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

~ Donald J. Trump (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Acknowledging that "you can’t know it all," tough-minded businessman and recent television star Trump asked more than 100 successful businesspeople to tell him "the best business advice they have ever received." His newest volume compiles their responses into easily digestible tidbits that range from the realistically prescient ("The sun doesn’t shine forever," from Barbara Berger, president of Food City Markets) to the stoically practical ("Don’t confuse efforts with results," Thomas J. Barrack, CEO of Colony Capital). Though most of the book’s entries are no longer than half a page, a few contributors, such as Barbara Corcoran (founder of the Corcoran Real Estate Group) and Thomas Chen (president of Crystal Window and Door Systems), have written longer entries that reveal as much about their authors as they do about good business sense. Serious readers of business books may be disappointed by some of more lackluster contributions (e.g. "the secret of having a good business is to be in a good business"), but there are enough sage words here to satisfy most fans of The Apprentice.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

The host of the hit reality show The Apprentice presents an invaluable collection of grounded, hard-hitting advice on business success, from people who have made it to the boss’s chair at some of America’s most thriving companies.

How can you find the way to the top?

Ask people who are already there.

Because you can’t know it all. No matter how smart you are, no matter how comprehensive your education, no matter how wide-ranging your business experience, there’s simply no way to acquire all the wisdom you need to make your business flourish. You need to learn from those who have blazed a trail before you.

Donald Trump has asked many of the brightest, most successful businesspeople he knows—and some he doesn't know—to answer this question: What's the best business advice you ever received? The result is a compelling resource of wisdom and wit that reveals how some of the most accomplished people conduct their personal and business affairs, giving an inside look into the secrets of corporate success. But the advice doesn’t only come from the upper echelons of the Fortune 500. Thoughts poured in from executives at thriving companies large and small, ranging from well-known icons such as Staples, American Airlines, Lillian Vernon, and Boeing to family-run operations like Orleans Homebuilders and Carlson Companies.

The Way to the Top brings together the core ideas that have guided more than 150 of today’s top businesspeople, offering a range of inspiring and practical advice on making good decisions, conducting yourself appropriately, developing your career, communicating with others, leading a team effectively, and much more. Some of the entries are simple entreaties, some portray intriguing vignettes, and others outline lists of guiding principles; all are illuminating, instructive, and insightful.

A telling to-do list for the aspiring professional, The Way to the Top belongs on every business bookshelf.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Crown Business; First Edition edition (May 18, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400050162
• ISBN-13: 978-1400050161
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #412,513 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Advice ranging from the pithy to the useful, August 3, 2004

By	Larry Mark "editor of MyJewishBooks.com" (nyc) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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."

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Most of the advice are advice you've heard before, March 6, 2005

By	HARRISON CHUA (Melbourne, AUSTRALIA) - See all my reviews (REAL 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

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Trump is a genius!!!, May 20, 2004

By A Customer

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.