An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump.

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump.

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump.

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump.

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump.

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump.

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump.

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump.

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump.

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump.

Trump’s leadership model has a succession problem

President Donald Trump offered a revealing answer about the limits of centralized leadership in a newly published, wide-ranging interview with Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell.

Asked how the investment deals, diplomatic leverage, and corporate commitments he has championed could endure beyond his presidency, Trump acknowledged the model may not be transferable. “Can’t answer that question,” he said. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s not going to happen again.”

Trump’s comments illuminate a tension familiar to every boardroom: key-man risk. Corporate America has repeatedly shown that the same leader who creates extraordinary enterprise value can also become the principal constraint on an institution’s durability. Trump’s governing style represents the political extension of the same phenomenon, with influence, relationships, and leverage concentrated in a single figure. Put another way, the more........

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