“Trump: The Art of the Deal”by Donald Trump: Book Summary

1 Line Summary

“Trump: The Art of the Deal” is a journey into the mind of a master negotiator, revealing the strategies and principles that have made Donald Trump one of the most successful deal makers in the history.

What Will You Learn

You’ll discover how to:

• Think big and never settle for mediocrity,
• Harness the power of leverage and negotiation to your advantage,
• Master the art of persuasion and influence,
• Build a strong team and cultivate a winning mindset,
• Make bold decisions and take calculated risks.

Best Quotations from the Book

1. “I always go into a deal anticipating the worst. If you plan for the worst—if you can live with the worst—the good will always take care of itself.”
2. “I don’t trust fancy marketing surveys. I do my own surveys and draw my own conclusions.” 
3. “I never get too attached to one deal or one approach…I keep a lot of balls in the air, because most deals fall out, no matter how promising they seem at first.” 
4. “I try not to schedule too many meetings. I leave my door open. . . . I prefer to come to work each day and just see what develops.” 
5. “I’m very good to people who are good to me. But when people treat me badly or unfairly or try to take advantage of me, my general attitude, all my life, has been to fight back very hard.”
6. “I’ve known people who had fantastic ideas, but who couldn’t get the idea off the ground because they approached everything weakly. They thought that their ideas would somehow take off by themselves, or that just coming up with an idea was enough. If you don’t have the motivation and the enthusiasm, your great idea will simply sit on top of your desk or inside your head and go nowhere.”
7.  “Many people are afraid to fail, so they don’t try. They may dream, talk, and even plan, but they don’t take that critical step of putting their money and their effort on the line.”

Book Summary

Negotiation is an art of arrangement crucial for anyone being engaged in any form  of a deal. Trump demonstrates the importance of negotiating without displaying obvious flaws.

Here are eight concise takeaways from the book:

1. Control in Conversation

• Retaining control in a negotiation is important in boosting the perception that other party has about an individual.
• High-quality negotiation skills enable clear understanding of the issues at hand, thus increasing chances to achieve more from an investment.
• Conveying a message to a group of people requires elegance and artistic creativity.
• One must behave as if he doesn’t care a lot about the deal, even if that is not the case, this avoids a situation where other party is taking any unfair advantage.

2. Insights of Deal Making

• The capacity to make deals is inherent and negotiating is more of a perceptive thing.
• Suitable components needed while making a deal include thinking big, having total focus on the specific deal, planning for the worst outcome, avoiding greed, and having enough information about the deal.
• Having a strong belief in oneself is likely to push a person on the negotiating table while he or she is quite sure of winning.
• Inner motivation plays a valuable part as other people are likely to get into the suggestions posed by the deal-maker, owing to the confidence that he is likely to illuminate.

3. Tactics of the Deal

• People play an immense role in the life of any individual doing business therefore, efficiency and competence must work together.
• Three points that one should always focus on more than just the suitability of an industry for investment are:
a) How to use other people’s money,
b) The importance of not expressing fear during battles,
c) The importance of paying attention to people you may only have proficient relations with.
• The ability not to show fear while negotiating shows that a person has mastered human nature. People are bound to show a lot of respect for someone who does not display fear.

4. The Significance of Vision in Business

• Nothing should block person from the achievement of dreams. Focus and determination often pay off.
• People succeed in deal-making if they do not focus on or expose what they don’t have. They need to emphasize on their capacity and stay ready to support their end of the giveaway.
• People should not allow what they do not have to prevent them from reaching their dreams. A sense of deep purpose always beats challenges that a person is likely to experience. It influences such an individual to establish specific ways in which they may access some of the resources that they lack for the job.

5. Measurement of Success and Failure

• Failure and success is often defined on the basis of possession or lack of something, it however cannot be used as a yardstick to measure failure. Success must be regarded as the ability to chase and accomplish dreams, whereas failure is the inability to pursue dreams.
• Focus needs to be shifted on the level of success attained in the quest to undertake various projects.
• While challenges may appear to be direct with their operations, people need to realize that the chances of obvious success lies in putting consistent amount of energy into their work.

6. How to Build a Business Empire

• Identifying what works and putting much concentration on it is important for building a major business empire.
• Removal of bureaucracy in various engagements is important in boosting the chances of success in that area.
• Making major decisions without involving anyone shows that as a bearer of a project, one is the only one who knows exactly what they want.
• No major advancements can be made without a person having the willingness to take major risks in their life.

7. The Value of Perspective

• Losing a battle gives a person a chance to prepare accordingly and find the best way to succeed in the battle.
• Having a big picture perspective and thinking out of the box is important while engaging in business.
• By putting ventures in the right locality, you are likely to make more money.

8. The Importance of Decision Making

• Do not shy of getting into any form of confrontation in a bid.
• The best decisions are often the hardest ones. Identification of the best and moving quickly to acquire it is the most important skills that a person must have.
• Upon the right time, one needs to take a chance in making a move into a venture that is bound to be profitable.

Do you want to learn how to think big, negotiate like a pro, and achieve your goals? Then read “Trump: The Art of the Deal” today!

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