Hey guys, back for another episode of Real Donald Trump Wisdom.
So we're Friday at Trump Tower.
This is basically lessons from The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump's first book, published
in 1987.
Here, so the last day of that week, the first lesson is to create a compelling spectacle
and know how to entertain.
Basically Trump confirms his intuition by reading the morning's paper.
He sees that the concrete pouring at Wilmer and committed to the headline of the New York
Times.
Second one is, when attempting to secure a deal, first highlight the points that the
other party will like.
So he's talking with the city planners for part of the, to get approvals on the Hudson
Yard deals that he's owned on the land that he has basically.
And he's, his negotiator is highlighting the positives, the things that he knows the city
council will appreciate.
And they're all mentioning the more edgy points, which is the height of the building.
So like, say he needs to get the approval, he's going to go just put the emphasis on
the things that are kind of reassuring for the person he's talking to.
He mentions that one of his colleagues has a big mouth and that she's a great saleswoman
because of that.
So essentially being able to talk, being comfortable talking is a skill that can help in securing
sales, maybe more on the pipeline side, or it can get you to generate leads.
And then for sure on the closing side, sometimes you have to know when to stop when you secure
the deal and maybe not over talking to them, but in general, being comfortable talking
is a skill that can help you in the sales process.
So right, either generating leads and potentially getting through the close.
But of course, you have to balance that with knowing when you achieved your aim as well.
Right.
So Trump, we can see in his negotiations styles, he can be very, very verbose in general.
He does have a lot to say, but he doesn't say more than he tends to say.
So he can't really be cornered.
He says exactly what he means, doesn't give more information unless he chooses to do it.
So he's not going to talk to Phil or kill time.
He's going to end his statement when he ends it.
So of course, you have to know when to end a statement.
So this is kind of a double-edged sword.
He compliments his colleague for having a big mouth, but you have to know when to stop.
But in general, the ease of talking is conducive to a broader pipeline and to more sales.
In general, it's good to cultivate great relationships for character references and with people you
sincerely admire.
So Trump is applying for a casino license in Nevada and he needs character references.
He's going to include the cardinal with which he had dinner the previous day and people
high up in the US military that he admires.
I think he mentioned in general.
So you see he had a reverence for people of high integrity in historic institutions and
he cultivated good relationships with them and he feels that they can vouch for his character.
So of course, this is the long game.
Want to have good relationships with people in general, but especially with people that
you admire.
So don't hesitate to start engaging in that process to have people you admire you back.
Be efficient.
So Trump has a lot of things to do.
Basically, he has to sign up the papers for his gaming license and his wife is coming
to let him know that they have to go to school to confirm a school fair with their daughter.
And Trump has to leave within three minutes.
So he just signs his documents and goes, but this is something that you have to keep in
mind, especially for young parents out there.
Having kids or being in a married life is a commitment that requires time, of course,
that often isn't planned.
And things that you can schedule, per se, it's the spontaneous nature of a close knit
nuclear family.
And for that, you have to be extremely efficient.
It forces you, I think, when you switch from the younger days, say to them, the college
life or the single life to the committed married parent life.
You have to be more efficient with your work.
You have to get more things done quick.
You have to work smart because you have commitments that will surprise you and that will take
a lot of time.
So you'll have to get a lot more work done in much shorter periods.
So it's a good thing you have to get ready for that, but you'll be forced to do that
sooner or later when you hit that stage.
And Trump demonstrates that he has to be like he basically has.
He's happy to go with his wife, of course.
He is a good parent.
But here that demonstrates that even for high stakes things, there is less time.
And so he has to be quick and efficient.
Here are just a quick side note on Trump's preferences.
He says that he prefers earth tones to primary colors for basically for indoor decorations.
And you can see in at Mar-a-Lago or Trump Tower, the tones of the marble is usually
very neutral days usually.
So as he says in his own words, they prefer earth tones to primary colors.
So a little note on the aesthetics that he prefers.
Now we turn to real estate development.
The kneeling cost is the name of the game.
He is very cost conscious, right?
Because let's see, there is an estimate for how much he can sell the apartment.
