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Ideas and Opinions from Donald Trump and The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative Instructors.
Consider This
If a baseball player hits .333 he’s had a great season--but it also means he failed to get a hit close to 70% of the time. I played baseball in college and I learned a lot about the game and about the importance of team work. I also learned that patience and timing are crucial.
That translated into business skills later on. I’m a firm believer that every experience has value if we choose to notice and take the lesson away with us. Not everything we do will be a hit, a home run or a grand slam. It just doesn’t work
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Tenacity
Henry Ford said “Don’t find a fault. Find a remedy.” That statement can cover a lot of territory in our business lives as well as personal lives. I have often said that one way out of a problem is to focus on the solution, which is a similar take. The next step is tenacity.
People who know me know that I don’t give up. I’m someone who stays the course and sometimes it can take decades. Trump Place on the Hudson River took many years to come into being, as it was in 1974 that I first secured the option to buy
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Serena Williams
I hated to see Serena Williams apologize so much for her actions in her recent loss to Kim Clijsters.
I have always liked Serena and respected her tenacity. She got angry at a line judge, as have many other great players like John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, because the line judge made a mistake--there was no foot fault! The line judge made a very evident mistake, and she is the one who should be apologizing. She had a smirk on her face and was being a wise guy. Serena was right to be upset, as would be any other player.
The backlash against
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A Lesson In Resilience
With so much being said about how bad things are, I’ve decided we need to accentuate the positive. There are always positives, and one reason I’ve remained resilient is because I choose to see the bright side of situations. People who know me and work with me know that my persona of optimism isn’t a façade--it’s for real.
I want to emphasize how valuable that approach is if you intend to be successful. Your attitude is also your altitude--and the higher your frequency, the greater your results will be. That doesn’t mean it will happen overnight.
As you might know by now, I
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Being Well Informed
I remember hearing someone say “I am not an intellectual, but I’m well informed” when they were talking about their interests, and I thought that statement was well put. People are surprised when they discover the variety of subjects I am interested in, but that comes with paying attention to newspapers, magazines, television coverage and the Internet. If you stop to consider how much information is given out on a daily basis, there’s very little reason not to be well informed.
Give yourself opportunities by refusing to limit yourself. I may be a businessman, but I attend concerts, read history books and
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The Death Penalty
When I read about Phillip Garrido and what he has done, it made me believe in the death penalty as never before. He is a monster who ruined a young girl's life and may have killed other women as well. His horrendous treatment of another human being shouldn't be taken lightly.
I don't understand people who don't condone the death penalty. There are people who obviously have no conscience and if they do, knowingly continue to commit crimes. They are obviously not capable of censoring themselves and any behavior is 'okay' as long as they get away with it. What Garrido has
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The Great Thing
The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand
as in what direction we are moving.
--Oliver Wendell Holmes
This quote brings home a powerful thought, and it has to do with circumstances. Many people are dealing with difficult circumstances now and it’s important to remember that it can be a temporary situation. As long as we keep moving forward, things are certain to change.
Keeping things in perspective is helpful. I have mentioned before that a fear should be labeled a concern, as that allows for more objectivity. I also ask myself, “is this a blip or is it
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Moving Your Ideas
We briefly discussed creative capital last week, and it’s a topic that deserves a bit more exploration. In essence, one way to become rich is to be able to move an idea into your asset column. Those people who have had an innovative idea and put it into production, whether it was for an automobile or for Post-Its, have been able to move that idea from “idea” to “asset” in a very big way.
A lot of great ideas get discarded before they are developed, and a lot of ‘great’ ideas deserve to be discarded before they take up too much time
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You Can Be in Charge
That’s an empowering thought. It’s also a real possibility. If it seems you are being thrown curveballs every day, that means it’s time for some strategy. In short, you need to be bigger than your problems in order to handle what’s being delivered.
Here are a few things to think about.
What is your creative capital? Many of us have hobbies, knowledge and experiences that can be turned into something useful in the marketplace. Give this some comprehensive thought. You probably have talents that could be further developed to create a career.
Are you lucky? Some people seem to be naturally lucky. Another definition
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Something New Every Day
I have often said that I learn something new every day, and recently I learned where the term “caddie” came from, which, as a golfer, I found to be of special interest. Golf originated in Scotland and Mary, who was later to become known as Queen of Scots, loved and played the game.
Louis, King of France, knew that Mary loved the game and so when she went to France as young girl he had a golf course built for her enjoyment, which was the first golf course outside of Scotland. As he was concerned for her safety, King Louis had cadets
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Curiosity
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that curiosity is a good way to stay stimulated and informed as well as young. Ever notice that children are curious about everything? That’s how they learn and the same thing should apply to adults.
People have often commented that I ask a lot of questions, which is true, and it’s one way I’ve learned a lot. I can remember when I was deciding on what type of bathroom sink to install in a new property, so I kept three samples on a sofa in my front offices. I would ask everyone who came
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Confidence
I can remember when someone asked me where my confidence came from. I thought for a moment and realized that a lot of it comes from discipline, and from having a firm foundation. My father always told me “Know everything you can about what you’re doing”-- in other words, cover your bases, be thorough. This sounds very simple but it was very good advice, and I have followed it. It has obviously worked, and I remain grateful to my father to this day. His advice and mentorship gave led to my entrepreneurship success.
