Business

Saturday October 24, 2009

Trump’s art of triumph

Reviewed by YVONNE TAN


Think Like a Champion: An Informal Education in Business and Life

Authors: Donald J. Trump with Meredith Mciver

Publisher: Vanguard Press

ANOTHER success guidebook by Donald J Trump? Why not? After all, no one likes taking advice from an underachiever and Trump certainly is no loser.

In this compilation of short stories, written no doubt to inspire and bring out the “best in you”, Trump aims to teach the reader the art of triumph.

Each story is generous in its servings of this celebrity real estate magnate’s secrets of success and tips on how we can follow in his footsteps.

“Champions are born and champions are made,” Trump writes. “Champions think big. Champions work in a big-time way. Champions are focused. Champions are disciplined. Come to think of it, champions think like champions,” he stresses in one of his chapters.

His wisdom on a variety of matters – succeeding in one’s job, business, stock market investing and life in general – is shared in a simple and engaging manner. With stories averaging three pages each, Trump gets the message across on each topic, without being too boring and long-winded.

“I believe we are born to succeed, not to fail. If I can believe it, you can believe it too,” he says in his essay called “Keep the Big Picture in Mind”. Here, he tells Trump wannabes to expect problems on their journey to success, be determined and expect the unexpected, he says.

“Sometimes, people spend too much time focusing on problems instead of focusing on opportunities.”

He cites a time when he had “some financial problems” back in the 1990s. “I remember debating with myself whether or not to attend a black tie dinner.

“But I got dressed, went there and as it turned out I was seated next to someone I really clicked with – and he was a banker. The chemistry for great things was there,” he writes.

On his chapter on “You can Better Your Best at Any Time”, he tells readers to start their day by telling themselves, “What a great day!” Then watch how your enthusiasm levels begin to improve, he writes.

Yes, this book is filled with clichés and feel-good moments like that but as many of us who have watched The Apprentice, that famous reality show of his will know, the man draws on his literal experience in coming up with stuff like that.

It’s not fluff written to create hope.

Trump is real – he knows what he is talking about. He has experienced failure both in business and his personal life, but he’s picked himself up. And that’s putting it simply.

He has wisdom to share on leadership too. “One quality of leadership is knowing your subject. He advises bosses not to “take anything for granted”.

“I don’t take my solid-gold employees for granted because they don’t take me for granted as well. It’s a two-way street and it works.”

Simple advice, but when put into actual practice, think of the impact it can create!

Every chapter of Trump’s in this book starts with a quote from famous thinkers like Einstein, Ralph Walso Emerson, Henry Ford and Oscar Wilde. And these add to the overall positive effect he tries to create in this book.

In his essay on “How to Get Rich”, Trump borrows the phrase from Norman Vincent Peale which says, “Empty pockets never held anyone back, only empty heads and empty

hearts can do that”.

“If you want to get rich, two important considerations are passion and efficiency, that combination has worked for me.”

You can pass this book off as mere generic stuff or you can try and overlook the clichéd parts and give reading it a try.

After all, everybody could do with a little more positivity, encouragement and good advice in their lives – and these, you can certainly expect from this book.

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