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 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.
Donald John Trump is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who currently serves as the President of the United States in his second term.
Trump received a Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, and his father named him president of his real estate business in 1971. Trump renamed it the Trump Organization and reoriented the company toward building and renovating skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. After a series of business failures in the late twentieth century, he successfully launched side ventures that required little capital, mostly by licensing the Trump name. From 2004 to 2015, he co-produced and hosted the reality television series The Apprentice. He and his businesses have been plaintiff or defendant in more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions, including six business bankruptcies. Trump won the 2016 presidential election as the Republican Party nominee against Democratic Party nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton while losing the popular vote. During the campaign, his political positions were described as populist, protectionist, isolationist, and nationalist. His election and policies sparked numerous protests. He was the first U.S. president with no prior military or government experience. A special counsel investigation established that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election to favor Trump's campaign. Trump promoted conspiracy theories and made many false and misleading statements during his campaigns and presidency, to a degree unprecedented in American politics. Many of his comments and actions have been characterized as racially charged or racist and many as misogynistic. As president, Trump ordered a travel ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries, diverted military funding toward building a wall on the U.S.–Mexico border, and implemented a policy of family separations for migrants detained at the U.S. border. He weakened environmental protections, rolling back more than 100 environmental policies and regulations. He signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which cut taxes for individuals and businesses and rescinded the individual health insurance mandate penalty of the Affordable Care Act. He appointed Neil Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. He reacted slowly to the COVID-19 pandemic, ignored or contradicted many recommendations from health officials, used political pressure to interfere with testing efforts, and spread misinformation about unproven treatments. Trump initiated a trade war with China and withdrew the U.S. from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Iran nuclear deal. He met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times but made no progress on denuclearization. Trump refused to concede after losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, falsely claiming widespread electoral fraud, and attempted to overturn the results by pressuring government officials, mounting scores of unsuccessful legal challenges, and obstructing the presidential transition. On January 6, 2021, he urged his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol, which many of them then attacked, resulting in multiple deaths and interrupting the electoral vote count.
Trump is the only American president to have been impeached twice. After he tried to pressure Ukraine in 2019 to investigate Biden, he was impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He was acquitted by the Senate in February 2020. The House impeached him again in January 2021 for incitement of insurrection. The Senate acquitted him in February. Scholars and historians rank Trump as one of the worst presidents in American history.
This book is awful. I've read a fair number of business books - many of which I've enjoyed - and wouldn't recommend this one. The upside is that it's a short read, and perhaps useful for a teenager getting started in the working world. Most of the advice is precisely what you would expect: somewhere between Chicken Soup for the Soul and a "10 Ways to Succeed in Business!" Buzzfeed article.
Those who are professionals won't glean anything from this, other than a few interesting anecdotes from other business leaders.
I genuinely doubt that Mr. Trump actually considers this any of the "best business advice he ever received," and it's worth noting that this review isn't really a critique of him - he contributed nothing more than the introduction.
My biggest gripe with this book rests in the maddening fact that every page of "advice" from a business leader is summarized (often over simplistically) by a small blurb. This might make sense for some of the entries, but some of them are so short that the "summary" is longer than the page itself. For instance, Richard D. Parsons' advice was "Do what's right." That's it. This was "blurbed" into "Take the high road." That's neither entirely correct, nor is it any shorter than the actual advice.
If the only reason you've picked this up is to find a platitudinous graduation gift for some wide-eyed senior who is only going to appreciate a gift if it comes with a check, stick with Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go." It's much more succinct and at least has the emotional pull that will make people think you're thoughtful. Even if you're not.
Because of I still haven't had a proper business by myself.. (even now..).. I just read this book as a 'entertaining' book, not as my unliving-mentor. But I guess I'll open this book again when I must take some important decisions in the future..