Publications | Reflections | 20 March 2017

Norm Coleman: A Business-like Approach To Politics

The links between business and politics are legion. If anything, they’re getting more pronounced.

The path between the boardroom and public office is well-trodden. People look at the contents of their pockets before casting their vote and governments obsess over GDP. Good times are music to their ears. Hard times not so much.

Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign mantra summed it up – it’s the economy, stupid!

Seen through a business prism, then, the archetypal American tycoon Donald Trump rising to become Commander-in-Chief should perhaps have raised fewer eyebrows. After all, what works in the commercial sphere – vision, acumen and deal-making – applies just as well in the political arena.

Or as Senator Norman ‘Norm’ Coleman, who joined Hogan Lovells as of counsel in 2011 after three decades as a public servant, puts it, “Trump is effectively now the CEO of USA Inc. – America is his business.”

To read the full interview with Senator Norm Coleman, download a PDF copy of "A Business-like Approach To Politics." This article was first published in the March 2017 Hogan Lovells alumni magazine Reflections.

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