Customer Reviews

Trump: The Way to the Top: The Best Business Advice I Ever Received

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You can't tell a book by its cover, a firm by its balance sheet, but perhaps you can tell a corporation by its leadership. At first, I bypassed this book, thinking it was a diatribe by an obsessively adolescent PR-hound CEO. But I was wrong. Trump, with his attorney, Bernard Diamond, and coordinator, Norma Foerderer, has leveraged contacts, friendships and clout, and collected pearls and 'zirconias' of wisdom from over 153 business leaders. Most are a single paragraph or two, and are arranged alphabetically; it starts with George Abercrombie (CEO of Roche NA Pharmaceuticals Operations) and ends with George Zimmer (CEO of the Men's Wearhouse). Trump implores the readers to learn from their own experiences, as well as the experiences of these leaders.

Abercrombie, who started as a Pharmacist, reminds the readers to put themselves in the shoes of the customer, be honest, and don't sugar coat the truth. Adam Aron of Vail Resorts advice is to deal with honorable people (easier said than done), since not even good contracts will shield you from bad people with bad intentions. The head of 1-800-mattress says "trust but verify" and tells the story of what happens when you believe your own ad copy and you don't actually go to see your products up close and personal.

The one failure of the book is it fails to get deep into the leaders' businesses; it skims the surface, like a skipping stone on a lake of advice. George Arpey of American Airlines, for example, says to be "leary of loans." Why? There is no discussion of how loans and debt loads affected American Airlines' balance sheet and its ability to compete. Cathie Black of Hearst Magazines correctly tells the reader to fugure out who they are and be true to "who you are all the time." I have read that she definitely is. But the book doesn't mention that since she is herself all the time, and what you see is what you get, that she has a had long string of successes coupled with a long line of enemies and casualties.

Some advice is useful, other bits if wisdom are, well, less so. Fatima Goldman advices you to "say good morning." Simon Bergson learned from his father (who survived 3 death camps before coming to America) to "work hard." Mark Brown of Trump Casinos says to bet on people, not on strategies. Good advice. But given the loses at his casinos, some strategy wouldn't hurt. The late McDonald's CEO, Jim Cantalupo, wrote that Ray Kroc told him to focus on the customers' desires, satisfaction, and top line, and the bottom line will take care of itself. Barbara Corcoran contributes a 10 page essay that is worth the read.

Some of the best lines are: Terry Lundgren (Federated Dept Stores) to "bloom where you are planted:; Brad Martin's (Saks) to :tell the truth and keep it simple," Parker Kennedy (First American) that everyone should "have the skills of a salesman" since nothing happens til the sale is made; and Fred Smith of FedEx who imparts the best advice, saying, "The secret of having a good business is to be in a good business."

You can not deny that Donald Trump is a genius-he is able to make money in television with "The Apprentice", real estate deals,books, and the most important asset-the Trump name.
This book, which is not as impressive as his last(How To Get Rich)could have been written by anyone. It is simply a compilation of advice from other business super-minds, skimping on advice from 'The Donald'. It is a very good read, but will only be on the bestseller list because of his most valuable asset-the Trump name.

The book is easy to read... but most of the business advice are advice you've heard before or are common-sense.

It's a good, light read... but after reading it... you will probably not know any more than you did before picking it up.

Common-sense principles like: "Treat others as you would like to be treated" and "Work hard" are repeated over and over by different contributors of this book.

My advice: Buy it if you have a few bucks to spare.
My advice on getting to the top: Be good to your parents, work smart, work hard, treat everybody as how you would like to be treated, sleep your way to the top. hehe

249 pages of quotes, I bought the book online, save your money.
There are 100 better books to read, this is padding to The Donald's wallet.

I try to learn from the mistakes of others, so that I don't make them myself . . . in a somewhat similar fashion, Donald J. Trump in THE WAY TO THE TOP has presented much valuable wisdom by sharing--to quote the subtitle--THE BEST BUSINESS ADVICE I EVER RECEIVED.

He has gone to more than 150 of today's top businesspeople in organizations from Fortune 500 companies like Staples and American Airlines to family operations like Orleans Homebuilders and Carlson Companies.

Although none of what is presented may be considered as brilliantly original, it did get me thinking about such topics as decision-making, communications and leadership . . . and I
got a lot of useful tips that I have already begun to incorporate into my daily life.

For example, there was this tidbit from Robert E. Selsam, senior vice president of Boston Properties: To give or get a "yes" answer, meet face to face. For a "no," use the phone.

