Editor’s note: This article was first published in December 2011, before Donald Trump’s political career, so his business advice will now be read in a very different context.
In 2010 we published the article “An entrepreneur’s mindset, according to Donald Trump“, where we shared some wise advice from this great “hunter” of business opportunities.
Here are several tips taken from the Donald J. Trump School of Management and Business, where I’m sure this businessman will give you, as always, some good guidelines to follow.
1. Always work with the best
Surround yourself with professionals, with capable people, with fighters. A mediocre worker is cheap to hire but very expensive in terms of productivity and effectiveness. A common complaint among business owners is how hard it is to manage their employees.
Be careful when choosing your employees, because when you surround yourself with capable people, managing becomes extremely simple.
2. Trust your employees
Some business owners have to be at the company 12 hours a day for it to work. Any business owner who can’t run a company from thousands of kilometres away has done something very wrong. Either they didn’t know how to hire professionals or they don’t trust their workers, which brings us back to mistake number 1: “They didn’t know how to hire capable people.”
If you don’t trust your employees, or at least your middle managers, fire them and hire someone you do trust. Otherwise, you don’t have a business, you have a living nightmare.
3. A business works like an army, and you are the general
You need a clearly defined organisation chart, where everyone knows their role and rank. Everyone must report to someone else for the company (the army) to work.
Donald Trump says he has seen companies where, on walking in, he had the feeling there were more bosses than workers, and that is not productive. For example, if you have a cleaner, a maintenance worker or an errand boy, that person shouldn’t have to take orders from just anyone in the company. A company where everyone gives orders is a company where people rarely work properly and without disputes.
“When I need to know something about my casinos and hotels in Atlantic City, all I have to do is pick up the phone and call my CEO, who quickly brings me up to date. If I need to know the day’s sales at Trump Park Avenue, I call my general manager and she brings me up to speed. In the same way, for questions, information or advice, I have my chief financial officer, who can answer my query in fewer than 20 words. I’m at ease, because I know my business is in good hands: I took my time hiring my captains, and today that is time gained.”
4. Look for creative people. You won’t need to motivate them
Another problem for business owners, CEOs and leaders in charge of a team is when demotivation spreads through the company. Motivating people is part of a leader’s job, but you can save yourself an enormous effort by hiring creative people. A creative person has no time to become demotivated, because their mind is always busy with productive things. According to Donald Trump, that kind of person doesn’t usually bring you problems, but ideas you can apply in the business.
5. Never let your guard down
Donald Trump never tires of telling the story of his failure:
“In the 1980s I was flying high. I was one of the biggest and best-known developers in Manhattan. Magazines and newspapers talked about my successes every day. They even said that everything I touched turned to gold. I had a yacht, a private plane, plenty of properties, a bestselling book, and before I knew it, I was completely broke.
I was so confident that I ignored one of the pieces of advice I give in my book The Art of the Deal, where I recommend never personally guaranteeing anything in business. I owed 9.2 billion dollars, and I had personally guaranteed 1 billion of it.”
Donald Trump had a serious problem, but he reminds us that when there’s a problem, there’s always a way out.
“I will always remember that early morning when Citibank called me to see how we could settle the debt I owed them. They put me in a room with more than 11 bank executives, all eager to fleece me of every last cent before another bank seized my assets. That is the moment when you have to apply the art of the deal. In the end, I reached an agreement with them that gave me easier payment terms.
Years later, I had paid off my debts and was a millionaire again. In fact, that experience taught me to stay alert at all times. Never let your guard down: confidence is good company, but it’s the kind of company that can turn into your worst enemy when you least expect it.”
Perhaps another piece of advice Donald Trump would give us is never to hesitate when it comes to firing someone. After all, Mr Trump is also known for a famous phrase, “You’re fired”, and I believe it was he who said: “better an incompetent employee who is unhappy at being fired than an incompetent employee who is grateful to you for keeping them on“.
Featured image: Forsaken Fotos, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
