James Comey (2018). A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership

I picked up this book for a couple of reasons. The first is that I’ve been wanting to see if it would provide an alternative view of the character of Donald Trump, or whether it would confirm what I read in Wolff’s Fire and Fury. The second main reason is that, as an executive in the corporate world, I am always interested in insights about leadership from people who should have something to say about leadership because of their social position and experience.

James Comey, a lawyer by education and profession, was a US district attorney, then director of the FBI, appointed by Barack Obama in 2013. He was fired from his position in the FBI by Trump in a controversial manner in 2017. When Trump attacked Comey after having fired him in a series of tweets, Comey responded with a Tweet saying “Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not”. This is the book that would be Comey’s comeback…

M. Wolff, 2018. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House

Fire and Fury is a book that was released in January 2018, and that caused an immediate stir. The few excerpts that were shared before the publication already announced the unflattering image that would be drawn by the book of Donald Trump, his immediate family and his close associates, as he began his presidency of the United States. I finally got my hand on a copy a few weeks ago.