Another thing about being thorough is that it can
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Additional Reading: The Thinker
We’re not going to be discussing Rodin and his famous statue today, but Edward de Bono. For those of you who aren’t familiar with him, de Bono is worth knowing about. He is an author, a physician, an inventor, an entrepreneur and a consultant. He has degrees in medicine, psychology, physiology, and design and holds many professorships throughout the world. He has written 62 books and he invented the term ‘lateral thinking’ with subsequent work on parallel thinking.
In using lateral thinking, you can provide a possible solution to problems through a creative and indirect approach. Trying harder and in the same
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Donald Trump's Summer Reading List for Business Success - Part 2
I learned a great deal about business and life from my father, Fred C. Trump. I learned from watching him and working with him. He was unable to attend college himself, so it meant even more to him for his children to be well educated and well read. I will always be grateful to him for emphasizing the importance of education, and reading is still an integral part of my daily life. To make sure it’s part of yours, here’s a list that has the variety that life presents to us. Being good at business means having a broad base of
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Strengths vs. Weaknesses: A Citizen's Duty
The New York Post ran an article on Monday about a letter I wrote to Governor David Paterson about his choice of a lieutenant governor. As a citizen, I felt it was my duty to point out a few things that I knew about the man he appointed, which included his strengths and weaknesses.
I decided this would be a good lesson in objective assessment for my readers at The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative. It’s always important to be circumspect when it comes to business, politics, and just about everything. I had carefully thought about the pros and cons before writing my letter, and realized
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Donald Trump Books for Summer Reading
Recently, I was asked to recommend a summer reading list from my own books. Over the years I’ve written a lot of business books and even one on golf. Why do I write? I’m a bit of a teacher by nature and I feel writing allows me to organize my thoughts and experiences in a way that I can provide lessons of wealth building wisdom in an easily accessible format. It is my sincere desire to help you by sharing my own experiences and life lessons and I hope you’ll take some time this summer to catch up on your reading.
What are your favorite
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Obama's First 100 Days: A Strong B+
On Wednesday morning I was on CNN to talk about President Obama’s first 100 days in office. I was quoted from my new book, Think Like a Champion, where I mention that Obama “will need to be a great president because we’re in serious trouble as a country. It hasn’t been this way since 1929. So he doesn’t have much choice--he will simply have to be great, which he has a very good chance of being.”
I was asked if he had lived up to the challenge. I said that he is working very very hard on many many fronts--it would be
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Champion Challenge from Donald J. Trump
I’ve decided that I would like to give you a challenge. My latest book is called Think Like a Champion, and if you haven’t read it yet, I would recommend that you do so as soon as possible. These are challenging times and all of us need to have as much training as possible to get through the race that lies ahead.
I signed some of my books for the purpose of sending a few to those of you who can tell me why you think you’re a champion-- how do you write a business plan for success? No doubt a lot
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Larry King Live and Direct
I visited Larry King Live on Wednesday night and we had a great visit, covering many topics. We talked about my new book Think Like a Champion, which also covers a wide variety of topics, from Obama, to Madoff, to pirates and prescience. To be a champion, as I told Larry, knowledge is important, and this book provides a solid step in that direction.
Here are a few highlights from our interview:
On real estate: I mentioned that this is a great time to buy real estate. However, banks are not doing their job. They’re not providing financing for deals. If the
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Champions Rise to the Challenge
I was recently interviewed for the New York Times by Deborah Solomon for their March 29th magazine. One of her questions was:
Your latest book of business advice is called “Think Like a Champion,” but isn’t it the American infatuation with thinking like a champion that got us into the financial mess?
My answer was: I would say no. I think it was the greed of a fairly small group of people that got us into this mess. The vast majority of people did not get us into trouble.
Last weekend, the Times had an article on Bob Newburger, who began his career on
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The Think Link
My new book, Think Like a Champion: An Informal Education in Business and Life will be coming out soon--on April 14th, to be exact. I’m excited about this book because as Robert Kiyosaki says, “it’s the perfect book at the perfect time.” I tend to agree, because one thing we all need now is some inspiration as well as motivation, and this book serves that purpose.
I start each topic covered with a quote, which has proven to be a popular approach. Some people who have skimmed the book mention that they love the quotes because they are diverse and cover the
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Hostages, Revolutions and Critics
Most uprisings and revolutions find their beginnings in injustice. The French and American revolutions are two examples, and we can trace this back to Greek history. Democracy started there. The people had a justified outrage and managed to change things.
Just recently in Paris, the French protested layoffs by barricading the director of a large company in his office and another similar incident happened at Sony in the South of France a couple of weeks ago. It seemed to work--after the ‘bossnapping’ occurred, Sony agreed to talk about severance packages. So far this is a revolt without violence, but it’s a barometer
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Business Has No Conscience. Yet.
Covering the issues last night with Larry King brought up some interesting points, which is one reason Larry is so good at what he does. At this time in history, it’s not that hard to find an outrage or two to talk about, but Larry is always spot-on about what’s going on and knows what to ask.
