Freedom is not the right to live as we please, but the right to find how we ought to live in order to fulfill our potential.
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Set the Standard
People who work for me know that my media persona of being positive and enthusiastic isn’t just a façade. I am that way—from the inside out. I have big ideas and a big enough energy resource to get them done. Those who are around me will eventually catch on that that is how I operate. It’s an effective approach that obviously works. It’s contagious in the best sense of the word. One thing everyone knows about The Trump Organization is that we get things done and our energy level is one reason why. I’ve set the standard and everyone follows suit.
If you like to work hard, you will attract people with the same ethic. The people who work with me enjoy the daily challenges and set their own standards to meet those challenges. Their pattern of thinking matches mine—how do we accomplish more? How do we get to where we want to go? It’s a combination of vision, courage, and discipline to realize that the possibilities are always there. But if you’re thinking too small, you might miss them. Learn to think big.
Ask yourself this question: What standard would you like to be known for? Then go about setting that standard for yourself. No one else can set it for you. I can remember when my father couldn’t understand why I wanted to develop in Manhattan. I’d had my eye on Manhattan since I was in college, and it was a goal I intended to reach.Years later, when I was describing my ideas for Trump Tower to my father, including the glass and bronze exterior, he couldn’t understand why I would choose anything other than bricks to build with. Bricks worked for him, so why not for me? Because I was setting my own standard. When Trump Tower opened to wonderful reviews and became a landmark building, it was clear that my standard had been accepted—and in a big way.
I had also been advised to put up beautiful paintings in the lobby of Trump Tower. To me, this seemed old-fashioned and unoriginal, even though I like beautiful art. I decided to put up a waterfall, which to me is like a sculpture in itself, and it has attracted far more attention than if I’d put up paintings. It’s over eighty feet high and cost $2 million to build. It’s absolutely spectacular and I’ve never regretted my choice. Once again I was setting my own standard.
When I decided to rebuild Wollman Rink in Central Park, I did so with my own ethics in mind. Do the best job as quickly as possible for the least amount of money. The city had been trying for seven years to rebuild and restore this beautiful skating rink, and I finally interceded and finished it in three months and at less than 10 percent of the City’s $21 million cost. Everyone benefited. Those are my standards, and I met them. I have my father’s four-step formula to thank for my economy when doing a job: Get in, get it done, get it done right, and get out.
A question I would ask you to ask yourself to give you a jump start in thinking big is this: What is your creative capital? What do you have to offer? What have you acquired in your experience and in your studies that makes you valuable? Are you aware of your own potential? Will you be equipped to make a difference when the time comes for you to step forward? Start thinking along those lines and your worth will have already been multiplied.
A few years ago, probably in 2005, I received a phone call from Coach Mike Leach (who was fired unfairly from Texas Tech in December 2009), calling to say how much he liked my books because they were inspirational. I follow college football, so I knew he was the coach for Texas Tech, and a great one. We had a conversation and I realized we shared a few things in common as far as motivation and positive focus go. Since then I’ve appeared on ESPN for his team and he’s appeared on 60 Minutes. I mention him because there are some good reasons why Coach Leach is in the big leagues as far as great coaches go—he knows how to get the best from his players, he has an open mind, and he knows that being a coach means being able to teach others to think in new directions. That means their performance will be altered as well. Coach Leach knows what he’s doing and how to do it, and he recognizes and develops the potential in other people. He’s a great guy in addition to being a success.
Maybe you don’t have a coach in your life, but if you set your own standards, acknowledge your own value, and remain positive from the inside out, you will be heading in the right direction for a very promising future.
