Real Donald Trump Wisdom

"Perhaps the most important thing I learned at Wharton was not to be overly impressed by academic credentials. It didn't take me long to realize that there was nothing particularly awesome or exceptional about my classmates, and I could compete with them just fine." - Donald J. Trump

Fred Trump: #Competence #Efficiency

Mary Trump: #Splendor #Magnificence

"Life is very fragile, and success doesn’t change that. If anything, success makes it more fragile. Anything can change, without warning, and that’s why I try not to take any of what’s happened too seriously. Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game." - Donald J. Trump

"I believe in spending what you have to. But I also believe in not spending more than you should. [...] the day I can’t pick up the telephone and make a twenty-five-cent call to save $10,000 is the day I’m going to close up shop." - Donald J. Trump

"Much as it pays to emphasize the positive, there are times when the only choice is confrontation." - Donald J. Trump

"You can have the most wonderful product in the world, but if people don't know about it, it's not going to be worth much. [...} You need to generate interest, and you need to create excitement." - Donald J. Trump

"My point is that the real money isn't made in real estate by spending the top dollar to buy the best location. You can get killed doing that, just as you can get killed buying a bad location, even for a low price. What you should never do is pay too much, even if that means walking away from a very good site. Which is all a more sophisticated way of looking at location." - Donald J. Trump

"Leverage: don't make deals without it." - Donald J. Trump

"I ask and I ask and I ask, until I begin to get a gut feeling about something.

And that's when I make a decision." - Donald J. Trump

Maximize Your Options: "Once I've made a deal, I always come up with at least a half dozen approaches to making it work, because anything can happen, even to the best laid plans." - Donald J. Trump

Apprentice Lesson #3:

"The Art of the Deal:

Negotiation is a very, very delicate art.

Sometimes you have to be tough.

Sometimes you have to be sweet as pie.

You never know, it depends on who you're dealing with.

I've always said that negotiation is not really learned, it's almost innate, it's in the genes.

A negotiator is born." - Donald J. Trump

Protect the Downside and the Upside Will Take Care of Itself

"might as well think big"

"one of keys to thinking big is total focus"

key elements: Intelligence, Instincts, Courage, and Good Fortune

• approach to media: criticism can go both ways
• approach to getting what he wants in negotiations: reads the room, understands other party’s drive and motivations, proposes a relatively good deal, is willing to walk away, balances patience with persistence; comes back to it with different offers as market conditions evolve
• approach to costs: lavish for personal space, very careful and cost-conscious in professional settings