He asked me about the public anger over the AIG bonuses and if it is justified. I said the anger has been unbelievable, but what AIG did is very bad politics. In fact, to me it sounds absolutely insane and I think AIG has the
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Obama Is Absolutely Right
Last night I was on the air with Larry King who always has incisive questions. He asked me if Obama was right or wrong to go after these executives with salary caps--and I said he’s absolutely right. Billions of dollars are being given to banks, and once you start using taxpayer money, it’s a whole new ball game.
It’s not a game I’m enjoying watching. The banks are trying to shore up their balance sheets. They’re supposed to be loaning out that money and they’re using it for other purposes, so it is a real mess.
Everyone wants to blame the United States,
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A New Year's Observation
It takes all kinds. That’s something we’ve noticed in the past year in the news, with Bernard Madoff topping it off. We have a saying in construction when the structure of a building is completed--a ‘topping off party’ to signify the top floor has been put in place. Somehow, the past year got its own topping off party but not in the best sense.
My opinion is that we should all try to be grateful. There’s a lot to be thankful for and being positive is certainly more productive than being negative. But I have to say I got another surprise
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Loyalty and Kelly Preston
I have always respected people who were loyal and faithful--which brings to mind Kelly Preston. A long time ago, before I was married, I met Kelly Preston at a club and worked like hell to try and pick her up. She was beautiful, personable, and definitely had allure. At the time I had no idea she was married to John Travolta.
In any event, my track record on this subject has always been outstanding, but Kelly wouldn’t give me the time of day. She was very nice, very elegant, but I didn’t have a chance with her, and that was that.
When I
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Painfully Blunt or Just Honest?
I was interviewed by Neil Cavuto of Fox News and he announced that it was the most ticked off he’d seen me in the twenty years he’s been interviewing me. I’d say I was being blunt, which is typical for me, and Neil said I was painfully blunt. Well, these are painful times, and I’m not running for any political office so I can afford to be honest.
We covered the situation in New York, and the 137 proposed tax hikes by Governor Paterson. These tax hikes include non-diet soda and massages. Meantime, we’ve spent a trillion dollars in Iraq. And now
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Americans and Religion
I know it’s never safe to talk about religion and politics, but it certainly hasn’t stopped me before.
Are you religious? There’s a good chance you don’t practice the same faith you were raised in. Perhaps you’ve either switched allegiances or abandoned religion altogether.
When it comes to faith, nearly half of Americans have changed faiths or given up. It’s no surprise since we’re a society that’s used to change - whether in careers or where we live or in our personal lives. Religion is just one more thing we alter.
Some people are saying the religious economy is like a competitive marketplace. There
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Somali Pirates to Acquire Citigroup: A Cliff Notes Summary of Our Times
My friend Tom Barrack of Colony Capital sent me a recent article of his with the headline Today’s Debt is Equity plus A Few Suggestions to Help President-Elect Obama Ease the Pain. He bullet pointed the latest events pertaining to the economy--twenty two of them--and I realized that at any other time, just a few of these would be huge topics in themselves. It’s a good indication of how alert we need to be right now.
His Cliff Notes summary: Real estate is experiencing a seismic liquidity shock as a result of a complete closure of the credit and capital markets for
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Inside City Hall Part 2
The second half of my interview with Dominic Carter brought up some interesting points. Being a New York based television show, he asked me what I thought of Governor Patterson, the Governor of New York. As I’ve gotten to know him, I can say he’s smart, sharp and street-wise, and I expect that he will handle the problems that this state has for him and very well.
Dominic did a word-association test on me with some well-known names in New York (and nationwide for that matter), and here were some of my comments:
Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City: Michael Bloomberg
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Golden Goggles
Last week I had the privilege of presenting Michael Phelps with the Male Athlete of the Year award. Along with former Olympian Don Schollander, I enjoyed reviewing some of the great moments of the Beijing Olympics. Of course, Phelps and his eight gold epic is one of the greatest achievements in the history of sport.
There were four candidates for this award, which Don and I covered for the ceremony. For those of you who may not know who Don Schollander is, he was the nation’s most celebrated athlete in 1964. He was on the cover of Life Magazine as the
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Case In Point: Global Facts
Since I often emphasize the importance of being aware on a global level, I was reminded by a chapter in my book with Robert Kiyosaki, Why We Want You To Be Rich, which came out in 2006. In this chapter I gave some facts about China and India that illustrate why I stress knowing something about other countries should be a priority.
These two facts alone about China were a clear indication of how that country is doing:
The first Starbucks opened in China in 2004. There are now more Starbucks in China than in the United States.
In the 1970’s, Shanghai had exactly
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Guess? Success Teaches Lessons in Leadership
Once again my very smart friend Tom Barrack of Colony Capital sent me one of his essays that was based on his pondering over a way “to chart a path to lead our team and our investors out of this jungle” in reference to what’s been going on with the economy. He found the answer while talking with one of his friends, Paul Marciano, the CEO of Guess?, Inc. Paul and his brothers are self-made and have built Guess into one of the most well-known fashion brands in the world.
He asked Paul what his insights were on the economy, and because
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Barack Obama Election Ushers in A Different World
This week I was interviewed by Dominic Carter of New York 1, on his program called Inside City Hall. New York 1 is an all-news program that is popular in New York City, and Dominic Carter is someone I have a great deal of respect for. He should have a national show, but then New York would miss out on his full time and dynamic presence here. He describes me as “a man not known for keeping his opinions to himself” and the interview spanned two consecutive nights.
