The Trophy Life
(profile of construction/property tycoon Donald Trump) by Daniel
Roth, Fortune (Europe Edition) 19 April 2004.
Themes
Donald Trump has a surprisingly hands-on approach to people
management.
He phones employees to ask how business is at his many
construction sites, including asking questions like whether a certain kind of
sand has come in.
He walks the floor of his buildings asking doormen and other
junior staff how things are going, but if a uniform is out of place or a table
messy he demands it is taken care of.
He is astonishingly loyal to some staff, for example Greg
Cuneo who was a 27-year old project engineer on one of Trump’s construction
sites who asked to see Trump about a plan to set up his own company. Trump gave
him a series of contracts and made him a millionaire.
However, people who violate his loyalty see another side of
him. One employee who left his employment received a letter accusing him of
betrayal – and he never lets people who are disloyal work for him again.
Messages
Don’t
take anything Trump says on face value and try to stay on the right side of
him.
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