Customer Reviews

The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I like Ivanka Trump. I like what she stands for. She could have been another Paris Hilton ... a rich girl with no ambition other than to be famous. She has, instead, chosen a path that not many young women of her circumstance would have taken. I find fault with a lot of what she says in this book, but I do not deny that she is intelligent, well-adjusted, and not allergic to hard work like so many of her peers. I admire her for that and always have. I just wanted to get that out of the way, lest my review be discounted on some false belief that I am jealous of Ivanka.

I really wanted to like this book. I did not buy it thinking I would seriously be introduced to the secrets of winning at work and life by a 27-year-old who works for her father and has been given every possible advantage. But, rather than a how-to-succeed-in-business guide, the book comes off more like an attempt to prove that Ivanka isn't as spoiled as everyone thinks and that she does actually have a brain in her head.

The first half of the book is useless unless you are an Ivanka fan and want to know more about her upbringing. If you don't care about her childhood, the prestigious schools her father paid for her to attend, and the 100+ foreign countries she's been to, you can skip over this part. If you're really looking for her advice on how to succeed in the workplace, there are a few chapters of the book with tips on things like job interviews, e-mail and Blackberry etiquette, and how to negotiate with business associates. I don't think Ivanka deserves much credit for any of this because none of it is new or unusual. A 30-second Google search could provide the same tips for free. But at least it relates to what the book is supposed to accomplish.

Ivanka's challenge with this book is that she doesn't seem to understand that in the real world, no one gets hired as a VP in a multinational real estate development firm at the age of 24. She offers anecdotes of how she's tried to prove that she's worthy of the job, but she never comes around to admitting that she was in no way qualified for the position and that no matter how hard you work or how well-educated you are, unless you are the boss's kid, it will take decades for you to get to the same level that Ivanka has reached. She briefly mentions working for Bruce Ratner for one year right after she graduated and uses that to justify her rise to upper management in her father's business. As though it happens that way all the time. As though it was all a result of her hard work. It just doesn't work that way in real life, and she loses a lot of credibility by trying to suggest that she would have achieved the same level of success withour her last name.

The one reason I give the book 3 stars instead of 2 is that there was a brief moment where she offered advice that is useful to anyone, regardless of age, social status, or educational background. She makes a very strong argument for the value of hard work and making a real contribution. She points out that even if you don't have a Harvard degree like the person down the hall from you, you can still outwork that person by putting in more hours, coming up with better ideas, and making your contributions known to the people in charge. She offers an outstanding tip in this vein to anyone who wants to advance in their current company: if you're making the same contributions in Year 5 that you made in Year 1, you shouldn't be worried about promotions and raises ... you should be glad you still have a job. She is right on with this point, as too many people (especially young people, and I'm only 27, so I can say this without malice) think raises and promotions are a matter of time and not a result of effort and accomplishment.

I do think she is a great role model for wealthy children who have a chance to do something positive with their lives, but aside from the one tip I mentioned above, this book isn't going to help anyone who grew up in a poor or middle-class family, went to public schools, and didn't have an executive level job waiting for them in the famly business when they graduated from college.

I am actually a fan of Ivanka and want to see her succeed in the corporate world. She convinces me that her parents raised her well -- if somewhat unconventionally -- and she has some credible things to say to young people in particular about character. Nonetheless, the great irony of this book is that Ivanka works very hard to establish herself as more than just a beneficiary of nepotism and yet the advice that she offers is not of the caliber expected of someone holding such a lofty title as Vice President of Real Estate Development and Acquisitions for the Trump Organization. In fact, the advice actually begins about midway through the book. The first half mostly concerns her upbringing and could have been published separately under the title "Growing Up Trump." The section on interviewing skills is basic and unoriginal and made me laugh out loud. A quick Google search would reveal the same information -- for free. Although Ivanka alludes to a couple of major successes she has had as VP -- e.g., the Dubai project -- she does not give the reader a clear picture of how she achieved what she claims to have achieved. Chapters ten and eleven read as if written by a silly young girl. Consider this: "Plus, I love and appreciate fine jewelry! What girl doesn't? Especially the daughter of Ivana Trump!" (From chapter eleven.) Not exactly the stuff of a corporate VP. The publisher knew that people would buy the book because of who (a Trump) and what (strikingly beautiful) Ivanka is. However, notwithstanding that this is Ivanka's first literary effort, the book is seriously lacking in professional depth and is, in a nutshell, premature.

The Good:
Ivanka Trump is poised, educated and successful. She has escaped the fate of many of those "born rich" by keeping out of trouble and living a dignified life. I'm sure a lot of young women look up to her because she's pretty and seems nice on The Apprentice. Although she breaks no new ground in her advice (be on time for meetings, work hard, be a team player, dress appropriately for work) these are things young women need to hear. They already hear it from their mothers, whom I'm sure they don't listen to because what does your mother know? But they might listen if their idol Ivanka says so, which isn't such a bad thing.

The Bad: She comes off as a bit of a snob; condescending and quite defensive, self-possessed and dare I say insecure. She keeps reminding the reader that she's a boss, "The people who work for me..." "When you're a member of my team..." that kind of thing. She doesn't know how people can go out every night and still get up for work the next morning but is always glad when friends "drag her out on a Thursday night." She name drops like nobody's biz, except maybe her father. She sounds like kind of a bore.