On Tuesday night we covered some interesting topics. Dominic asked about the election
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A Great Coach
It was a few years ago, probably in 2005, that I received a phone call from Coach Mike Leach, calling to say how much he liked my books because they were inspirational. As I follow college football, I knew that he was the coach for Texas Tech, and a great one at that. We had a conversation and I realized we shared a few things in common as far as motivation and focus go, and we’ve stayed in touch. Just last week I appeared on ESPN for his weekend game against the University of Texas (currently #1). Coach Leach invited me
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Record-breaking voter registration and voter turnout expected
Because of all the excitement and interest surrounding this year’s presidential primaries, voter registration figures are way up. Numbers are up for women, young people, and nearly every ethnic group. They’re up in rural and urban areas, in the North and in the South.
Record-breaking turnouts are expected at the polls on November 4. The boards of elections all over the country are recruiting and hiring plenty of extra workers to handle the expected long lines as people show up to cast their votes.
Even before the final presidential contenders were decided, nearly one in 65 adult Americans signed up to vote in
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Critics
I’ve had my fill of naysayers and critics. To me it’s a negative approach that doesn’t serve any purpose. Here’s a quote by Theodore Roosevelt that I keep handy because it’s so right on:
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena: whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again...
who knows the great enthusiasms, the
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Asking Questions
People who are around me will often comment that I ask a lot of questions--all the time. One reason is that I want to know as much as I can about everything, Another reason is sometimes I need to know how much or how little someone else knows. But mostly it’s because I’m curious.
A few years ago I received a letter from my kindergarten teacher. I can remember her, and she obviously remembered me. She told me in her letter that I asked more questions than any student she’d ever had in her entire career as a teacher, which spanned several decades
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An Early Thanksgiving
On the day before the Rosh Hashanah holiday each year for the past eighteen years, I receive a message from a Rabbi in Los Angeles. I am not Jewish but have many observant Jews who work for me, so I am well aware of the holiday schedule and that Rosh Hashanah is their New Year, a time for celebration.
I find his message of thanks to be especially resonant because he and his wife lost their son years ago, yet they call to remind themselves (and me) of the many blessings they’ve had in life. The reason the Rabbi calls me every
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Presidential List
I read an article recently that made a lot of sense to me. Doris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize winner for her books on history, and she made a list of ten points that are important for a President to consider and to emulate if they hoped to be great. She has written books about Abraham Lincoln and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and she believes leadership strengths should be considered carefully before voting. Here are some of the attributes that she feels make for a great leader--and I agree!
1. The courage to stay strong.
This means a President needs to be able
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John Edwards: Another Politician, Another Scandal
Another politician, another scandal. Former presidential candidate John Edwards admitted he had an affair several years ago - a relationship he vehemently denied when he was campaigning. There are, of course, all sorts of issues here.
Some people question whether a candidate’s personal life really matters. They think what he does in his personal life doesn’t affect his ability to lead. Still others question whether the media pursued this story as diligently as they should have.
But you can also look at it from a business viewpoint. What happens when one of an organization’s most visible members is caught up in a situation
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Times Are Good
You’re probably wondering what I’m talking about when you see that headline. But I’m talking about what’s happening today, now, in the U.S. I say that times are good because there are still plenty of opportunities out there. In fact I’m a little tired of the negative cloud we seem to be under these days.
Difficult doesn’t necessarily mean negative. Challenging doesn’t have to be negative either. There are ups and downs in every aspect of life and business, and as someone who has survived some major financial upheavals and losses, I think I have some insights to share with you about
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A Challenging Olympics
I love the Olympics. It’s amazing to watch the world’s greatest athletes all take the same playing field together.
Like so many time before, these Beijing Olympics have been wrought with controversy. Many people feel that President Bush should not have agreed to attend the opening ceremonies. They think that boycotting the event would’ve shown his concern about China’s horrid human rights’ record. But he said not attending would’ve been an affront to the Chinese people and he felt no need to connect the athletic event and politics.
Both Barack Obama and John McCain have echoed the calls of human rights groups, saying
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Smiling can hurt your health
What do you do when you’re on the job and someone insults you - whether it’s your boss or a coworker or even a client? Most people just grin and bear it, even though it can eat them up inside.
It’s no surprise, but a German scientist has proven that people forced to smile and take on-the-job insults suffer long-lasting stress that may harm their health.
In the study of 4,000 people, half were allowed to respond to abuse while the other half had to suck it up. Those people who weren’t allowed to answer back had terrible stress as compared to those
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Father's Day Advice from My Father
Sunday is Father’s Day which, of course, always makes me think of my dad, Fred C. Trump.
I learned a lot from my father, especially about business. Probably the best advice I ever had came from him. He had a four-step formula for getting things done: Get in. Get it done. Get it done right. And Get out.
Simple, concise, and it works.
The other thing my father told me was to “know everything you can about what you’re doing.” I’ve followed that advice too, and I think it’s apparent that it works. I’m very thorough, as he was, and it can save you
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High Self-Esteem Isn't Always Healthy?
