeshpande.medium.com/when-six-sigma-delivers-sub-optimal-performance-5ca357f369b3).
5. Pradeep B. Deshpande, Has Elon Musk Made a Type II Discovery? New India Abroad, November 10, 2024 (https://www.newindiaabroad.com/english/news/has-elon-musk-made-a-type-ii-discovery).
6. Pradeep B. Deshpande Is Emotional Excellence the 14th Key, New India Abroad, October 6, 2024 (https://www.newindiaabroad.com/english/opinion/is-emotional-excellence-the-14th-key).
7. Pradeep B. Deshpande, The Significance of Intelligent Design: Towards a Better and More Peaceful World, medium, November 8, 2024 (https://medium.com/@pradeepbdeshpande/the-significance-of-intelligent-design-toward-a-better-and-more-peaceful-world-6bd50b39cdbe).