The Ridiculous: Her non-stop insistence that she is making it in her own right is embarrassing, not to mention unbelievable. I'm sure she would like to think so, but for it to be true, she would have to go into a whole other business, and not take one dime or get any help whatsoever from her family.
After college she spent a year at a different real estate company before joining the Trump Org. She apparently did this to show people she could work for someone other than her father. I'm sure the company bent over backwards to accommodate her in order to have the Trump connection for future biz deals.
So after an entire 12 months in an entry level position, she was then qualified to become a VP at her father's company.
We are then supposed to believe she is out there doing deals, etc. "in her own right" because all the people she does biz with see her for the astute professional she is.
If they know what's good for them, they will do what she wants because if they don't The Donald will cut them off at the knees.

I got the impression that she was trying to convince herself, more than the rest of us, that she's doing it on her own.

Repeatedly in this book the author tries to convince people that she earned her position with her dad's company. Who is she fooling? In reading this, she just comes across as being as self-righteous and self-promoting as her father. I can read a lot of self-help business books, and can honestly say I did not pick up a single new tip after having read the entire book.

I remember seeing newspaper photos of Ivanka Trump when she was about 9 years old so it was with a wry smile that I noticed her book and realized she'd grown up. There is no doubt that she has been born into privilege and luxury and so it's on that note that we understand that she's clearly not like the majority of us. Still, assuming she did write the book herself (and not with the aid of a ghost writer as suggested in an earlier review), I found the book very well written and with a few pieces of advice that would help any aspiring executive. The aspect of the book that kept niggling me was that her main message was to "keep putting in the hours". Now this is fine if you're living within 20 minutes of the office and have someone to cook, clean and take care of things at home but for most of us with homes or apartments (and lives) to maintain it seems this has not been figured into the book because perhaps she has someone to do those mundane things for her. Who knows. However, I did enjoy the book; she's energetic, enthusiastic and adores her dad - an ideal daughter. She shared her tips of handwritten notes to people who've inspired her and advocates always acting like a lady; positive advice, especially in a time when role models for young businesswomen are very few. Now that Ivanka is engaged (there was no reference to her private life in the book at all), perhaps she would consider a book on balancing work, travel, planning a wedding and running a home, all the while looking fabulous and well rested. I don't mean to be mean, but in the real world this is where a lot of women would like some guidance. . .

Ivanka tries (on almost every single page) to dispell the notion that she's spoiled by wealth and nepotism. However, all of her stories and defenses draw your attention to it more; how much she has been blessed by her family name and wealth. And her use of exclamation points!!! Enough!! Yes, she has a degree in finance, but that's about all the credibility she has in business. She is surrounded in the Trump Organization by older, wiser, and more educated individuals and yet, she's their boss. It's true, Ivanka isn't akin to Paris Hilton and some of the other uber-wealthy trust fund kids, and her brothers and she have really seemed to rise above the socialite status so many others seek. But, that still doesn't make her useful enough to be dispensing business advice. The book reads like an autobiography more than anything else - there is no useable information here. Her father, Donald, actually writes books that have value to you as a real estate investor/speculator. This book, not so much. The book is a step in building her own empire I suppose, but really it's nothing more than a first-hand account of how an ultra-wealthy daddy's girl wants you to take her seriously in business. And the truth is you just can't.

I highly recommend this book for anybody in your holiday list, as it's guaranteed to make readers laugh and laugh. Miss Trump, being a Trump, is highly proud of herself and her accomplishments, although those accomplishments so far seem to be limited to working for her father (impressive) and getting a rich guy's son to let her have a jewelry store based on the fact that she is, you know, a rich man's daughter (really impressive). Well, maybe that's unfair. She also worked for a year for a guy she wasn't related to, and wrote a book with advice as profound and life-changing as "don't wear too much perfume." Someone please give this woman an award! If delusion were an art or a science, Ivanka would be a shoo-in for a Nobel.

I just wish Amazon had included this wonderful book in the comedy section, where it belongs, because The Trump Card is a joke.

If you were born rich and work for the family company, this is a must-read book. Ivanka Trump has learned from her long and successful career (yes, she's only 27, but she has been thinking of working for her father all her life, and that counts, doesn't it?) and has generously shared her knowledge with her readers, in what's not at all an exercise in shameless self-promotion. She's a Trump, after all, and they don't do that.

What advice has Ivanka to offer? Here is an example: if Anna Wintour calls you personally to offer you a job (that you didn't apply for, of course -- if you're the kind of person who has to apply for a job, this book is not for you), you tell her thanks, but no thanks, as you're determined to use nepotism (uh, I mean your brains) to work in real estate, not Vogue.

And what if you weren't born rich, or were but want to achieve based on your own merits instead of nepotism? Well, you're in luck: you can save the money and time you would have wasted on the ridiculous book that is The Trump Card, as it has nothing to offer to 99.9 percent of the population.

Let me save you the $14.61 plus S&H you would have spent on this book. The Trump Card is... being Donald Trump's daughter. Miss Trump talks a lot about meritocracy and working hard, and thanks to Daddy's connections she got a fawning press coverage that any first-time author would envy, but it's all a lie.

Miss Trump not only works for Daddy (that job interview must have been hard to land, huh?). She also got Daddy to write her a recommendation letter for Amazon, and the video that promotes her book on the Amazon page shows her... with Daddy. Does this seem like a woman who wants to succeed on her own terms? Of course not! She's simply riding The Donald's coattails all the way to the bank. That's her right, but her pretense that she can teach others "how to win in work and in life" is beyond ridiculous - it's insulting to the millions of young men and women who're succeeding in the work place due to their effort and talent, not their father.

Next time, I suggest Miss Trump write a book on nepotism. That's the one subject in which she's an expert.

This daddys little rich girl giving advice ! What a joke !!
Hahahahahah
Dont waste a dime and definitely not a minute. This book is so
simplistic it makes me laugh !!!!!!! Just a slap to every serious
women !!!!