Personally, I’ve never had a problem with self-esteem. I always say that you have to believe in yourself or no one else will.
Now a new study has come out suggesting that high self-esteem isn’t necessarily healthy. The researchers, who of course are psychologists, say that sometimes people who are overly confident and proud of themselves can lash out at other people and believe that everyone else is wrong except them.
They concluded that there was “good” high self-esteem and “bad” high self-esteem. With the good people well-grounded and the bad ones too aggressive and defensive.
That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense
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Too Competitive = Bad News for Democrats
Competition is almost always a good thing. It usually brings out the best in a person or a business if they know they are battling for a job or a client. They know they can’t win by being complacent.
But in the Democratic primary, the competition between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama may be hurting both candidates as well as their own party.
Because the fight between the two of them is, at times, getting so dirty, voters are getting turned off. Their supporters are so firmly camped in their own candidate’s court that many of them wouldn’t switch loyalties to the other
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The Race for Vice-President
With the Democratic presidential nomination far from decided, the candidates were jockeying a little bit recently, talking about a “dream ticket.”
Hillary Clinton said she’d consider naming Barack Obama as her vice-president when she gets the nomination, but she’s nowhere near a shoo-in. For his part, Obama said he’s just focused on winning the nomination, although at least one member of his team said Clinton would make a good vice-president. (I know Hillary and I think she’d make a great president or vice-president.)
It’s interesting to see what the candidates are doing. They’re playing the same kind of power games that you see
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Attractive People Inspire More Teamwork
If you are running a business or even conducting a meeting, here’s the business plan for success. Have a lot of attractive people around.
New research proves that people naturally work harder when they’re around a good-looking person. There’s an inherent desire to be near beautiful people and to please them. So when an attractive person asks for help, most people will jump at the opportunity.
Apparently that’s why football teams with handsome quarterbacks tend to be so successful. And, in office environments, that’s why bosses are smart when they put a great-looking man or woman in charge of leading an important project.
We
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The Art of Negotiation
Negotiating is an art. There are nuances and finely honed techniques and rules to be aware of. Here are a few of them:
Know what you’re doing. Sounds simple, but I’ve seen a lot of instances where I couldn’t believe how much the other side didn’t know. I immediately knew I could have a grand slam and fast, just based on their apparent lack of preparation. My father used to tell me, “Know everything you can about what you’re doing.” He was absolutely right, and I’m giving you the same advice. Follow it.
Remember, it takes a lot of smarts to play dumb
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Connect the Dots
We’ve all heard the saying “connect the dots.” I see it as having enough knowledge to be able to connect the dots in a reasonable and informed way.
In a conversation I was having a few years ago, one guy mentioned that the Trump name had become a famous brand around the world. Then he added, “What’s in a name?” and sort of laughed and then said to me, “In your case, a lot!”
I noticed that another man seemed out of the loop about the quip. So I said “That’s Shakespeare. ‘What’s in a name’ is a famous line from Shakespeare.&rdquo
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The Trump Dynasty
“Tenacity is absolutely necessary for success” - Meredith McIver
Don Trump Jr. started at the Trump Organization the same month I did, which was September of 2001. I remember being impressed by how unassuming he was as well as how diligent he was. Not that I should be surprised, because he has his father’s work ethic to the core. He’s a serious businessman who takes on a lot of responsibility and doesn’t expect any breaks because of his family heritage. If anything, he has more responsibility, which he handles with aplomb. He is mature beyond his years.
A few years later, Ivanka Trump
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Look Adversity in the Eye and Keep Winning
Ambitious people don’t go looking for trouble. But they really know how to handle it when it comes along.
Look at Jet Blue CEO David Neeleman. He certainly didn’t want his airline to make front-page news a few months ago when a customer-service disaster struck. And I don’t think that Martha Stewart enjoyed being accused of insider trading. (Unjustly, in my opinion.)
But David and Martha certainly knew what to do when trouble knocked at the door. That ability is not innate. It is learned. You can only cultivate it by fighting through at least one major difficulty. Or often, quite a few
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Office Romances
This season on The Apprentice, two of the candidates - Tim and Nicole - had what I guess you would call “an office romance.” The romance ended up hurting Tim because he couldn’t figure out if his loyalties were to Nicole or to his team. Plus he couldn’t really concentrate on what he was doing.
That’s the risk you take when you mix business with pleasure. It certainly makes the workplace more interesting for you, but rarely does it make you a better employee.
A recent survey found that at least 60 percent of workers have had an office romance. That’s a lot
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Do You Have the Capital to Start a Business of Your Own?
It takes capital to start a new enterprise. Yet capital is more than just money. It comes in several other important varieties too:
Intellectual capital is made up of the experience, knowledge and skills that reside in your startup team. Groups with rich intellectual capital have tremendous collective energy. They can accomplish far more than the same individuals ever could on their own.
Social capital embodies all the professional, personal and social contacts that serve as resources to you and to your team. As the old saying goes, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Even though that saying
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Face Your Accusers! A Lesson from the Apprentice Finale
It was a great Apprentice season. I kept learning important lessons, right up to the finale last night from The Hollywood Bowl.
