How long has he been this way?
One of the other writers answered, For weeks and weeks! He sits there and does zip. It’s like he’s in a coma.
The boss said, I want all of you to be quiet and not to disturb him, and every now and then ask if you can get him some coffee or some lunch or run some errands for him.
Needless to say, the employees were deflated and started grumbling. Then the boss explained his rationale: Listen, the last time he was acting this way, and the time before that, he came up with ideas worth many millions of dollars. So when I tell you not to disturb him, I have a reason for it.
People have different ways of achieving results. I enjoy figuring out how each of my key employees excels. If people are your resource, you’d better try to learn something useful about them. Being able to do so is what makes a good manager a great one.
Some people respond well to the fear factor. Ever hear this ex-change?
Question: How long have you been working here?
Answer: Ever since they threatened to fire me.
Well, it applies to some employees. Fortunately, I seem to attract people who enjoy working, but now and then a few slugs will show up, and the loss of face (or job) can be a good motivator for many.
That said, it will always work against you to demoralize your employees in any way. I can be tough, but most people will admit I’m fair. You can crush people if you don’t weigh your words carefully. Your power as a leader should be used in the most positive way, which sometimes calls for a great deal of restraint as well as patience. I have to laugh when I hear people say, I can’t wait until I’m the big shot so I can order everyone around. It doesn’t quite work that way.
Abraham Lincoln made an appropriate remark that is pertinent to management: Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
Keep Your Door Open
I’m always taken aback when people say, Oh, he’s got it made, as if that’s the end of the conversation about a person. They seem to be saying that the person can just check out and coast because he’s already arrived.
To me, arriving means something is about to begin. Graduation from college is a beginning, not an ending. Each success is the beginning of the next one.
Learning is a new beginning we can give ourselves every day.
A know-it-all is like a closed door. Everyone who knows me knows I keep the door to my office open. It’s symbolic of the way I choose to think, and it’s the way I operate. My father was much the same. He once said to me, You know, the more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know. I think that has kept me young at heart more than anything else. It was an offhand comment, a quiet realization he mentioned to me one day while he was reading, but it has stuck with me for decades.
Every day is a reminder to me of how much I don’t know. Everything I learn leads me to something else I didn’t know. Fortunately, I don’t pride myself on being a know-it-all, so every day becomes a new challenge. People ask me what keeps me going, and this is probably the closest answer to the truth. If I end the day without knowing more than I did when I woke up, it makes me wonder: What did I miss out on today? Am I getting lazy? I am a disciplined person, and this thought alone can get me going.
Looking for a raise? Come on in.
We’ve all heard the phrase
My sister Maryanne introduced me to the writings of Aldous Huxley. He was such a learner that when he was faced with near-total blindness as a young man, he learned braille and continued his studies anyway. His description of this predicament had not a trace of self-pity. In fact, he mentioned that it had offered some benefits: He could now read in bed at night and his hands would never get cold because he could read with his hands under the covers.
Learning begets learning. I’d rather be stimulated than passive.
You can’t wear a blindfold in business. A regular part of your day should be devoted to expanding your horizons.
We live in a big world, and it is important for us to be aware of cultures other than our own. I have always lived in the United States, but I make an effort to be informed about other cultures. That’s easy to do in New York City, the most diverse and exciting place on earth.
Someone who had been living abroad for a few years told me, upon returning home, that a frequent comment about Americans is that you always know exactly where we’re coming from. The flip side of this is that we rarely know where
Learn something new, whether you think you’re interested in it or not. That’s the opposite of having a closed mind—or a closed door. I can thank my father for the example he set. It was the key to his remaining young and dynamic into his nineties. It can do the same for you, if you make the effort.
Think Big and Live Large
This is the final rule of the Donald J. Trump School of Business and Management. Once you have mastered it, you are ready to graduate.
It’s a big world. There’s a lot we don’t know, which means there’s still a lot to be discovered and a lot to be accomplished.
The possibilities are always there. If you’re thinking too small, you might miss them.
In some ways, it’s easier to buy a skyscraper than a small house in a bad section of Brooklyn. Either way, you’ll probably need financing, and most people would rather invest in a great building than a dilapidated duplex on a dangerous street. With the skyscraper, if you hit, at least you hit big. And if you don’t hit, what’s the difference between losing $100,000 or hundreds of millions of dollars? Either way, you’ve lost, so you might as well have really gone for it.
I’ve read stories in which I’m described as a cartoon, a comic book version of the big-city business mogul with the gorgeous girlfriend and the private plane and the personal golf course and the penthouse apartment with marble floors and gold bathroom fixtures. But my cartoon is real. I am the creator of my own comic book, and I love living in it. If you’re going to think, think big. If you’re going to live, live large.
Take Control of the Job Interview
I’ve had some interesting experiences with job interviews over the years. Norma Foerderer is a good example. I wasn’t too sure about her after her first interview. It had nothing to do with her skills. But she seemed a little too prim, like she belonged on some family sitcom as the ever-so-proper type. I didn’t think she could handle it here, or that she would fit with my style.
Norma persisted, seeming to recognize a good match better than I did. Little did I know how deceptive first