And the thing he has to make sure that he controls to protect his profit margin is the
cost.
And so he's extremely diligent about costs.
And he calls the contractor on one of his projects because there is an overrun and he
feels that it isn't exactly going as planned.
So he speaks directly to the owner slash manager and makes him understand that if it's not
up to standard, he's going to lose his business and he'll never hire him again.
Essentially he's telling him that a lot of people are competing to get business from
him and that he trusted this contractor and he expects him to get the job done on time
and on budget.
And so here, I guess the two lessons you can walk away with is if you want your case to
be handled with more expediency and competence, speak to the owner manager directly.
This is going to usually make the professionals in front of you to kind of treat you or treat
your demand with more expediency.
And secondly, it's that you have to be willing to walk away.
And when you show that you can have business elsewhere, that you can give your business
elsewhere, this gives you an extra credibility and an extra incentive for them to work hard
to keep you.
And it goes also in many other areas of life to show that you're not taken for granted.
That your business, that your presence, that your goodwill shouldn't be taken for granted.
And that hits a tone.
And finally, Trump calls the second in command, so let's say a mid-level staff and tells
him the high expectations set by his own manager and owner at project initiation.
Basically, he's telling him how high of an expectation is, what are the standards that
his own manager is expecting and how much quality is part of the initial agreement,
let's say the SLA or the service that was expected.
And then by placing it from the prism of the manager, the second person in command understands,
let's say manager owner, so his boss basically, the person doing the execution understands
the level of expectation.
It's only coming from the client, but it's coming from his higher ups.
Then there's a double incentive to get things right.
And of course, in general, you want things to be win-win.
So you remind the other party where you are and potentially will continue to be a great
partner for business.
So you're not necessarily, you indicate that you want to do more business contingent on
a good job being done, but you also remind them that you can potentially do a lot more
business.
There is again, an extra incentive or an implied reward.
Of course, there's no commitment, and it's clear that you're not committing, but that
potentially if they surprise you, impress you with the work done, there's much more
in the pipeline.
And this is a great way to have your contractors really or your vendors or people you do business
with really want to outdo themselves to impress you and be the one on the next job.
The next lesson is be determined and unfazed by corporate scare tactics.
So holiday in board that Trump is slowly building position and significant potential one to
acquire is introducing a poison pill, which is a provision that makes it harder for outsiders
to gain control of the company.
Trump is not kind of fazed by that.
So he understands the process, what they're trying to do, but he is more matter of fact,
it's like mind over matter type of philosophy that if he is basically is not giving up the
determination and we can see it in his pursuit for the presidency, that it's not what these
so called experts say it's not what a written document says it's not what a quote unquote
is so called institution of various types says.
But it's kind of really when there's a will there's a way.
And in that sense, he's really not fazed by the kind of judicial corporate tactic used
to prevent a takeover.
He understands what it is like his investment bankers advising him of course, he understands
what's going on, but he's unfazed and he still feels like if he wants to eventually
take ownership, he's going to do it.
And we have to learn from that to keep the determination.
Of course, you have to within the bounds of physics.
But as Elon Musk says, boil it down to physics, right?
He can do something.
If it's physically possible, he believes it's physically possible.
Right?
So he's not fazed by what a document is going to say, for example.
Just speak up your mind.
So the colleague that he has, who's a bit verbose and a good salesperson was explaining
some plans basically like showing drawings of buildings like marketing.
And there was more of an emphasis on Central Park views that the potential buyers would
have of Central Park.
Trump basically tells her we're selling the inside like we want to show the inside more
than the view, like people are paying top dollar also for where they're going to live
inside of where they're going to spend their time inside the apartment.
And so speak up your mind.
If you have someone who is kind of aggressive in a boardroom setting, in a conference room,
in a business, don't be afraid to explain your different perspective or point of view.
Disagreement is okay.
We're not, you know, in the later generations, like more recent graduates, we're not encouraged
to dissent or to disagree, right?
We are more encouraged to either blindly agree or turn on to cause a fuss in general, but
it's okay to disagree.
And especially if you have valid reasons to, you should say it.
And so Trump makes his point.
