No Such Thing as Over-Exposure: Inside the Life and Celebrity of Donald Trump (Hardcover)

by Robert Slater (Author) "Donald J. Trump's spacious office in Trump Tower on 57th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan is chock-a-block full of collector's items, action figures, building..." (more)
Key Phrases: truthful hyperbole, casino hotel business, other business figure, Donald Trump, New York, Atlantic City (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
To read the latest Trump tale is to be reminded of writer Fran Lebowitz' comment that there are only two social classes in America--the celebrities and the audience. Business biographer Robert Slater, who spent 100 hours with Donald Trump, provides an intriguing link between the two in No Such Thing as Over-Exposure: Inside the Life and Celebrity of Donald Trump. About the man who made bragging an art form, Slater wonders: Does Trump have any definable business strategies and leadership strategies? Why did he become a business celebrity? Why did The Apprentice become a surprise hit?

The result is a surprisingly fascinating profile of a man who shattered the CEO public relations paradigm by branding himself rather than his product. The Slater timeline begins with Trumps' spit ball throwing, football playing, military school youth. He describes dear old Dad's philosophy of development ("Get in get it done, get it done right and get out.") This is followed by an engaging recap of how Trump changed the New York skyline by leveraging Atlantic City properties and then became a poster boy for the recession of the 1990s. His much reported rise and comeback is deconstructed in terms of his capacity for self-branding (force of personality, willingness to broadcast private life, delivering the goods, and "truthful hyperbole.")

Slater spends too much time on getting Trump to say yes to the book and trying to create a management roadmap from Trump's unique career. But he gets the details right. Trump tends to stay close the office, doesn't use computers, thinks e-mail is for wimps, avoids germs by withholding handshakes, broke up with his second wife in a gossip column, and calls himself the biggest star on television.

Slater interviewed 150 people, yet the most revealing moments are when Trump speaks for himself. For example, when he insists that he is "worth the salary of six actors on Friends." When ex-wife Marla Maples comments about his virility, he says, "That's what sells condos in New York." Such comments derail Slater's desire to extract leadership lessons from Trump. Whether you find him brilliant or a carnival barker, Donald Trump is one of a kind. His success represents a moment when a celebrity and his audience are merged: Neither can stop looking at him. --Barbara Mackoff

From Publishers Weekly
"The Donald" has been the subject of countless articles and monographs; what separates this book from the competition is Slater's level of access (over 100 hours of tape of the man himself), his doggedness (over 150 interviews with peers and others) and his experience--Slater has authored numerous business bios and profiles, from Saving Big Blue to Jack Welch and the GE Way. His approach to New York real estate's major mogul is a paradoxical warts-and-all hagiography, where Trump's flaws seem to play as much of a role in his success as his business acumen. Foul-mouthed asides are printed verbatim, and Trump is relatively forthcoming on his already much combed-over personal life (as he is in his own books like The Art of the Deal). What Slater does best is dramatize the tension of high-stakes business deals, and there's plenty of that, from Trump's purchase and revamping of 1 Columbus Circle to the contract negotiations for The Apprentice. Timed to be released with the third season of that hit TV series, this book's 100,000 first printing is a bet on the continuing appeal of this gruff, larger-than-life embodiment of venture capital--just another one of the many lessons on how Trump uses the media to increase the value of his properties and extend his name across his realm. (Mar. 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

chapter 1 of No Such Thing as Over-Exposure [PDF]

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Financial Times Prentice Hall (February 22, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131497340
• ISBN-13: 978-0131497344
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #855,572 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Look elsewhere for a good Trump book, March 13, 2005

By	Corinne H. Smith (Athol, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Instead of this volume, pick up one of the two editions by Gwenda Blair or any book written by Donald Trump himself. The raw substance between the covers of this title might make three decent installment articles for a magazine or newspaper. There's not enough fresh information here to warrant filling 226 pages.

