The only school for presidents to learn how to be president is living and working at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as president. Ironically this is also true for most CEO positions. It’s a job that, however smart you think you are, you learn on the job every single day.

Fictional President Josiah Bartlett: It has been awhile but I thought I might jot some thoughts down about where we seem to be headed and just ask some questions about the destinations we appear to be seeking. My question about reforming taxes in America is simply this: How will America remain great if we yet again give the really rich more than those who have less or nothing?

Obtaining forgiveness is a process. The power of that process is diluted when it appears obvious that the perpetrator has no particular concept of or organized intention to apologize.

Well, we have a whole bunch of companies, laudably, it would appear, withdrawing their advertising from the Fox News O’Reilly Factor program which is currently experiencing a substantial scandal involving more sexual harassment charges against the show’s star, Bill O’Reilly. Fox News’ parent company has already paid five accusers $13 million to settle these grievances before any charges or allegations could be filed.

When are you going to get back to work? When are you going to stop whining? A good start would be firing all of those media executives and managers, top to bottom, who screwed up the news for the last two years or more so you can get back to work being real journalists.

American Political Success Rule #1:

Stop the production of critics and enemies. Once you victimize them, they have far more power than you’ll ever have; they live forever, will survive you and will be waiting in the swamp.

The first president I ever voted for was John F. Kennedy in 1960. So I, like so many Americans, have seen quite a few presidents come and go. Just based on those observations, and having served time in government some years ago, there are things about incoming presidents and other senior government officials, such as governors, that are useful to remember through all of the hype and hoopla of the inauguration and our new president beginning to work daily to “make America great again.” It’s going to be a truly tough challenge. Here are some lessons to think about from the past.

I had occasion to visit some dear friends in Stamford, CT, over the Thanksgiving holiday. Much to my surprise, he said to me, as we sat down for dinner at the Westchester Burger Co., that he was throwing out my years of writings on positive language and civil behavior. He mentioned it’s not likely to work or be subscribed to for quite a while in view of the behavior of our President-elect and the tolerance of that behavior by so many.

Wells Fargo took another meaningless step to avoiding their clear responsibility to clean up the mess they created, involving hundreds of thousands (perhaps even more now) of their customers. They separated the chairman and CEO posts, a gesture which is simply beyond understanding. It reflects again, their misguided focus on fixing operations without paying the price of fraud, deceit and despicable behavior toward their customers.