Donald v Clinton - Books Define Brands

Donald v. Hillary: How Books Define Brands

How you enter public life matters. We all know actors who have done a ton of work, but never quite escape that first sitcom or movie role. We also know famous “faces” who got off to great starts only to have the rug yanked right out from under them. How they recovered is likely tied to how they were defined — or branded — in the minds and hearts of those who helped define their public personas.

A classic example of this is being played out right now in the 2016 presidential race. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were already famous names when they decided to throw their hat into the political ring, but who were they, really? To answer that question, many people — pundits and voters alike — took a long, hard look at the books that helped put them on the map.

Trump’s Big Book was part memoir part how-to business book as well as a celebration of a lifetime of making deals. You all know the title. Trump got six figures for the book, in which he opined: “I don’t do it for the money … I’ve got enough … I do it to do it. Deals are my art form.”

Clinton went with a more philosophical treatise, a meta-view of what her policies were based on and, some say, intended to accomplish. Clinton didn’t take an advance, and has, reportedly, donated most of the proceeds to charity. In her book, she opined: “Children are not rugged individualists … they depend on the adults they know and on thousands more who make decisions every day that affect their well-being.”

Shadows of these two disparate sentiments can be seen playing out in both the candidates’ campaigns, and in the impressions they are weaving for potential voters.

For Trump, the deal is the thing. He is busy convincing America he’s not in it for the money and the fame and the power. He wants the best deal for America, and this is the best way he knows how to get it. It’s a message many supporters have swallowed whole. They love Trump’s brash can do attitude, and they long for a leader who Knows How to Get Things Done without any help … though Trump has repeatedly asserted he will bring the best people along to advise him.

Clinton, on the other hand, has cultivated a Us Together sort of mystique. She’s no iconoclast or dictator, more of a manager who seems uncomfortable in the individual political spotlight. She talks about working together, about raising the bar together and helping everyone by making circumstances and opportunity better across the board. Clinton’s supporters love that. They believe wholeheartedly in the social aspect of society, that no one can do it alone, even Clinton.

It’s a contrast in style and substance that looks to be headed for a head-to-head contest in November. Which vision will win the day likely depends on which candidate better embodies the approach they taught their supporters to expect.

Jonah Engler is an entrepreneur from NYC.