In my post this morning, I’d like to analyze the videos that Stefani and James screened last night for Mr. Trump - the ones that were supposed to prove they were the strongest contenders to become his next Apprentice.
James produced a pretty strong video to argue his case to win. It pointed up the fact that he came to America as an immigrant from South Korea and that he was living the American dream of success. His video also
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Family Leave
For more than a decade, the Family and Medical Leave Act has allowed parents to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for the birth of a child, to deal with serious illness, or to care for a relative - all while still keeping their jobs.
Supporters of the bill have been trying to expand the law, hoping to make some of that paid time-off.
However, it looks like there are some plans to actually scale back family leave. Some business groups say that the law is abused.
It’s OK, they say, to take time off for pregnancy or cancer treatment. But
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The Front Office
I’ve been working in the front office of The Trump Organization since September of 2001. My office is just outside of Mr. Trump’s, and the acoustics are perfect for hearing everything that goes on. It also helps that Mr. Trump rarely closes his door, and that he doesn’t use an intercom.
People often ask me what it’s like here, in this rarefied environment, made more famous because of The Apprentice, which brought the workings of The Trump Organization to public interest. My first response is that it’s loud. That was one of my first impressions when I started to work here
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An Apprentice Lesson: Risk-Takers Always Win
Now that this season’s final Apprentice task has been completed, everybody seems to be asking who the strongest candidate is. But I would like to ask a slightly different question:
Which candidate grew the most during the season?
To me, that’s a more interesting question. And I think that the answer is pretty clear. Actually, there are two answers, because Frank and James showed the greatest growth this season. I don’t think it is a coincidence that they also are now part of the final four.
If you think back to the early episodes this season, you will remember that James brought amazing
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Wrestling
Recently I did something that was totally out of character for me. I always talk about taking chances - whether in business or in life -- and this time I really took a big one. I agreed to take part in a huge WWE wrestling extravaganza, headed up by an amazing man named Vince McMahon. He can put on a show the likes of which I’ve never seen.
For this so-called Battle of the Billionaires, a record 81,000 people filled the football stadium where the Detroit Lions play. Vince and I handpicked wrestlers to represent us in the ring. If his guy,
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Build Your Personal Brand
Your brand is how people think of you. Tom Peters says that “a brand is a trust mark, it’s shorthand, it’s a sorting device.” Think of the well-known brands that you know - Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dell computers, iPods - all of them are shorthand for a product. When you think cola, you probably think Coke or Pepsi. When you think computers, Dell probably comes to mind. When you think portable music players, iPod is probably at the top of the list. Some brands are so strong that they have become a generic name for a type of product - think Aspirin, the
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Never Lie! (What I Learned from Last Night's Apprentice)
In the final moments of last night’s episode, we all saw Heidi come apart at the seams. It was hard to believe that we were watching the same woman who was such a consistent winner in the early episodes this season.
That, for me, showcased the fact that it only takes one little lie to start the downfall of a career. Just one small fib took Heidi through this wrenching sequence:
Denial. When Mr. Trump attacked her team’s brochure for being ugly and over-packed with text, Heidi impulsively tried to blame her teammate Frank for it. A complete absurdity, since the brochure was
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Experience vs. Education
I talk a lot about education because I think a good college education can really take you far in life. At the same time, however, some people are incredibly book smart but are clueless when they deal with the real world. Others are street smart but can’t handle anything other than what they’re accustomed to.
A couple seasons ago, we based an entire season of The Apprentice on this premise, pitting highly educated candidates against those with less formal schooling. In the end, we discovered that the key to success was experience, not education. Learning how to write a business plan isn’t
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Cast Your BR!CK Awards Vote to Support Young Entrepreneurs
If you read this blog often, you know that The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative supports student entrepreneurs.
I’d like to offer you an opportunity to support them too, by clicking here now to cast your vote for one of the finalists in this year’s BR!CK Awards competition. All the contestants are young leaders whose ideas have the potential to improve the world. The winner you select will receive financial backing, legal assistance and other benefits. The winner will be announced in the BR!CK AWARDS ceremony that will be telecast live on The CW on April 10 from 9:00 - 10:00 PM ET.
I don’t want to
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Let Your People Shine: What I Learned from this Week's Apprentice
Talented individuals are the driving force behind a good company. They’re the difference between high performance and mediocrity.
As a manager, you need to surround yourself with the best people. But you have to do something else too . . .
You have to let them shine
I liked the fact that James was confident enough in himself to do just that with his team this week. It was clear that Tim and Nicole knew just how to handle production and post-production. So James let them run with it - and he then wasn’t afraid to pay them kudos where it was due.
Managers, especially new
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When You Really Have to Say, "You're Fired!"
Although it’s become one of my signatures, firing people is not something I enjoy doing. In reality, I’d rather hire really great employees in the first place so that firing them is something I never plan on doing.
But in reality, managers are often placed in tough situations when they have to let underperforming employees go. Since most people don’t have the benefit of a boardroom and cameras following their staff around, it’s not always easy to know what to say or how to do it. So let me offer some tips.
First, never fire someone when you’re angry or when other workers
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What I Learned from Last Night's Apprentice
I learned a lot about leadership from Surya last night. But they were lessons about negative leadership.