And of course, he's the Boston decision maker at the end of the day.
But here we see that if you disagree, speak up your mind.
Another one, set golf dates or other informal outdoor activities with on weekends with current
and prospective business partners to Trump or someone who works in the limousine business
that he likes.
He basically sets a date for the weekend to have golf with this friend slash current or
future business partner.
And this is something that you can do in your own professional life to plan activities outside
of work with people that you would like to do business with.
Basically, you can do networking on the weekends or after work by doing fun activities with
people that you like or want to know more.
So this is a great way.
Trump, of course, owns a lot of beautiful golf courses.
It's a beautiful pastime, you know, in nature.
It is a sport, a lot of walking, a lot of carrying if you unless you have someone helping
you for that.
And you know, golf courses are really huge.
So it's a sport that keeps you in touch with nature, with other people.
It's a sport that allows you to speak like the pace is too fast that, you know, the activity
is all consuming.
You can really have a conversation, enjoy the views, enjoy the scoreboard to see who's
doing better.
Trump loves the sport and a lot of business people do as well.
Another one is to have extremely high standards for your career and your personal life.
So Trump, basically in his Trump Tower apartment, penthouse, the top three floors, he imports
some marble from Italy.
Basically, he spares no expenses to live truly in what he says is the equivalent, let's say
the 20th century equivalent of Versailles.
He wants to live in glamour and in a similar way in your personal life, things that you
really aspire to be do or have you set that expectations for you and don't let go of that
expectations.
We're going to see another point of Trump's super high expectations is that he gets a
call from someone selling G4 private planes and he tells him that he's interested in buying
a plane, but he prefers if you can keep an eye out on a 727, which is a commercial airplane.
He says, this is what I really want.
Eventually, he doesn't get a commercial airplane and so he doesn't settle for a regular private
plane, he gets a commercial one.
I want to say, of course, Trump has bigger than life ambitions and what we can walk away
with here is to not settle for less, to always have that.
He accepts he's willing to go for the private plane, but he still knows that he prefers
the bigger one.
Basically it's a way to say, don't give up on your dreams, don't give up as corny as
there is, don't give up on your highest ideal for your life.
Keep that in the back of your mind, maybe at the front of your mind.
It can and will happen, of course, with a lot of work, but you see the picture.
He doesn't believe that it's not possible.
He does not let that cross through his mind and really something that's unique and remarkable.
Next one is to follow up.
He sent an envoy to Australia for discussing a business, a gaming empire, because in Australia
and Trump really wants to know the details of how the meeting went, wants to have, he's
following up with his point of contact with the person he sent.
In general, just following up is a skill.
It's a habit that pays huge dividends.
In your personal and professional relationship, being someone that's only reliable, but proactive,
really makes you stand out.
Follow up is the mark of a professional.
You could see it on the campaign trail for Trump and more broadly, the trust that is
built by someone who follows up diligently, proactively, is miles ahead of someone who
does not follow up.
There's a real trust element that exists with the person who follows up that doesn't
exist with a person who doesn't.
So keep that in mind.
Trump is in the middle of his day gets David Letterman, at the end of his day, David Letterman
is in the Trump Tower lobby and he's asking Trump's assistant if he can just come up with
two tourists.
He's filming like a day in life of tourists in New York City.
Trump very generously accepts even though he doesn't know them.
He is willing to have David Letterman, he knows David Letterman is pretty popular, right?
He's a talk show host who had a great run basically in like for I think over 30 years
from the 80s to the early 2010s and maybe more than that.
Trump knows of him of course, but he says he doesn't have time to watch his show, but
he knows he's a big deal in television.
But still he's very kind to the two guests who come in from a more rural setting and
he like chats with them, banters, jokes about the real estate deals in their city.
And they just have a great time and Trump is going to show some humility because the
letterman is going to like kind of poke at him saying, well, you had time to take us
in just like on the fly.
That means you had nothing to do and Trump just goes along, yeah, yeah, it means I have
nothing to do.
So he's like humorous, he knows how to have a good laugh even at himself.
And so in general, be kind, courteous and generous with your time.
This is a good policy in general.