"I Broke It, But Only I Can Fix It" - Sound Familiar!

Do you remember the book Barbarians at the Gate (https://tinyurl.com/mp5msw6j)?

Ross Johnson’s pattern at RJR Nabisco — and earlier in his career — followed a familiar cycle: he would push aggressive, often shortsighted strategies that destabilized the companies he ran, then position himself as the savior who could “fix” the very problems he created. In Barbarians at the Gate, Johnson prioritized personal perks, rapid expansion, and high-risk decisions that inflated short-term appearances while weakening long-term fundamentals. When the consequences of these decisions surfaced, he portrayed himself as the visionary capable of rescuing the company from turmoil, claiming credit for corrective actions that were necessary only because of his own mismanagement. Burrough and Helyar paint him as someone who treated corporations like personal toys — breaking them, then taking a bow for trying to repair the damage.

Many observers draw parallels between this pattern and what Donald Trump is doing in the current political environment. Trump frequently escalates or creates conflicts — political, legal, institutional, or social — and then presents himself as the only one capable of resolving the chaos. By casting crises as existential threats and positioning himself as the indispensable “fixer,” he uses a similar cycle of disruption and self-promotion that Johnson employed in the corporate world. In both cases, the strategy relies on creating instability, claiming victimhood or external sabotage, and then leveraging the resulting confusion to consolidate loyalty and power. The narrative becomes: I broke it, but only I can fix it — a dynamic that serves the leader far more than the institution they lead.