"No Such Thing as Over-Exposure" isn't really a biography, nor is it a business analysis. It resembles a character sketch or a tribute. The reader gets the impression that Robert Slater idolizes his subject and is determined to make a truthful and perhaps favorable portrait of him. But it doesn't come off that way. Slater may think it's a positive presentation, and even Trump might think it's a positive one, but the average reader won't. At the basic level, DT is portrayed here as an executive who holds little regard for his employees, for the public, and for the media -- unless he thinks he can gain something from any one of them. He micromanages, he disdains staff members who take vacations, and he threatens anyone who gets in his way with a lawsuit, including Slater. Above all, he's a publicity hound who seeks the world's approval at every step. Though the author disparages previous books that painted negative pictures of Trump, he doesn't realize that his supposedly truthful approach turns out to be a negative one as well.

The progression of the text isn't chronological, nor is it thematic. Chapter subheadings interrupt lines of thought instead of separating them, making for disjointed reading. Several stories and concepts are repeated ad nauseum. Slater continually insists that no other corporate head seeks the personal and business publicity that Donald Trump does, and of course that's true. But nearly every time he mentions it, he uses Jack Welch of GE and Bill Gates of Microsoft as comparisons. (Probably because he's written books about them, too.) Readers are smart and have good memories; they don't need to be reminded that Welch and Gates don't seek the limelight like Trump in every chapter of just one book. The point could have been made once or twice, not a dozen times. The same can be said of "truthful hyperbole." If I never hear or read that phrase again, I will be a happy camper.

If the author isn't repeating himself, then he spins around a topic without making a clear summation or supposition. An example is Donald Trump's reaction to negative publicity. Here are excerpts that appear within the span of eight pages:

"A negative article about him 'bothers me for the day and maybe even for the week, but after that it's over...It doesn't have any import.'" (page 130, quoting Trump)

"Indeed, he dislikes any seemingly negative publicity about him." (page 132)

"'I believe that good publicity is far better than bad publicity. But the amazing thing is, the bad publicity has not hurt my business.'" (page 133, quoting Trump)

"He loved it when newspaper articles pointed out his achievements. But he could not let go of articles that seemed negative to him. Unlike many business leaders who simply ignored negative publicity about them or their companies and did not fight back, Donald Trump attacked every time he found himself unjustly treated in the media." (page 137)

Well, which way is it? Or are all these statements somehow saying the same thing? What's needed here is a cohesive analysis of the topic. "In spite of his occasional words to the contrary, it's obvious that Donald Trump pays attention to any kind of publicity -- and negative publicity, most of all." (for example) Then the author could have proceeded with the quotes and the stories supporting or refuting the statement. Random snippets that disagree with each other shouldn't be left alone without explanation.

As I have been reading this book on a wintry New England weekend, I am reminded of seeing a car stuck in the snow. As it rocks back and forth in an effort to get somewhere, the material underneath the wheels becomes an increasingly ugly treaded hash that just gets in the way. When the vehicle is finally gone, the empty space carries only a ghost of what was there before. The truth isn't there anymore, and if we wanted to, we could always follow the tracks to see where it's gone.

This book is an average effort at a larger-than-average subject. There may be no such thing as over-exposure, but there *is* such a thing as poor workmanship. Doesn't Trump fire people for that?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trumping the Business World with "Truthful Hyperbole", May 26, 2005

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I have read and reviewed many of Slater's previous books and consider him to be among the most perceptive and eloquent commentators on the contemporary business world. It came as no surprise, therefore, that Trump agreed to cooperate with Slater on the writing of this book but only after checking him out with those who had already had a close working relationship with him, notably Jack Welch. There is probably no other executive who has a tighter schedule than does Trump. However, on numerous occasions, beginning in June of 2004, he agreed to meet with Slater or talk with him on the telephone. Trump also arranged for Slater to attend various private meetings related to Trump's building projects; to travel with him to a building site in Manhattan and observe his inspection of it; to journey with Trump for a book promotion appearance at QVC, the shopping channel; and to fly with him on his jet to a "demolition party" in Chicago where Trump planned to build a 90-story $800-million luxury tower on what had been the site of the Chicago Sun-Times. Slater was also allowed to observe a casting call for the third season of The Apprentice television program at during the filming of one of the episodes for its third season. Finally, Trump helped to facilitate many of the interviews of those best qualified to discuss both his business career and the celebrity synonymous with it.

