Trump goes on to say"usually they would sit on the sofas. But this is the Resolute desk. This is a great desk with a phenomenal history. Many great presidents were behind this desk".
The remarks reinforce Trump's fascination with the power his new office exudes — he is often seated at the desk in photo opps with visitors — and his belief that it's a great negotiating lever.
"I feel very warm toward the Oval Office. It's a great symbol,"he told Dickerson earlier in the interview,noting that he does much of his work there. When he's negotiating,such as on a fighter jet contract,Trump said,"calling from here and meeting here and having meetings on that contract,I think gives you great additional power,if you want to know the truth."
But Trump seems less focused on the potential downsides that the aura and symbolism a powerful office and a big desk can have,and its potential to make his staffers less willing to speak up,feel less relaxed in conversations and even have an effect on his own behaviour,too.
Meanwhile,negotiation experts suggest sitting across a desk or table from others conveys an oppositional approach — beneficial in certain negotiations designed to show who's boss,but less so when trying to compromise or work with people to come up with solutions to complex problems.
Writing in theHarvard Business Review,Ethan Burris (University of Texas,Austin) and James Detert (University of Virginia) argued last year that leaders often display subtle cues in their office — what social psychologist Richard Hackman called"ambient stimuli"— that"can cause employees to clam up",they wrote. When leaders are sitting behind a big oak desk,while an employee sits in a smaller chair,they wrote,"you're inadvertently telling him to watch his step around you". Sitting together on a sofa together,meanwhile,puts both people on a more level playing field.