Trump's Ten Commandments - by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

In Trump's Ten Commandments, Yale leadership scholar Jeffrey Sonnenfeld pulls back the curtain on Donald Trump's rulebook for power--revealing the ten ruthless, repeatable strategies that explain how he conquers chaos, commands loyalty, and bends every arena to his will.

Trump's Ten Commandments: Strategic Lessons from the Trump Leadership Toolbox offers a provocative and penetrating look inside the mind of one of history's most controversial leaders. Written by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, celebrated Yale leadership scholar and advisor to five U.S. presidents, this book reveals the ten guiding principles--or "commandments"--that define Donald Trump's decision-making across business, media, and politics.

Drawing from decades of personal interactions with Trump as advisor, critic, and confidant, Sonnenfeld moves beyond gossip and ideology to decode the predictable patterns behind Trump's seemingly chaotic style. There are critiques and salutes through history of the impact of the imperial presidency but no existing current or past analysis of how such leadership operates until this deep dive into Trump's toolkit. Sonnenfeld exposes how Trump's playbook--built on domination, disruption, and relentless self-promotion--breaks every conventional rule of leadership yet often achieves results through sheer force of will.

From the boardroom to the Oval Office, Sonnenfeld distills lessons in power, persuasion, and performance--lessons that illuminate not only Trump's successes and failures but also timeless truths about human ambition, influence, and control. Whether you admire or abhor him, understanding Trump's Ten Commandments reveals how he built empires, dismantled institutions, and redefined leadership in his own image.

Part insider analysis, part leadership case study, Trump's Ten Commandments helps readers grasp how Trump thinks, how he leads, and what his methods teach us--about both the dangers and the undeniable magnetism of power used without restraint.

For anyone seeking to understand America's most unpredictable leader, this is the definitive guide to Trump's strategy, psychology, and legacy.

Review Quotes

"Bringing his unique understanding of leadership styles and management techniques to bear as only he can, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld brilliantly decodes the ten-part method in what others see only as Donald Trump's madness. No one who hopes to understand what makes Trump tick can afford to leave this decathlon of a book unread."

--Laurence Tribe, University Professor, Harvard Law School

"Donald Trump is such a polarizing figure that no author has attempted to analyze his unique skills and failings in a nonpartisan way. Sonnenfeld has done us all the great favor of capturing Trump's nontraditional leadership traits, distilling them into the Ten Commandments that comprise his power politics, and presenting them in an insightful, personal, and engaging book."

--Tom Glocer, Former CEO of Thomson Reuters; Lead Director of Morgan Stanley & Merck

"I spent over a decade at Donald Trump's side--through victories, scandals, and self-inflicted disasters. No one understands the mechanics of his chaos better than I do. In this remarkable work, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld dissects Trump's leadership through a lens of truth and experience, translating what most see as disorder into a studied strategy. It's a master class in decoding power, ego, and manipulation--essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how Trump truly operates."

--Michael Cohen, Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump

"I was charmed by Donald Trump, worked for him, and then also saw his dangerous flaws. Some treat him as the village idiot or a madman because of his unorthodox impulses and that he may not have been the top finance, econ, or history student at Wharton. Critics are as wrong to discount his communication genius and street savvy as others are to deify him. Sonnenfeld is the first scholar to reveal just how Trump operates, the method behind the magic and malice--lessons needed to protect our nation."

--Anthony Scaramucci, CEO of Skybridge Capital and Former White House Communications Director in the First Trump Administration

"Jeff Sonnenfeld's Trump's Ten Commandments frames usefully and convincingly Trump's leadership style, methods, and his motivations for them. It draws great strength from his personal contacts with Trump, with Trump's family, with many of his advisors, and with business leaders. It also draws strength from Sonnenfeld's reference to a wide range of academics who have studied leadership methods. The leadership styles attributed to Trump, while uniquely Trump's in their totality, also apply to other leaders. Understanding them through the lens that Sonnenfeld provides can be very useful both in understanding the other person and being able to relate constructively with them."

--John Pepper, Former CEO, Proctor & Gamble; Chairman, The Walt Disney Company

"Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is, first and foremost, a consummate leadership scholar and has been for decades. In this book, he turns his attention to analyzing the leadership strategies of Donald Trump. Neither screed nor apologia, this book explains what Trump does and, more importantly, how and why it is so often effective. In a word (or two) amazingly insightful."

--Jeffrey Pfeffer, Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University and Author of 7 Rules of Power

"Only the nation's preeminent scholar on leadership could look across a lifetime of disparate behaviors, actions, and impulses and discern clear principles and patterns that explain the inexplicable. In this masterful work, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld provides the definitive blueprint for understanding what animates the most complicated and consequential president in memory. Trump's Ten Commandments is a must-read for those seeking to understand the past and hoping to chart the future."

--Brad S. Karp, Chairman Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

"The crazy, unpredictable, chaotic behavior of Donald Trump has a pattern! Who knew! Jeffrey Sonnenfeld combines his deep knowledge of Trump along with a rigorous analysis and examples of his actions to decode the 'how' of Trump's unique leadership. For all of us scratching our heads, this book provides a lens into patterns that have not been previously recognized."

--Anne Mulcahy, Former CEO of Xerox

"There is no group more negatively disposed to the traits of Trump than the CEOs of large US companies. That's because the CEOs have almost universally risen through the ranks of their organizations through inspiring leadership characteristics such as: integrity, team building, diversity of thought, transparency, and positive motivation. Unfortunately, the CEOs can't speak out for fear of retribution. Jeff Sonnenfeld speaks for them in this book by outlining ten traits that distinguish Trump from truly gifted leaders. This must-read guide helps business leaders prepare for an official like Trump without having to learn the hard way."

--Doug Parker, Former Chairman, American Airlines

"With Trump's Ten Commandments, Jeff Sonnenfeld has written an essential and riveting book. He's brought his deep knowledge of leadership to one of today's critical questions: How does President Donald Trump actually think? In this book, Sonnenfeld provides a persuasive lens through which he argues that Trump is far more intentional, and as a result more predictable, than most of us might believe."
--Bethany McLean, Washington Post Columnist, Author of Smartest Guys in the Room