A Great Leader and Entrepreneur Donald Trump - Essay Example

Donald as a child was energetic, assertive, and an overall smart kid. At the age of 13, he was sent by his parents to New York Military Academy to spend his high school education. During those years, Donald performed well both in academe and social relations. In 1964 he graduated and pursued his college education at Fordham University. He then transferred to Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania where he learned accounting and finance. Trump graduated with a degree in economics. While working with his father during the summertime, he also learned the principle of money-making, mortgages and construction works.
He then joined his father’s company and became the president of it in 1975. He changed the company’s name to Trump Organization. He built a billion-dollar empire with his name branded on it. These were the Trump Tower, Trump Plaza, Trump Plaza Hotel, and Casino, Trump’s Castle, Trump Parc and Trump Place. Thus, his name Trump was synonymous with wealth, luxury and prestige. He loved to utilize attractive architectural designs that would earn high profits and win public recognition. He was well known as the entrepreneur who found, bought and turned around losing properties. Just like Trump himself I also would like to have an empire of my own, and I do try to work on my thoughts to bring them to realization.
Aside from his great achievements during his early career life, he also experienced downfall times when the real state market went down. In the late 1980’s Donald Trump was challenged with bankruptcy when he failed to pay massive loans from creditors, an estimate of over $2 billion; his own net worth plummeted from $1.7 billion to $500 million. He was forced to trade part of his empire to pay his debts. Faced with this situation, he remained optimistic for he knew that with his talents, skills, personality and name; he will be able to overcome his problem. He showed his confidence by acting like a professional man who was still in control over the situation. When I’m unsure about a situation, I try to find a professional way to get the situation under control. Seeing his confidence and determination, his creditors were won back by supporting him in his endeavor. He then secured good loan terms and sold his most unprofitable holdings. What helped him most was the revised bankruptcy law that favored the debtors. He made changes like standardizing operations, living on a tight budget and appointing a financial officer and not to mention viciously controlling his employees. In return, his hard work paid off since he was offered a bailout that lowered the interest or even suspended his debt interest allowing him to retain most of his properties. When others watched him declining, he stood firm, not even doubting himself that he could overcome this ultimate challenge. If this ever were to happen to me, I will know how to stand firm and work my way up. I will let nothing stand in my way. It worked for Trump, who rose to be worth close to $2 billion in 1997.
What made him very successful was his drive to succeed and win. In addition, he also possessed good interpersonal skills, entrepreneurial and negotiating skills that gave him an opportunity in meeting influential people and other social groups. From then on, in every project, he acted as a great businessman, salesman, and developer with full confidence and ergo. This attracted many clients to his business. He lived his life with the principle of being a ruler, not a follower to be ruled.
And not just that, he was also good at recognizing opportunities, where others tend to neglect the significance and advantage of it. In many cases I try to get as many contacts as possible from everyday people I meet because I know someday it will become handy for me personally or my clients. Thus, he was very keen on details, a hands-on businessman, assertive, aggressive, arrogant and intelligent. Although his drive to win during his college years inhibited him to form close friendships, as time goes by he also learned to deal socially, meet influential people and even build partnerships when he was already working.
I am a very detailed and picky person and sometimes people call me a perfectionist, I know it can be hurtful, but I won’t be able to be comfortable knowing that I could do better. He was also a risk-taker for he was not afraid to use unconventional business strategies to achieve his goals and succeed. Read More