Let’s be truthful. Every time Surya led his team this season, he did a pretty bad job. He had no connection to the members of his team. He filled whole whiteboards with strange notes while everybody on his team made faces behind his back. He rambled when he talked. He actually disappeared on a few occasions, forcing the people who reported to him to improvise.
But last night we all learned that Surya saw himself as an fine leader who was responsible for his team’s
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Too Much Self-Esteem?
Recently, a new study found that today’s college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than ever before. The psychologists who conducted the research blamed the trend, in part, to the fact that the current generation of American parents are constantly telling their children how wonderful they are the whole time they’re growing up.
“We need to stop endlessly repeating ‘You’re special’ and having children repeat that back,” said lead author Jean Twenge of San Diego State University.
It’s not that we don’t want our children to think that they’re special. It’s just that we give them such an inflated sense of
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The Earlier, the Better
If you’re an ambitious student or if you know one, the time to start a business is now!
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the three winners of the first Most Promising Campus CEO Contest. They are Catherine Cook (first place), Corey Kossack (second) and Seth Flowerman (third). Catherine, a high school senior, is founder of myYearbook.com. With 1.7 million members only two years after going live, myYearbook.com is one of the fastest-growing sites on the Internet. You can read more about Catherine and all the finalists by clicking here.
Why did I put so much effort behind the contest?
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State the Obvious: What I Learned from The Apprentice this Week
People engaged in some truly bizarre behavior on The Apprentice this week.
Both teams toured the malls where they would stage their Priceline.com promotions. Both teams noticed that many of the consumers in those malls were Spanish-speaking. But not one person on either team took the obvious step of saying, “Look, we need Spanish-speaking presenters here. Let’s hire some!”
Everybody saw the challenge, but nobody spoke up - not one person. That is incredible to me. And by the time Aimee’s team got to the boardroom firing, team behavior had become even more bizarre. Aimee said that she noticed that many of
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How to Win a Boardroom Brawl
Reflections on The Apprentice Episode Six
Something incredible happened in last night’s episode. After Aimee and her team lost their task, she got together with Jenn, another member of her team - and revealed her plan to attack Jenn in the boardroom the next day! And then Jenn, who was probably trying to be honorable, said, “Well if you say that bad thing about me, then I am going to say this about you.” And she laid out her entire strategy. During that conversation, they both gave away any competitive advantage that they might have enjoyed in the boardroom firing session. And
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What You Can Learn from Last Night's Apprentice
With this blog post, The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative welcomes Sean Yazbeck, winner of The Apprentice Season Five, as a new The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative instructor. Let’s hear Sean’s views on last night’s episode.
The leaders of both teams faced a deceptively simple task last night. What could be more straightforward than putting honey in bottles and selling it? Yet both Aaron and Aimee, leaders of the Arrow and Kinetic teams, proved too weak to lead their teams to achieve optimal results.
Here are the lessons that you and I can take away and apply in our own careers.
Great leaders exert firm control ... but flexibly
Aaron was just
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An Apprentice Lesson in Leadership
Recently on The Apprentice, I had to ask a member of the winning team Kinetic to volunteer to go to the losing team, Arrow.
I was mildly surprised when I saw how many people were willing to risk making the move. Instead of staying on the safe winning team, they offered to move to the other team which was, pretty much, a wreck.
I think it showed how many people were good leaders and wanted to show off their abilities. As long as they were on the winning team they couldn’t take a leadership role. On the losing team, there was more of
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Managing Difficult People
One of the biggest challenges candidates face on The Apprentice is managing difficult teammates. Even the most talented of project managers often struggles when he or she has to lead individuals who are disliked or disruptive. It drains energy from the rest of the group and it can make the work environment a divisive one.
Recently, a combative candidate Marisa was blamed for the downfall of her winning team. She fought ... perhaps too strongly ... for her own ideas and, in the process, alienated and annoyed the rest of her teammates. When it came time to point fingers for the team’s
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The Apprentice: What I Learned from Episode Three
Talking to your customers is the real secret of career success
The contestants had a pretty simple task last night. They only had to organize sightseeing tours of Hollywood on double-decker buses. I could execute that task by myself in an hour or two, and I bet you could too.
So why did the contestants engage in such bizarre behavior? Michelle was trying to dodge blame again this week by refusing to make a decision of any kind. And Tim, once his team’s bus tour got underway, picked up a microphone and told a busload of nice-looking school kids exactly how John Belushi
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When I Say, "You're Hired!"
The essentials of building a great staff
One of the keys to being a great leader is the ability to delegate. For some strong people, that’s not an easy thing to do. It’s often difficult to relinquish the reins because you want to make sure things are done correctly. Many people adamantly believe the adage, “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”
But executives and managers and leaders of any kind are too busy to tend to every detail so delegation is crucial. However, in order to assign tasks to others, you have to really trust those who
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Extreme Jobs
So you think your job is tough?
A new study in the Harvard Business Review estimates that 1.7 million Americans now hold extreme jobs. They define --extreme-- as any job that requires at least 60 hours of work each week, as well as all kinds of other work-related commitments.
More than half of the top income earners in the United States work more than 70 hours a week. Nearly half say they are working 16 hours a week more than they did just five years ago.
