In life, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.
Many of us like to think of ourselves as master negotiators while reality says that we have certain strengths in any negotiation. We also each have a propensity to fall back to the negotiation strategies that have historically worked for us.
My negotiation technique has always been to learn as much as I can about the other side and then use it to my advantage.
If I were negotiating with Donald J. Trump, I would read – make that analyze – his 1987 book, “The Art of the Deal”. Keep in mind that there were subsequent editions in 1989 and 2004, and the final edition provides additional and important insight to the man, and how he thinks and how he works.
Many of us negotiate because we are expected to do so. I believe President Trump would rank negotiating near the top of his personal list of “Great Things to Do.” I think he loves negotiating. He’s very good at it. In many ways he’s elevated negotiating to an art form.
In my lifetime, we have only had two strong negotiators in the White House – Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. Reagan honed his skills running the Screen Actors Guild, and if he had written a book about negotiating, I’m confident it would have centered upon many of the same strategies as President Trump’s book.
Failing to read Trump’s book and learn from it would be a horrible mistake if you were sitting across the negotiating table from our highly capable President. Failing to interpret his public actions through the lens that he so graciously provided us nearly 40 years ago, and then updated not once but twice would be foolish.
The most recent edition needs to be part of your library. Unless you don’t care for our President, in which case borrow the book from your local library. You know, the library which was likely properly endowed by another billionaire named Carnegie.
Trump believes that controversy sells. Even bad press can be good for business, an it’s cheaper and more persuasive than marketing. How do I know this? I read it. In his book.
Trump clearly states that it’s smart to convince the seller that what they have isn’t worth much. How many times have you heard that from our President. It’s classic “The Donald.”
Trump is a networking machine, and he’s highly adept at it. Long before he showed his political ambitions, back in the 1990’s my business life had me spending a significant amount of time with people who would regularly be invited to Trump’s parties. Those invitations were coveted and considered gold.
Unfortunately, I was never on the guest list.
Relentless persistence is Donald Trump’s key to success, and he brings that drive and tireless work ethic to all that he does. President Trump has been known to put down the competition. You might consider it crass, but it is sound strategy, and it works, allowing him to prevail in deal after deal.
The details are all out there, printed in black and white, and likely uttered by our President, and dutifully recorded by Tony Schwartz, his co-author, in “The Art of the Deal”.
There is one thing I know for a fact – Volodmyr Zelnskyy read the book, and so obviously applied Trump’s own strategies. I don’t suppose we will ever know if it was with Trump’s blessing, but I do know the manufactured controversy made Europe belly up to the bar and plunk down their citizens hard earned cash and much more. Something they had historically refused to do.
As a nation, we get what our President negotiates for us. Our President sets the tone and pushes all on his team to get the best possible deal for we the people.
When it comes to negotiating, President Trump is an artist.