Trump is as protective of the privacy of his three children as he is eager to discuss almost anything and anyone else. Nonetheless, he allowed Slater to meet with one son (Donald Trump, Jr.) and apparently set no restrictions on what they could discuss. Presumably Trump allowed such direct and extensive access, both to himself and to countless others, because he trusted Slater, was favorably impressed by his professional credentials, sensed his inherent integrity, and believed that he would receive fair and circumspect treatment in what later became this book.

With regard to its title, it is Slater's opinion that, at least for now, "there seems to be no downside" to all the attention Trump has so actively sought and has so substantially achieved. "His look of giddy pleasure at the amount of attention he is [currently] getting says it all. He savors having so many choices to make [i.e. he is inundated with participation proposals of various kinds] that put him in the public spotlight. If he could, one imagines, he would not make a choice at all. He would do everything. After all, in Donald Trump's world, there is no such thing as over-exposure." At least for now.

Proportionality is a key element in Slater's earlier discussions of other prominent executives such as John Chambers, George Soros, and Jack Welch and it is also true of what he has to say about Trump. Obviously, there is much that Slater admires but much else which Slater finds irritating (at best) and sometimes infuriating (at worst). Of greatest interest to me is Slater's explanation of how and why Trump "openly names his products after himself and markets his name as synonymous with his products: his luxury residences, his casino hotels, and so on. [Trump] insists, as well -- correctly, at it turns out -- that using his name on his company products enhances their value." (Please see Chapter 8, "Branding a Name.") I was also interested in learning about certain differences between the public Trump and the private Trump. For example, that he seldom fires anyone in the Trump organization and, generally, is far more patient, forgiving, generous, and deferential than his public persona suggests.

More a quibble than a complaint, I wish Slater had included (perhaps as an appendix) an annotated Timeline of the key dates and defining moments in Trump's career thus far. For example, when and why he decided to become a commercial real estate developer in Manhattan, Atlantic City, Chicago, and Las Vegas; also, when and why he agreed to produce and star in The Apprentice television program. Slater addresses these and other issues within his narrative. However, given the complexity of Trump's various business activities, it would be helpful to have a chronological frame-of-reference to consult periodically, one which clarifies when, what, with whom, where, etc.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Slater's earlier work, notably Jack Welch and the GE Way: Management Insights and Leadership Secrets of the Legendary CEO; Microsoft Rebooted: How Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer Reinvented Their Company; SOROS: The Unauthorized Biography, the Life, Times and Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor; The Wal-Mart Decade: How a New Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy into the World's #1 Company; Saving Big Blue: Leadership Lessons & Turnaround Tactics of IBM's Lou Gerstner; and Get Better or Get Beaten!: 31 Leadership Secrets from GE's Jack Welch.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read!, August 29, 2005

By	Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This admiring biography of real estate billionaire Donald Trump begins with a reference to Trump's "swept-back blonde mane" - although his thinning forward comb-over is probably the most famous weird hairdo in America. Perhaps author Robert Slater picked up a bit of his subject's tendency toward what Trump calls "truthful hyperbole." Slater's writing is interesting and accessible, in a breathless sort of way. However, despite being based on 150 interviews, this biography doesn't contain a lot of information that Trump has not already disseminated through his books, TV show and softball press interviews. Slater seems to regard Trump's exaggerations as charming foibles and, given tremendous access, apparently accepts Trump's self-assessment that he is a skilled negotiator, shrewd investor and efficient administrator - even when the author's own anecdotes show Trump in another guise: as a bullying micro-manager. Of course, the insight that negative publicity isn't always a bad thing is a primary theme. We recommend this close-up meeting with Trump to general readers who find that his outsized ego, lifestyle and accomplishments hold a certain fascination and to businesspeople who just want to know how he always lands on his feet. (Hint: he delivers the goods.)