Then there were these other passages that also got me thinking:
* William C. Byham, chairman and CEO of Development Dimensions
International, Inc.:
Early in my career, I worked at the world headquarters of JC Penney. One of the senior executives there had a test through which he put all major decisions: "What would be the best thing that could happen from this decision and what would be the worst thing that could
happen from this decision?" I observed him go through the analysis generated by this test many times and I was impressed enough to adopt it myself. It has served me well. Often I have identified a public relations problem or a key client risk that outweighs the minor benefit
which would come from a particular action.

* George G. Gellert, chairman of Atlanta Corporation:
When I visited Taiwan many years ago, the person taking me around town was introduced to me as a chauffeur. Nonetheless, I enjoyed his company very much and I was very pleased with him. That evening, through a more skilled translator, I discovered that he was actually the owner of the company I had visited. That was the beginning of a great business relationship, and a great illustration of the best business advice I have ever received: whenever you meet somebody, whatever his or her position may be, be gracious and
friendly because you never know.

* Guy Oseary, copartner and CEO of Maverick Recording Company:
When I was nineteen, I complained to David Geffen about some other people I the entertainment business who were making a lot of money and who I didn't think deserved it. David turned to me and said," You need to be a racehorse. Do you know what racehorses
do?" I answered, "They race." David replied, "No, they wear blinders! If they looked to the left or right, they would lose. Don't look to the left and don't look to the right. Wear blinders and race your own race!"

There is a reality about books on success that becomes very apparent after you have read a few--some of the advice given in one book will be the same or similar in the next book you read, and the book after that, and so on. This would lead you to believe that the basic tenants of success are shared by most successful people, and what you are buying is that persons particular view based on their personal experiences and studies. A variety of insights on the same subject should be a good thing.

This book offers a very bad presentation of variety of insights of success. I have no idea what the process of compiling this book actually curtailed, but as it is presented by Donald Trump, a man known to do a little bit of exaggeration, he could have been attending some large shindig with a lot of business people, and put a bug in their ears about this book he wanted to do. Everyone he talked to could have been asked to contribute, and to spread the word if they some other business people who wanted to jump in on the bandwagon.

It actually reads like some temp secretary at Trump's publisher was given the assignment to mail out form letters asking if the contributors wanted to contribute, based on a publicist brilliant idea to milk the title `star of TV's "The Apprentice"' for a few extra gallons. A few, and only a few, were more than willing to write a few pages for the project. The other contributors had to begged and probably bribed to give a straining one sentence.

Once all the contributions had been complied, they were thrown together in a completely inconsistent format. One line answers with 9/10ths of the page left blank next to three page answers, with the one liners consisting mostly of cliches or `somebody in authority over me once said . . . " And not to my surprise, they mostly said the same things, and many times contradicting some advice given a few pages earlier.

This is not a bad book, but it is far from being any good. It is a rehashing of others rehashing that ends up on to many occasions rehashing itself. I would bet some of my meager wages that most of this advice Trump has never seen, but was given the chance to take the credit for so that a lot of people could make quick money.

Disappointing only when compared to his other books. Not really pearls from Donald Trump himself, but rather it is advice from a number of other successfull people compiled into a "coffee table" format. That aside, most of the advice was helpful, but much was repetitious. But then most achievers have the same traits, don't they? It's just that Mr. Trump has all of these (which he onlys mentions once), and then so many more.

The "so many more" are revealed in his other books like "How to get Rich" and "Think Like a Billionaire". One interesting aspect of his writing is how he matures from "The Art of the Deal" forward. He readily acknowledges his mistakes and explains how he has learned from them. What always shines through is his indefatigable spirit of not ever giving up no matter how tough the going gets.

I read the book he co-authored with Robert Kiyosaki "Why we want you to be rich" and I liked it! So I decided to read some more of Trump, but without flicking through this book as I was catching a plane to Korea. I was disappointed as it is just a bunch of affirmations really. Sure.. good advice
from people who know how to get things done. But I was hoping to get more insights into investing.

The key word is "some". Most of the advice is commonsense or if you don't have any, I take it back. This book is just a compilation of advice from successful business contacts of Trump. Trump doesn't really offer any advice except a few lines in the introduction.

Not really an easy read. A lot of antidotal comments, and just a collection of valuable advice given by hundreds of powerful CEOs and other successful people. More of a reference book than anything.