Not only do they work long hours, but these top earners have to travel for their jobs
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How to Think and Act Like the Best CEO
22 Vital Traits You Need to Be the Person at the Top
Be secure in yourself: No one makes you feel inferior without your consent.
Be in control of your attitude: Success in business is based more on mental attitude than mental capabilities
Be tenacious: Nothing ever happens with one letter, one telephone call, one request.
Be continuously improving: Take risks. Mistakes provide some of your best learning.
Be honest and ethical: If you are careless with the truth, your credibility will be jeopardized when you are telling the truth.
Be sure to think before you talk: Think fast, pause, then speak purposefully.
Be original: Carefully observe what
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The Apprentice: What I Learned from Episode Two
Last night's episode taught important lessons about risks, responsibility and teams. But the most important lesson I took away was this:
To get to the top, you have to make decisions
Plenty of decisions were made on last night's show. Some were good, but many were bad. Let's take a closer look.
First, Michelle made a non-decision. Early in the episode, she refused to make a decision about how to price her team's swimwear line. She obviously had ideas about what those prices should have been, but she clammed up and waited for other people to make the decision for her. She apparently
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Britney Spears
Recently, I took Britney Spears to task for getting a little too wild after she announced that she and her husband are separating. She's been constantly partying every night and she was photographed - more often than not - without underwear.
Several celebrities have followed my lead and have chastised Britney for her behavior.
Singer Courtney Love - of all people - suggested that Britney should stay at home more to look after her children. Former supermodel Janice Dickinson suggested that Britney should --buckle down and become a parent.-- Bette Midler even went so far as to call her names that I don't
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The Apprentice: What I Learned from Episode One
Only minutes into the season's first episode last night, Donald J. Trump stunned the contestants by asking them to build a tent in the backyard of his LA mansion. He hardly knew the contestants - they had only given him their names and professional credentials. He hadn't even divided them into teams.
They were probably expecting a task like those that the teams tackled last year, like launching a new video game in a WalMart or planning a charity fundraiser. Instead, they faced a cardboard box packed with a canvas tent and tent poles. They looked as stunned and confused as steers
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Rosie
Lots of people have been asking me why I took such a harsh stand on Rosie O'Donnell.
I own the Miss USA pageant and had a Miss USA who is a very lovely girl, Tara Conner.
She had some problems because she was drinking too much. It was causing lots of difficulties but I decided to give Tara a second chance. She's right now in rehab and she's doing fine.
Rosie O'Donnell, however, didn't like that I gave Tara a second chance. She went on television and the venom came pouring out. A friend of mine called and said, --Boy does she hate you.--
I've
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The Apprentice and Beyond
Entrepreneurial wisdom from Apprentice finalist Andrea Lake
We kick off our extensive coverage of the new Apprentice season with this interview of one of last season's top contenders. Be sure to watch the first episode of the new season this Sunday on NBC, 9/8c.
On the last season of The Apprentice, Andrea Lake was the cool, confident, self-possessed competitor who made it into the final six. In real life, Andrea is a highly successful entrepreneur who had already founded highly successful companies before the showbecame part of her life.
In this conversation with The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative's Barry Lenson, Andrea talks openly about what she
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Think Like a Winner in 2007
Words of Wisdom from the New Book, Trump 101
Donald J. Trump, Chairman of The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative, knows that success begins in your own mind. So as the year 2007 begins, I'd like to offer you his thoughts on success, taken from the pages of his new book, Trump 101.
--Ask yourself whether you're doing what you want and what is right for you.--
--Be positive every day. If you're not, no one will think you can succeed.--
--Believe in yourself, exude confidence, and get in your competitors' way. Project yourself into their picture and upset their status quo.--
--Break loose from your comfort zone by moving
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Welcome to the Trump Advantage Club: The Resources of the Ultra-Rich are Now Available to You
This morning, it is my pleasure to invite you to become a Charter Member of The Trump Advantage Club. Like everything we offer at The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative, it is unique, new, and extremely high in value.
We started developing the idea for The Trump Advantage Club more than a year ago when Donald J. Trump challenged us to build an exclusive club where members could learn the secrets of accruing significant wealth - but without restrictive membership fees or other obstacles that would keep people out.
Would the business model work? As we crunched the numbers and refined the concept, we discovered that it
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Why It Is Better to Forgive
We stand with our Chairman Donald J. Trump and his decision to pardon Tara Connor, Miss USA, after she broke pageant rules by partying too hard in New York City. As you know, his decision has caused white-hot controversy in the media and on this blog.
When you cut through all the media frenzy, it all comes down to one simple thing. Ms. Connor was a young woman who made bad decisions, and Donald J. Trump pardoned her and gave her another chance instead of stripping her of her title.
I'd like to cut through even more of the hype this morning, by
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Get Right to the Point
A Special Holiday Message to Friends Everywhere
Donald J. Trump, as well as all of the instructors and administration of The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative, join me in wishing you the most joyous of holidays. May your time with your family and loved ones bejoyful - and may your New Year be prosperous too.
Looking forward to every success in 2007,
Michael Sexton, President, The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative
Critical advice on successfromthe new book, Trump 101
I once hired a very qualified young man. I expected him to be great. But boy, was I ever wrong. This guy took so long to explain everything that I began to dread talking with
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